Evangelical Tenderness

Can these two words go together?
Christ’s truth demonstrated by kindness.
The gospel swaddled in love.
How winsome that would be.

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I came across the expression ‘evangelical tenderness’ while researching Vincent Van Gogh’s ministry in Belgium. A coarse alcoholic miner was converted to Christianity through Vincent’s evangelical tenderness, and I found myself irresistibly drawn to this testimony. I long for evangelical Christianity to become known for its truthful kindness and feel the challenge to live like that myself.

I chose the picture of feathers to accompany the phrase because a feather has a strong central shaft that allows the bird to fly, yet is soft to the touch. I imagine ‘evangelical tenderness’ to have similar traits.

This is not the first time I have been attracted to words and expressions to describe God, and faith in Him, that appear to contradict each other. For instance, ‘Crucified Saviour’ and ‘Prince of Peace’. I wrote about these in my book ‘The Oxymoronic God’ and it appears I might need to write a sequel!

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DislocatedChristians exists to create and support a community of like-minded people. I’ve described myself as Dislocated because I sometimes struggle to understand how God wants me to be in the world, but not of the world. I also move house a lot!

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