What does Evangelism mean to you?

[Wiffey]

From reading some other threads, it became clear to me that there is a lot of misunderstanding about the word "Evangelism/Evangelical". So I want to hear the perspective of self described Evangelicals...what does Evangelism mean to you?

[karen freeinchristman]

From reading some other threads, it became clear to me that there is a lot of misunderstanding about the word "Evangelism/Evangelical". So I want to hear the perspective of self described Evangelicals...what does Evangelism mean to you?

I think perhaps the term we want to look at is 'Evangelicalism' - rather than evangelism.
Evangelicalism is related to a churchmanship and theological stance. Evangelicals consider themselves to be more Protestant or Reformed than Catholic (in the way that Anglo-Catholics define the word Catholic). They are more bible-based and less tradition-based. They have a strong emphasis on evangelism and personal experience in faith as opposed to corporate faith.

Evangelism is the preaching of the Christian Gospel - the proclamation of the Good News, which should be a ministry of all baptised Christians, IMO.

[Wiffey]

Good point. We are all called to evangelize.

Where I grew up, evangelicalism was intertwined with strict fundamentalism...and I'm seeing that there are a whole lot of evangelical Christians who do not fall into that strict fundamentalist mold. I'm learning that the Anglican version of evangelicalism is far different than what I was exposed to in the southern USA!

[karen freeinchristman]

Good point. We are all called to evangelize.

Where I grew up, evangelicalism was intertwined with strict fundamentalism...and I'm seeing that there are a whole lot of evangelical Christians who do not fall into that strict fundamentalist mold. I'm learning that the Anglican version of evangelicalism is far different than what I was exposed to in the southern USA!
Yes, I think probably so.

I can only speak of the Church of England, but here the evangelicals can encompass a broad-ish range. For instance, there will be some that support women priests and some that don't.

[Naomi4Christ]

Yes, I think probably so.

I can only speak of the Church of England, but here the evangelicals can encompass a broad-ish range. For instance, there will be some that support women priests and some that don't.

I wouldn't say that we are broad church...

Examples that I've come across: we do not marry divorcés (although we do bless such civil marriages). We do not allow those "living in sin" to have any kind of leadership role in the church, although they are more than welcome to worship with us and share communion. We avoid the women priest issue by having a patron that is opposed to women priests (we can pay lip service to welcoming applications from women, but in reality it is not going to happen).

I think we are fairly conservative but avoid at all costs talking about and tackling controversial issues. We refuse to be sidetracked by these issues and steadfastly keep our focus on the Kingdom.

[karen freeinchristman]

I wouldn't say that we are broad church...

Examples that I've come across: we do not marry divorcés (although we do bless such civil marriages). We do not allow those "living in sin" to have any kind of leadership role in the church, although they are more than welcome to worship with us and share communion. We avoid the women priest issue by having a patron that is opposed to women priests (we can pay lip service to welcoming applications from women, but in reality it is not going to happen).

I think we are fairly conservative but avoid at all costs talking about and tackling controversial issues. We refuse to be sidetracked by these issues and steadfastly keep our focus on the Kingdom.
Yes, well, your view and experience of the Evangelical wing of the C of E is different to some of the Evangelical churches I've experienced, and so my view of the wing having some breadth to it is a reality, even if you haven't experienced it. The range of evangelicalism is from fundamentalist to liberal, just as it is within the more Catholic side of the church. I don't think it is fair for the fundamentalist evangelicals to say that those of us who are more liberal are any less evangelical.

[SirTimothy]

Karen's right. Evangelicalism is hugely broad. From the high-church evangelicals (smells, bells and Alpha) to the low-church evangelicals (just the litrugy, Alpha, Christianity explored, Faith in the City, etc...)

Timoth

[Naomi4Christ]

I would say that my views are pretty reflective of the big evangelical parishes that surround London. We have the population density that allows us to have fairly niche churches. I imagine that in a less populous area, you are going to get much broader churches.


As an example of niche churches, in our deanery, we (classic evangelical) is the biggest parish, next is an evangelical/charasmatic, then an evangelical/United shared church, then a FiF uber AC. After that, you have all the small central eucharistic and liberal catholic parishes. We have 12 parishes in our deanery, so the biggest ones are the most polarising.