Why we should use the term “Evangelical Christian”

2016 Census & “Evangelical Christian”

Why we should use the term “Evangelical Christian” in the 2016 Census

In Ireland on Sunday night the 24^th of April we will have a national census. This census will be used by government and national bodies in the planing and governance of our country. It is important that we as Christians make our presences clearly known and in that way as a witness for Christ Jesus, his good news and values of the kingdom of God.

The term for official documents over the years that has been suggested among Christian leaders has been “Evangelical Christian”. Rather than using our individual groupings such as Assemblies of God, Baptist, Foursquare, Elim or even more general terms such as Pentecostal or Christian, but to agree on a term that is more descriptive yet inclusive of the wide body of believers that we are. In this way showing unity and strength by using the one term.

As pastor of Good News Church which is a member of the Foursquare family of churches around the world, I want to give you a brief over view of the term “Evangelical Christian” and then encourage you to use it in confidence to describe your faith position on your 2016 Census form. In this way helping you answer the question of ‘what should I put down on the form?’

Of course Christian is somewhat self-explanatory to a large degree. Yet there is today many who call themselves Christians but have no real understanding of the Christian message. There are many nominal Christians, that is Christian in name only. They may even have been baptised but do not really hold to Christ or the Christian faith. There are also those of different groupings who hold to some of the historic Christian faith even if loosely. Then there are those who are part of the traditional churches such as Roman Catholic and Orthodox – again some nominal, some very loosely and some with devotion. There are also the more traditional protestant churches such as Methodist or church of Ireland. There are variations even within those groupings. But what about the bible believing churches of various forms, groupings, styles such as Baptists, independent churches and Pentecostals? That’s where the term ‘evangelical’ comes in to define better in a unified way.

The word “evangelical” comes from the Greek “evangelion,” meaning “the good news” or “the gospel.” During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther adopted the word to describe the movement of Christians who took hold of the “good news” that Jesus Christ alone saves people from their sin into a right standing before God by which they can have a real relationship. That the gift of Jesus saving us was by grace alone and received only by faith and not earned by works. The term “evangelical” is a more positive, proactive and biblical term than “Protestant” which is more negative and reactive. Were as “protestant” is more focused on what was wrong at the time with the Roman Catholic church and protesting against wrong teaching and practice in light of plain biblical teaching, “evangelical” is more proactively declaring what is the biblical teaching and apostolic Christian message concerning Jesus Christ and his saving work. “Evangelical” and “Protestant” were held as synonyms for hundreds of years describing the same grouping of Christians.

One way of understanding the basic agreement among “evangelical” Christians is the five “sola” statements. “Sola” is Latin for ‘alone’ or ‘only’ and is combined with other words to give the main points of the ‘evangelical’ movement. These of course are also joined with such classic biblical teaching as the Trinity, the virgin birth of Christ Jesus, his full humanity and bodily resurrection from the dead.

Sola Fide, meaning by faith alone. That is it is not of works but faith in God’s saving work by Jesus Christ.

Sola Scriptura, meaning by Scripture alone. That is the normative authority for the beliefs and practices of every Christian and the church.

Solus Christus, meaning through Christ Jesus alone. This is not by any other mediator.

Sola Gratia, meaning by grace alone. It is a gift freely given and again a work of God apart from anything in mankind.

Soli Deo Gloria, meaning glory to God alone. This that no-one can or is worthy to receive any Glory for what God alone has done out of his grace towards us in Christ Jesus when we were utterly helpless in our sin.

There is some variants on the implication of the above (e.g. Calvinism and Arminian), but these are the main areas of agreement among evangelicals.

Basically put an evangelical Christian is one who asks what does the bible teach about Jesus Christ saving work and believes that as authoritive apostolic Christian faith.

Sadly in Ireland the term evangelical has been more associated with a particular grouping of the evangelical churches rather than the whole wider body of evangelicals. In Ireland evangelical has been more associated with the Calvinistic, cessationist (opposed to continuationist of the Holy Spirit gifts), Baptists and dare I say more wooden style and culture of church. But this is far from the true picture in light of what an evangelical Christian and church is in essence to the term.

For example the Pentecostal church is rapidly growing in Ireland which are continuationists and mostly Arminian, especially the historic Pentecostal churches such as Assemblies of God, Foursquare, Elim and Church of God. Not necessarily true for all charismatic Christians and churches. But such Pentecostal churches have not always been viewed as “evangelical” by some in Ireland not due to a true understanding of the term but due to a hold on the term by those who were Calvinistic, cessationists and dare I say again wooden in their church culture and style. Thankful this is slowly changing even if we are held with cautious suspicion by some who think they own the term and are the self-proclaimed sole guardians of it.

With that in mind I encourage those who hold the good news of Jesus Christ as an evangelical described above, to describe themselves in formal documents such as the 2016 national census by the term “Evangelical Christian”. This helps take back the ‘good news’ or ‘evangelical term’ in its true and wider sense and also shows a greater unity and numbers before the world and national government. For those of us who are Pentecostal I suggest that we humbly set a side our continuationists distinction for the sake of keeping essentials essential and ‘Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace’. Acknowledging that ‘there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all the unity which the spirit gives.’ (See Ephesians 4:3-6)

The Evangelical Alliance Ireland has also asked to do this as a show of strength and unity with regards to the government and the policies it makes. I concur that such a unified stance is a good strategy in the face of rising secularism and opposition to Christianity. Of course those who are Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian should use those historical terms. But for many of us who are of many local independent congregations or of different smaller groupings within Evangelicalism as stated above, should agree on a term that shows unity and strength. The term ‘Evangelical Christian’ is one which we can gather around and make a statement that we are here and we have a voice.