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Top 10 Facts About Evangelical Christians

Evangelical Christianity is a worldwide ecumenism movement within Protestant Christianity, which is why it is also referred to as Evangelical Protestantism. This part of Protestantism affirms the centrality of being ‘born again’ this is when an individual experiences personal conversion. The word evangelical means good news and it has originated from the Greek word ‘euangelion’. 

Evangelicals are normally associated with Protestant branches as well as various denominations around the world. Major figures in the evangelical Protestant movement were George Fox, Bill Bright, Harold Ockenga, Gudina Tumsa, Nicolaus Zinzendorf, John Wesley, Francisco Olazabal, Martyn Llyod-Jones, and William J. Seymour.

It was noted that there were an estimated 619 million evangelicals in the world in 2016. This means that one in four Christians would be classified as evangelical. The evangelical movement is the largest in the United States, American evangelicals are a quarter of that nation’s population.

1. The Meaning of Evangelical

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The word Evangelical comes from the Greek word good news or gospel. Throughout the years, the term has expanded to include the New Testament which contained the message or more specifically the Gospels. In 1531, William Tyndale used the word evangelical and was noted as the first person to use the term in English. 

Protestant theologians embraced the term as referring to gospel truth. Martin Luther referred to the evangelical church to distinguish Protestants from Catholics in the Catholic Church. The usage of the term is reflected in the names of Protestant denominations such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America which is a union of Lutheran and Reformed churches.

The term is also used to also characterize a generic missionary, redeeming impulse or purpose, and reforming. 

2.  The Evangelical Theology

The main points concern the place of the Bible, worship, Salvation, charity, evangelism, the Trinity, sanctification, and the end of time. The evangelical Christian denomination differs in its doctrine with churches’ variously teaching Reformed theology, Baptist theology, or Wesleyan-Arminian theology.

Other evangelical bodies like the Evangelical Friends Church International, Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil. Evangelical theology helps to bring together the main common theological aspects which can be found in the confessions of faith which are adopted by the Evangelical Christian denominations.

3. The Church’s Membership 

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The church is responsible for teaching and administering the sacraments or ordinances. A lot of evangelical traditions adhere to the doctrine of the believers’ church, it teaches that a person becomes a member of the Church by the new birth and profession of faith. Infant baptism is a major traditional practice that is followed by Evangelicals in the Anglican, Methodist.

The initiation of a person into the community of faith includes the New Testament counterpart to circumcision while also stressing the necessity of personal conversion later in life for salvation.

4. The Evangelical Government

Many churches in evangelicalism are members of national and international denominations for a cooperative relationship in a common organization. missionary, humanitarian as well as schools, and theological institutes. Common ministries within evangelical congregations are pastor, elder, deacon, evangelist, and worship leader. 

Some evangelical denominations are members of the World Evangelical Alliance and its 129 national alliances. Other evangelical denominations officially authorize the ordination of women in churches, the female ministry is justified by the fact that Mary Magdalene was chosen by Jesus to announce his resurrection to the apostles.

5. The Church’s Worship Service

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There are three meanings that define the term worship, it can refer to living a God-pleasing and God-focused way of life these are considered specific actions of praise to God, and a public Worship service. Worship styles are Liturgical, charismatic, seeker-sensitive, and contemporary. Evangelicals tend to be more flexible and experimental with worship practices than mainline Protestant churches.

Services are normally divided into several parts which include congregational singing, intercessory prayer, sermon, and other ministries. During worship, there is usually a nursery for babies. Children and young people receive an adapted education and Sunday school which takes place in a separate room.

6. Their Places of Worship

The Latin cross is one of the only spiritual symbols that can be seen in most evangelical churches. It signifies the place’s belonging. Sometimes, services take place in theaters, multipurpose rooms, or schools which are rented for Sunday only. Evangelical house churches are the only for many Christians to live their faith in community. Meetings take place in private houses in secret.

Evangelicals do not have religious material representations such as icons, paintings, or statues in their places of worship. There is usually a baptistery in what is variously known as the sanctuary which is normally found in a separate room.

7. Church Education System

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Most evangelical churches have been involved in the establishment of elementary and secondary schools. They have also enabled the development of several bible colleges, colleges, and universities in the U.S. There are various evangelical universities that have been established in multiple countries of the world.

In 1978, the association of Christian Schools Internation was founded by 3 American associations of evangelical Christin schools. Multiple international schools joined the network. In 2021, there were 23,000 schools in 100 countries. Later in 1980, the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education was founded by the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance.

8. Matters Concerning Sexuality

Several evangelical churches promote the virginity pledge among young evangelical Christians, they are invited to commit themselves during a public ceremony of sexual abstinence until Christian marriage. The pledge is often symbolized by a purity ring. In a few churches, young adults and unmarried couples are encouraged to marry early in order to live sexually according to the will of God.

In matters of sexual activities, some evangelical pastors view masturbation as a forbidden act because of the sexual thoughts that may accompany it. Most evangelical pastors have pointed out that the practice is not a sin if it is not practiced with fantasies or compulsively. Masturbation in this case cannot be considered a sin because it doesn’t have the same frequency of sexual needs.

The majority of evangelical Christian churches are against abortion and support adoption agencies for unplanned pregnancies. 

9. Diversity in The Church’s Community

Evangelical leaders like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council have called attention to the problem of equating the term Christian rights with theological conservatism. The problem of describing the Christian right which in most cases is conflated with theological conservatism.

They apply the label of religious conservative or conservative Christian to other religious groups who are socially, culturally, and theologically conservative and don’t associate with political organizations. Some of these Christian denominations are usually uninterested, uninvolved, apathetic, or indifferent toward politics.

An evangelical theologian noted that being a theological conservative didn’t necessitate being a political conservative and that some political progressive views around racial diversity, the redistribution of wealth, and economics.

10. Global Statistics

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A study in 2011, on global Christianity, shows that 13.1% of all Christians are Evangelicals. These reflect in all countries around the world that have evangelical churches. In the 21st century, the strongest move based on Pentecostal beliefs is in Africa. There are Evangelical churches that have been active and have grown in many African countries since the 1960s.

In Nigeria, the Evangelical Church Winning All is the largest church organization. It has over five thousand congregations and over ten million members. There are 1600 missionaries who serve in Nigeria and other countries with the Evangelical Missionary Society.

The Ethiopian- Eritrean Evangelicalism which translates to is the term used for Evangelical Christians. The Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora abroad has multiple prominent movements among them have been the Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea, and many more.

In Kenya, there are mainstream Evangelical denominations that have talked the lead in promoting political activism. President Daniel arap Moi who ran from 1978 to 2002 claimed to be an Evangelical.