(evangelical Christian)Church leaders work to alter public perception

[papau]

Leaders of 50,000 Chicago area evangelical Christians focused on changing and shaping the public perception of who they are and what they stand for

http://www.suntimes.com/special_sections/evangelical/cst-nws-evang11.html

(evangelical Christian)Church leaders work to alter public perception

February 11, 2005

BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Reporter

A few weeks before Christmas 2004, eight of the Chicago area's leading evangelical Christian pastors assembled for an unusual meeting in a hotel room near O'Hare Airport.

They were white, black and Hispanic, friends and strangers, charismatic, traditional, liberal, conservative, centrist, megachurch shepherds, rising stars, longtime vanguard pastors. Among them, they represent more than 50,000 Chicago area evangelical Christians.

The group, known informally as "the Gatekeepers," met to get to know one another, to pray and to try to figure out how they might put a more compassionate face on a religious movement that is increasingly in the national spotlight.

Evangelicals have a growing imprint in politics and across a wide swath of American culture. Still, some evangelical Christian leaders worry that people have the wrong idea about them, equating "evangelical" with "conservative," "Republican," "reactionary" and "judgmental." That's among the obstacles the Gatekeepers say they face, even as they attempt to navigate their own differences in doctrine, worship style and vision for their ministries.<snip>

Danhelka said he didn't convene the Gatekeepers in response to a perceived backlash against evangelical Christians in the wake of the 2004 presidential election, in which it's estimated they accounted for a quarter of all voters -- and voted overwhelmingly to re-elect President Bush. Instead, Danhelka said, his interest in trying to help the Chicago area's most influential evangelical pastors get to know each other began years ago and is purely spiritual.<snip>

Many of the Gatekeepers say they know evangelicalism is seen by many as being preoccupied with personal holiness and transformation and less so with bettering society. Several said there's something to that, talking of their frustration that many evangelicals care little for social justice beyond the two hot-button issues of abortion and same-sex rights.<snip>

[Benhurst]

1. Lipstick on a pig seldom produces the desired effect. NT

[Greybnk48]

2. Amen n/t

[bobd]

3. My Own Feeling is that Christianity (tm)

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