Evangelical organizations employ people who share their core beliefs– just like your church.
InterVarsity is an Evangelical Christian organization, and people who work at InterVarsity are, not surprisingly, expected to hold evangelical beliefs.
Or, you could state it as Elisabeth Dias of TIME Magazine did:
In other words, InterVarsity now has the same policy of most evangelical churches.
So, why is this news? Well, the Internet is abuzz with outrage and I imagine the story will spill into other news outlets tomorrow.
But why is it news that Evangelicals think their ministry staff should hold mainstream evangelical beliefs?
It’s becuase there is a new orthodoxy, and the old one just won’t do for many.
The New Orthdoxy
The new orthodoxy says that you have to bend your beliefs to fit it. But InterVarsity has a different view—the mainsteam evangelical view. And, such views do cost you today.
And, ultimately, every organization with the beliefs of old orthodoxy will face a moment like this.
This might sound similar to the World Vision moment, where President Richard Stearns made it clear that biblical marriage was not a negotiable:
“Certain beliefs are so core to our Trinitarian faith that we must take a strong stand on those beliefs.”
But, are these new policies and beliefs really new?
New Beliefs?
To say that this is a new idea or belief—or that biblical marriage is just now being included in orthodoxy—is just not honest. Organizations are creating policies because some are trying to change orthodoxy, not because they are adding to orthodoxy.This is simply what the church has taught on this issue for two millennia.
Some critics of this move by Intervarsity seem to believe that adding to statements of faith to address sexuality is somehow wrong because of the historical lack of such statements …
