What does it mean to be an Evangelical?

[Constantine I]

I was wondering what it means be an Evangelical Christian. I attend an Evangelical Covenant Church, does that make me Evangelical, or does something else? There are a few terms I'm unfamiliar with, even the terms Fundamentalist, Conservative Christian, Moderate Christian, or Liberal Christian.

[Constantine I]

Could anyone answer this possibly simple question please? :)

[Timothy Long]

Could anyone answer this possibly simple question please? :)

The question(s) are not that simple. I want to help you. I have been trying for a while to answer your questions. but the words or phrases you ask about are not in the dictionary. (Websters online) this is a problem in our world today. People make things hard by using terms to sound "good". Like:
Oh she's a conservative christian, a fudamental christian, a liberal christian, etc.
Stick with the Bible. Jesus Christ said in the Bible you must be born again.( John 3 ) I know a true follower of Christ is called a Christian. And Christ says you must be born again. be a born-again Christian. A biblically based, born-again Christian is definately on the right track to life.

[FaithContender]

"Evangelical" means nothing anymore. I have taken it out of my vocabulary. I prefer the term "biblical Christian" b/c I think it's more descriptive.

[Kamatu]

Could anyone answer this possibly simple question please? :)

:pound
Like my wife, you have asked a number of questions, that although combined into one simple sentence, all have complicated answers.

One of the problems you will find is that different people define some of the words differently. However, I'll work from the wiki entries, but I'd suggest you do some looking on your own, this is not a quick subject.

On thing to remember with all these labels, they are used to cover a great many things and claimed by people who don't fit the regular definitions. So among liberal Christians you have the outright heretics of the US Anglican church and you have those who follow the five fundamentals but choose to show Christ through their walk without standing on a soapbox and preaching. They will share if asked, but they are not hunting people down and grabbing them.

If you prefer another example, simply look at the Mormons, JWs, Jim Jones' crew and others. All self identify as Christians, but patently aren't.

The first formulation of American fundamentalist beliefs can be traced to the Niagara Bible Conference (1878–1897) and, in 1910, to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church which distilled these into what became known as the "five fundamentals":[3]

* Inerrancy of the Scriptures
* The virgin birth and the deity of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14)
* The doctrine of substitutionary atonement by God's grace and through human faith (Hebrews 9)
* The bodily resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28)
* The authenticity of Christ's miracles (or, alternatively, his pre-millennial second coming)[4]


The core of fundamentalism, if you believe these, then you can consider yourself a fundamentalist.

Liberal Christianity, broadly speaking, is a method of biblical hermeneutics, an individualistic method of understanding God through the use of scripture by applying the same modern hermeneutics used to understand any ancient writings. Liberal Christianity does not claim to be a belief structure, and as such is not dependent upon any Church dogma or creedal statements. Unlike conservative Christianity, it has no unified set of propositional beliefs. The word liberal in liberal Christianity denotes a characteristic willingness to interpret scripture without any preconceived notion of inerrancy of scripture or the correctness of Church dogma.[2] A liberal Christian, however, may hold certain beliefs in common with traditional, orthodox, or even conservative Christianity.

Note that this definition of liberal Christianity is very broad and the word "liberal", as in the sociopolitical arena has mutated somewhat from the original definition. I'd say a closer definition for today might be a concern with social justice and works. Of course, those are not bad things for any Christian to do, but to get that label from me, it would have to be a focus superseding the gospel.

Evangelicalism is a theological perspective, most closely associated with Protestant Christianity, which identifies with the gospel. Although evangelicalism has been defined in a number of ways,[1] most adherents consider belief in the need for personal conversion (or being "born again"), some expression of the gospel through evangelism, a high regard for Biblical authority, and an emphasis on the death and resurrection of Jesus to be key characteristics.[2].

In the broad sense, an evangelical is anyone who believes in and shares the Gospel.

In modern terms, evangelicalism led directly to several of the current heretical trends in the church today. Most of the traits except putting bodies in the pews have been abandoned and things like the high view of Scripture has degenerated from a requirement to gain knowledge and discernment to the idea that because Scripture was quoted, the person you are talking to must bow down now. It doesn't matter if the Scripture is quoted out of context or actually means the reverse of what is being pushed, simply quoting Scripture is "enough".

[Constantine I]

Thank you for the posts, everyone.