Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a description of certain distinctive characteristics within Christianity. Evangelicalism is not a clearly defined group of people or churches, but stretches across and overlaps with many other groups of Christians.

There are generally four distinctive characteristics of evangelicals (Bebbington):

1. An emphasis on the conversion experience. The conversion is also called being 'saved' or the "new birth" or being "born again" after John 3:3 (Evangelicals are sometimes referred to as "born-again Christians" because of this emphasis.)
2. The use of the Bible as the primary source of God's revelation to man, and therefore the ultimate religious authority.
3. Encourage evangelism, that is the act of sharing one's beliefs in the gospel with others in order to convince them to convert, either in organized missionary work or through personal evangelism.
4. A central focus on Christ's redeeming work on the cross, especially as the means for salvation and the forgiveness of sins.

Evangelicals generally believe the Bible to be reliable for matters of faith and practice. They believe in the historicity of the miracles of Jesus Christ and his literal virgin birth, crucifixion, resurrection and Second Coming. Generally, they are conservative in their social outlook, believing, for example, that homosexual behavior is sinful and that human life begins at conception.

Evangelicals can be found in a wide variety of Christian traditions and locations, although they are most commonly Protestant. Many fundamentalists can also be defined as evangelicals, although not all evangelicals are fundamentalists, because they may not hold to a literal interpretation of the Bible. Some Evangelicals also identify with the Pentecostal movement.

A 1992 survey (Green) showed that in the United States and Canada evangelicals make up both the largest and the most active group of Christians (surpassing both Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant believers).

Famous evangelicals include:

Jonathan Edwards

Billy Graham

Francis Schaeffer

John Wesley

George Whitefield

Dwight L. Moody

Billy Sunday

References

Bebbington, David. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s. Unwin Hyman (London), 1989.

Green, John, Guth, James, et.al. Akron Survey of Religion and Politics in America 1992. As quoted in Noll, Mark. Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Eerdmans, 1994.

National Association of Evangelicals web page : http://www.nae.net

Institute for the Study of American Evangelicalism web page: http://www.wheaton.edu/isae/