In
the first third of her mammoth tome,
“Evangelicals,
Struggle to Shape America,”
Frances
Fitzgerald traces the origin
of
the term, Evangelicals.
She
writes that Evangelicals
are
an early 20th Century
spinoff
from fundamentalists
and
their unscientific beliefs.
Apparently,
the name did not
emerge
until the Billy Graham
revivals
and his founding of the
magazine,
Christianity Today.
The
term also was used at
the
Lausanne Movement Conference
held
in 1974, and the ensuing efforts
of
John Stott and J.I. Packer.
People
did not identify
as
Evangelicals until recently,
still
calling themselves members
of
a specific Christian denomination.
It
was a system of beliefs
that
coalesced into Evangelicalism,
regardless
of the denomination
in
which they worshipped.
Evangelicals
are now found in
all
the mainline denominations
in
varying degree, and are the
norm
in a few large ones.
Simply
put, Evangelicals believe
that
the bible is the guide to salvation
and
the moral code has to be viewed
in
the light of the New Testament.
Evangelicals
concentrate on three tasks:
conversion,
bringing people to God,
discipleship,
learning Christianity, and
service,
practicing their faith in the world.
