For the longest time it seemed Christians throughout the western world were lumped into two categories: conservatives and liberals. Both were valuable and held each other in tension. The conservatives kept tradition alive and valued our shared history while the liberals kept pushing for growth and change, towards inclusivity and diversity, and social justice for all. Needless to say, I identified as ‘liberal’.

That identification did not stop me from spending wonderful, faith filled time with conservatives. We worked together. One of my favourite people in seminary was a very conservative man who did not agree with women as priests and ministers, and yet he fully supported my call to ministry. I never did get around to asking him how he reconciled those two positions.

Beyond all, there was respect. Not always mutual, not always shown, but respect nonetheless.

It is so much different today. The line between those who identify as conservatives and those as liberals has thickened and become nasty in some places. And for my part, I have stopped feeling like I fit into either of those categories. I have never been conservative, but ‘liberal’ is feeling too tight and restrictive now as well.

I was happy to come across the word ‘progressive’ associated with Christianity a few years ago, giving me a new adjective to explain to people – in shorthand – what I believed. After all, that is why we categorize people.

Progressive felt right because it is an action word. To be progressive means you are constantly moving forward. Where ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ are stationary camps of thought and belief, ‘progressive’ is the wanderer.

Jesus would have been considered ‘progressive’. Not only did he physically wander throughout his ministry, he helped others wander as well. And in that wandering they had to trust God. In that wandering, they encountered people and situations they had never experienced before, and were told to go on and make neighbours of all, and then treat them well.

Progressive is the only way inclusion can happen. It is a good Christian word. It makes sense, and it speaks to our journey onwards.