Boundary Work Within U. S. Evangelicalism: Negotiating the Label “Evangelical” at a Moderate West Coast Megachurch

Abstract

This contribution examines processes of boundary work in contemporary Evangelicalism by focusing on Seattle-based megachurch Churchome and its negotiations of what it means to be Evangelical. Churchome dissociates itself from conservative and reactionary Evangelicalism in the vein of the Christian Right, instead promoting typically progressive causes, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. At the same time, in its search for “authentic” expressions of Evangelicalism, it also distances itself from explicitly progressive Evangelical groups. We propose that the boundary negotiation visible at Churchome and directed more at the Evangelical fold (“inside” boundary work) than at other Christian or non-Christian groups (“outside” boundary work) is an expression of the deeply fractured contemporary U. S. Evangelical landscape. In it, centers and peripheries are constantly shifting and have opened space for a “moderate” type of Evangelicalism to emerge that is distinct from mainstream conservative, reactionary and progressive types of Evangelicalism alike. Churchome thus discloses the extent to which “Evangelical” is a discursive construct, used both to self-identify and to externally ascribe an identity or label, to approve and to condemn. As we move deeper into the 21 ^st century, such boundary work continues to shape and transform U. S. Evangelicalism.