Christianity in social clothing

While some evangelicals are rebranding themselves, turns out college evangelicals are also working on their image.

Christianity Today reports that there has been a shift in how campus ministries are trying to connect with students by emphasizing the social aspect of the gospel.

University of Alabama history professor John Turner told the magazine that ministries with a sincere commitment to social issues can repair the "poor image of campus evangelicals" among students who associate them with homophobia and political conservatism.

"One way for evangelicals to counter these negative stereotypes and put themselves in a position to talk about Jesus is to engage in meaningful social justice work that even non-evangelicals can appreciate. There is a danger of losing sight of evangelistic goals. But not taking these steps presents an even greater danger to those same goals."

Scott Bessenecker, associate director of missions for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, said his organization "is trying to help students embrace and engage the social dimensions of the gospel in a way that will inspire individuals to say, 'I want to follow this Jesus.'"

One can't read the article without thinking of the "social gospel" movement which is more than a century old and still has a strong following among mainline Protestant denominations.

Evangelical leader Rick Warren caught some flak in 2008 for saying the social gospel was in many ways "just Marxism in Christian clothing." Still, however, he said evangelicals should care more about issues such as poverty.

Such caring would be a good start toward an image in the likeness of Christianity's namesake.