Evangelical
Term
A Protestant Christian, or church, committed to the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ's atoning death, the authority of the Bible, conversion, and sharing the faith.
Also called: evangelicals, evangelicalism, broadly evangelical
What it means
Evangelical comes from the Greek word for gospel, "good news." At the Reformation it described Protestants who recovered the gospel of justification by faith. Since the eighteenth-century revivals it has named a broad movement across many denominations, marked by four emphases: the Bible as the supreme authority, the cross of Christ as the centre of the faith, the need for personal conversion, and active sharing of the gospel.
Evangelical churches include Baptists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Methodists, Pentecostals, and many independent congregations. Because the movement is so broad, the word says little about a church's views on baptism, church government, or the doctrines of grace. In some countries it has also taken on political meanings that have little to do with its original sense.
On this site, "broadly evangelical engagement" describes a church that encourages members to bring their faith into public life without adopting one of the more specific frameworks for relating church and state.
In Scripture
The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
Paul reminds the church of the gospel: Christ died for our sins and rose on the third day.
A person is justified not by works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.
Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising and teaching them.
Where it comes up
On this site: Church & state
Related terms
The gospelHistoric orthodoxy
The good news that God saves sinners through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and freely forgives and accepts all who turn from sin and trust in Him.
RegenerationHistoric orthodoxy
The work of the Holy Spirit by which a person dead in sin is made spiritually alive, given a new heart that turns to God in faith and repentance.
ReformedTerm
The branch of Protestantism that grew from the Swiss and Genevan Reformation and is summarised in confessions such as Westminster and the 1689 London Baptist Confession.
Two kingdomsA view held among orthodox Christians
The view that Christ rules the church and the civil order in different ways, so the church's calling is to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments rather than to pursue political programmes.