1. Home
  2. Resources
  3. Publications
  4. What is an Evangelical?

What is an Evangelical?

Publication

What is an Evangelical?
  • March 2026

Today, some Bible-believing Christians have grown uncomfortable with describing themselves as Evangelical. They may feel it has been politicised or become synonymous with a lack of doctrinal robustness. Or they may conclude that it is now claimed or applied too broadly to be meaningful, extending to people whose lifestyles are inconsistent with biblical ethics.

But the term is worth reclaiming and defending. There are many different ways to define Evangelicals, but this leaflet outlines some of what makes them distinct under five headings: Revelation, Redemption, Spirituality, Activism and Fellowship.

References

References

  1. 1 Hodder, E, The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, KG,, Cassell & Company Limited, 1892, page 738
  2. 2 Schaff, P and Schaff, D S, History of the Christian Church: Volume 6, The Middle Ages, From Boniface VIII to the Protestant Reformation 1294–1517, Hendrickson Publishers, 2006, page 315
  3. 3 Warfield, B B, ‘Inspiration’ in Warfield B B, The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield: I Revelation and Inspiration, OUP, 1932, page 104
  4. 4 Calvin, J, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Beveridge, H, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989, page 72
  5. 5 Luther, M, ‘The Smalcald Articles’ in Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church, trans. Bente, F and Dau, W H T, Concordia Publishing House, 1921
  6. 6 Edwards, J, ‘A Faithful Narrative’ in Edwards, J and Goen, C C (ed), The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 4: The Great Awakening, YUP, 2009, page 151
  7. 7 Noll, M A, The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys, Apollos, 2004, pages 69-125
  8. 8 Hague, W, William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner, Harper Perennial, 2008, pages 19, 502-503, 511
  9. 9 Hicks, E, ‘Christianity Personified’: Perceval and Pittism, University of Oxford, DPhil Thesis, 2018, pages 53, 269, 274-275 and 298; ‘Perceval, Hon. Spencer (1762-1812)’, The History of Parliament, see https://historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/perceval-hon-spencer-1762-1812 as at 10 March 2026; Gray, D, Spencer Perceval: The Evangelical Prime Minister: 1762-1812, Manchester University Press, pages 42-43; Brown, F K, Fathers of the Victorians: The Age of Wilberforce, Cambridge University Press, 1961, page 441; Walpole, S, The life of the Rt. Hon. Spencer Perceval, Volume 1, Hurst and Blackett Publishers, 1974, pages 302-303
  10. 10 Roberts, W, The Portraiture of a Christian Gentleman, J A Hessey, 1829, pages 167–170 cited in Hicks, E, ‘Christianity Personified’: Perceval and Pittism, University of Oxford, DPhil Thesis, 2018, page 18
  11. 11 ChronicleLive, 15 March 2016, see https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-womens-rights-campaigner-josephine-11043878 as at 10 March 2026; Jordan, J, Josephine Butler, John Murray, 2001, pages 1-5, 76, 110, 128, 205, 208, 229, 236; Mead, F and Bodkin, A H, The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885, with Introduction, Notes, and Index, Shaw and Sons, 1885, pages 21-22 and pages 44-45
  12. 12 Andrusko, D, ‘Remembering the enormous contribution of Francis Schaeffer to the Pro-Life Movement on the 40th anniversary of his passing’, National Right to Life, see https://nrlc.org/nrlnewstoday/2024/05/remembering-the-enormous-contribution-of-francis-schaeffer-to-the-pro-life-movement-on-the-40th-anniversary-of-his-passing/ as at 23 January 2026
  13. 13 Schaeffer, F, ‘A Christian Manifesto’ in The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview, Volume Five: A Christian View of the West, Crossway, 1982, page 487
  14. 14 Lewis, D M (Ed.), Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, Volume 2, Hendrickson, 2004, page 1180
  15. 15 ‘The Sons of God’, sermon by C H Spurgeon, 7 October 1860, see https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-sons-of-god/#flipbook/ as at 10 March 2026
  16. 16 Johnson, T M, ‘Evangelicals Worldwide’, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, accessed via https://www.gordonconwell.edu/blog/evangelicals-worldwide/ as at 23 January 2026
  17. 17 Zurlo, G, Johnson, T and Crossing, P F, ‘Status of Global Christianity 2025’, Center for Global Christianity, accessed via https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2025/01/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2025.pdf as at 23 January 2026; Christian Daily International, 6 September 2025, see https://www.christiandaily.com/news/there-is-no-such-thing-as-the-evangelical-researchers-say-the-movements-center-has-shifted-to-the-global-south as at 10 March 2026

Image Attribution

Image attributions

  • fp Cross image: https://stock.adobe.com/uk/images/many-people-around-the-cross-christian-concept-modern-painting-generative-ai/617170334

  • p2 B B Warfield: https://banneroftruth.org/us/about/banner-authors/b-b-warfield/?srsltid=AfmBOor4VWGTcvpwDwhWe71XMPX_EwCO5Ubl462YLntoE8KdBOsGVJw7

  • p2 Bible: CI

  • p2 John Calvin: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Calvin_by_Holbein.png

  • p2 Martin Luther: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucas_Cranach_d.%C3%84._-_Martin_Luther,_1528_(Veste_Coburg).jpg

  • p3 Praying hands: https://www.123rf.com/photo_48405768_hands-of-an-unrecognizable-woman-with-bible-praying.html

  • p3 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sinners_in_the_Hands_of_an_Angry_God_by_Jonathan_Edwards_1741.jpg

  • p3 Jonathan Edwards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Edwards_(theologian)#/media/File:Jonathan_Edwards_engraving.jpg

  • p4 William Wilberforce: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_wilberforce.jpg

  • p4 Spencer Perceval: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spencer_Perceval_(1762%E2%80%931812).jpg

  • p5 George Whitefield: https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.75.77

  • p5 Cross on a hill: https://www.lightstock.com/photos/a-cross-near-a-rocky-landscape-and-a-hill

  • p5 Open Bible: https://www.123rf.com/photo_47903035_book.html

  • p5 Charles Spurgeon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Spurgeon#/media/File:Charles_Haddon_Spurgeon_by_Alexander_Melville.jpg

  • 17 Bible Study: https://www.lightstock.com/photos/young-adults-gathered-at-a-bible-study

  • 17 Bible and world map: https://www.lightstock.com/photos/world-map-and-open-bible-on-a-desk-69167bff-8dc4-41c0-ae0d-7b65c2f4f683

  • 17 Globe: https://bluemarble.ch/wordpress/2007/01/01/blue-marble-images-on-the-ipcc-4th-assessment-report-2007/stockli_bluemarble_west_ipcc_2007/

  • 17 Richard Turnbull: CI