Evangelical Protestantism

Evangelical is a very capacious term, and both scholars and conservative Protestants themselves struggle to define the boundaries of this religious community. Some people apply the term to groups as divergent as [Page 501]Southern Baptists, Pentecostals, and more conservative branches of Methodism, Lutheranism, and Pres-byterianism. Complicating this definition, however, is the reality that not all of the members of each of these groups would self-identify as evangelicals. In general, several key beliefs and practices tend to characterize evangelical cultures. To begin with, a profound conversion experience, often called a “born again” experience, refers to the belief that lives must be transformed through a direct relationship with Jesus Christ. Evangelicals understand themselves to have a “great commission” to spreading the message of Jesus Christ, and ...