What Xvangelical Means to Me: Part 1 – In The Absence Of Shame

I’ve been getting a specific question a lot recently. It’s not always the same but even in the variety of it’s forms the constitution is similar.

“Dude, what’s going on with you?!”

As I said, not necessarily those words but … you get the gist.

Many of you have expressed concern that I’m “falling away” as Paul taught (2 Thessalonians 2:3). You’re fearful about the eternal destiny for which my soul is headed.

I appreciate your concerns over little, old me. Both of those adjectives fit well for a 45 year-old guy who stands in at a full five-foot, four-and-three-quarter inches (YES, you MUST count the 3/4 of an inch). I’m thankful and humbled that so many of you care enough about me to at least ask the question.

Some of you have chosen to judgmentally scrutinize my journey based on your own misunderstanding. That’s on you, all you’ve got to do is ask.

I love you and as a brother in Christ, I want you to know what I’m going through in case some of the things I’m struggling with one day arrive at your own doorstep.

Let me assure you, I’m not falling away. Not even close.

What I am doing could be properly termed as a spiritual assessment. However, the best way to describe it is with the following two words:

I’m done!

I recognize those two words will feel both harsh and final so I’ll elaborate on what I mean when I say them. I’m not speaking for every Ex-Evangelical, Post-Evangelical, or New Evangelical. I’m speaking only for myself and my own voyage.

My Xvangelical voyage.

I’m no Martin Luther so I don’t have 95 of these things to list, nor do I believe any of you would hang around for a list that long anyway in our current TikTok and sound-byte driven culture. I’ll just stick to a few main points to show you some things from which I am indeed walking … better yet … running!

I’ll cover four main items of the next columns. Today is part one.

The first thing I’m done with shame-based ministry.

The Gospel, or “Good News”, of Christ centers on the removal of our shame. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that this concept really began to root in my soul. I was challenged, on social media, to find episodes of Christ shaming people. You know, kind of like what is so popular in the American Evangelical Church culture today.

Did He shame Judas after his betrayal?

Did He shame Peter after his denial?

Both of those seem quite worthy of a shaming rebuke, yet, He didn’t do so with either disciple. He knew what they were both going to do and chose to spend His final hours washing their feet and dining with them.

Shame-based ministry refuses to spend this sort of quality time with certain types of sinners ruled unworthy of such by our modern hierarchy of debauchery.

Looking at Christ we find His stiffest rebukes in ministry weren’t directed at common believers struggling with a variety of treacherous behaviors, but rather at religious leaders who had turned the faith into something it wasn’t. Even then He wasn’t shaming them but rather imploring them. I mean, this was part His closing line:

“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

-Matthew 23:37b, NRSV

His words always aimed at repentance and relationship restoration. He wanted folks to know our Father intimately. Like a mother hen gathering her chicks. Like someone in love seeking the object of their love.

Shaming people into a relationship simply doesn’t work. The gospel ceases to fulfill it’s name when all we know is shame.

Shame centers on rejection and condemnation. Christ made the opposite true. We’re all quite familiar with John 3:16, but what about the next verse?

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

-John 3:17, NRSV

Christ didn’t bring condemnation and shame into our existence, it was already here. He came to extinguish it. Or, at least, Paul seemed to find that as the result of His ministry.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

-Romans 8:1, NRSV

Too many preachers use shame and guilt to fill pews and plates … to build sanctuaries and programs. Christ wasn’t interested in building any of those things. He was building a people, not a ministry.

My journey will be focused on building people, pointing them toward grace and a life lived in the absence of shame.

I’ve found a lot of freedom since I stopped allowing shame to dominate my existence. Peace with God is attainable in Christ as we abide in Him and enjoy His presence.

For all of us the drapes of shame that were drawn in the garden are removed in Christ. We now bask in the illuminating and empowering warmth of His presence.

We just have to make a choice, an active choice, to be present in His presence. We no longer have to sulk in the sorrow of our guilt and shame. Those things are done in Christ. We’ve got to come out of hiding and allow Him to shine through us.

Grace and peace!

If you liked this post, you just might enjoy my book, What He Said: Living the Sermon on the Mount, Transforming American Culture.

You can also follow along with me on my journeys through men’s mental health issues and Christian renovation at the links below:

That’s Me in the Corner – My journey through men’s mental health issues

Xvangelical – My journey through Christian renovation

You can also buy Xvangelical merch at proudlibertarian.com.