Scot McKnight is asking folks what manner of Christian they are. I’m sure, as always, the discussion will be quite interesting.

At the time I read the post, his concurrent poll revealed the following:

Evangelical	37.7%
Post-evangelical	35.8%
Other	10.3%
Charismatic	5.4%
Mainline Liberal	4.4%
Anabaptist	2.5%
Roman Catholic	1.5%
East Orthodox	1.0%
House church	1.0%
None

I selected “post-evangelical.” But that was only because you could only pick one. The problem is that I, like many these days, defy categorization.

Though my parents werent’ exactly evangelicals (my mom was anti-religion and my dad was a lapsed Mormon) I am generally from an evangelical background (“saved” at Bible camp in my teens). Currently, I am a part of the Baptist General Conference–which is thoroughly evangelical.

But the evangelical church of my teens was charismatic and had a mennonite pastor–I still consider myself charismatic (though more likely I should be called “post” charismatic).

My old mennonite pastor left a mark, however. Currently, my church is pursuing dual-affiliation with the Mennonites. Theologically, I am pretty mennonite (pacifist etc.).

At the same time, my church is basically neo-monastic. We have a lot in common with the house church movement. Though we have more in common with modern house churches as opposed to traditional house churches (post-house church?). Nevertheless we don’t think of ourselves as a house hcurch. We are neo-monastic because we draw heavily from Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theology and monastic traditions. The Catholics have a richer, in my opinion, monastic tradition. But the Orthodox have a richer theological heritage. My Doctrine of God is very Orthodox. Many of their other doctrines also appeal to me.

I am decidedly a mutt. And there are tons of mutts out there–and more all the time.

When people ask what sort of category I fall into, I say that I am a neo-anabaptist post-evangelical who is the founder of a neo-monastic missional order. Usually, that doesn’t help clarify.

What do we call ourselves (or what tradition we should claim) when the old categories no longer work? How do we really root ourselves in tradition when we don’t fit into one? How do we think of denominational loyalty in light of the “emerging” freedom to identify oneself across the spectrum of traditions and beliefs?

About Mark Van Steenwyk

Mark Van Steenwyk is a member of Missio Dei. He is a speaker, writer, educator, and grassroots organizer. With the support of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference, he travels to radical and intentional communities around the country to help network and offer support.