Denver Seminary

20 SPRING 2018 CULTURE WHAT DOES THE WORD EVANGELICAL MEAN? THAT ISN'T A SIMPLE QUESTION, AND IT LIKELY WON'T BECOME ANY SIMPLER IN THE YEARS AHEAD. Evangelical comes from the New Testament word for "gospel," so an "evangelical" must be someone whose life is defined by the gospel, right? Unfortunately, that definition of evangelical isn't the only way people define the word. Evangelical now means different things to different people, and it evokes different images and emotions in different groups. Sometimes the definitions diverge dramatically, sharing little in common. Those of us who have participated in evangelical ministries and churches use the term comfortably among ourselves, believing it to be essentially theological in nature. There is historical precedent for this approach. Traditionally, evangelicals have held to a remarkably resilient set of common core beliefs. The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) utilizes four central tenets "to provide a consistent standard for identification of evangelical belief." 1 It summarizes the four points as follows: • The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe. • It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. • Jesus Christ's death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin. • Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God's free gift of eternal salvation. This theological definition of evangelical is broad enough to allow the term to be adopted by people from a wide array of denominations, regions, ethnicities, socio-economic groups, and political allegiances. Across all of these The Evangelical Identity Crisis From Gospel Truth to Political Stance 1 www.nae.net/what-is-an-evangelical. The NAE definition is based on the work of David Bebbington in Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730's to the 1980's. iStock

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