Talk:Evangelicalism

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Evangelicals who don't go to church

There seems to be an increasing phenomenon of people self-identifying as "evangelical", but in actuality they only go to church a few times a year or not at all. This could represent as much as 40% of those who think of themselves as evangelicals. I think the article should eventually incorporate this phenomenon. There are sources such as https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/august-web-only/church-attendance-sbc-southern-evangelicals-now-lapsed.html and https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/church/new-data-suggests-over-40-percent-of-self-identified-evangelicals-attend-church-once-a-year-or-less/ --Westwind273 (talk) 06:58, 5 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It is questionable as to whether unchurched evangelicals are really evangelical Christians in the common sense of the expression. An evangelical belief in biblical inerrancy would seem to require church attendance, since that is the model that Paul set out in the New Testament. In this sense, evangelical may have become just a synonym for Republican. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/opinion/evangelical-republican.html --Westwind273 (talk) 22:25, 17 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It is worth mentioning that a high proportion of self-identified evangelicals in the US don't regularly attend church. Transient-understanding (talk) 03:51, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

So what? They are not obligated to attend. With few exceptions, most of the Orthodox Christians that I have ever met visited a church once or twice per year. The most religious members in my family just watched televised Sunday services. Dimadick (talk) 22:48, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Reliable sources (quoted above) have pointed out that, unlike Orthodox Christians, evangelicals typically believe in Biblical inerrancy, which means they should form churches and gather each week on the Lord's Day (Sunday) as the apostle Paul instructed in the New Testament. Christianity without community is alien to the model set up by Paul, which evangelicals purport to fervently espouse. Westwind273 (talk) 05:50, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Differentiating "Protestantism" and "Evangelicalism"

In current common usage, the latter appears to be a synonym for the former that is only used in anglophone North America. Are there any US Protestants that aren't considered Evangelicals? What gives them that distinction?Transient-understanding (talk) 03:56, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a link to an article on the subject: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/evangelicals/evmain.html 66.215.184.32 (talk) 08:30, 28 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that. By the four factors listed, what denominations would be considered "Mainline Protestant"? Nearly all the protestants I've spent time in church with would adopt all those points except the need for being born again (because they practice child baptism). Transient-understanding (talk) 07:55, 31 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

See mainline Protestant Ltwin (talk) 17:21, 31 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Transient-understanding, to expand the major mainline churches are the Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodist Church, Disciples of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church. They tend to be more theologically liberal, ecumenical, and do not adhere to biblical inerrancy. Ltwin (talk) 17:33, 31 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks again. Transient-understanding (talk) 22:53, 31 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The easiest way to understand evangelicals, as opposed to mainline protestants, is through the three key evangelical distinctives: sola fide, sola scriptura, and biblical inerrancy. Generally speaking, mainline protestants do not hold fast to these distinctives, whereas they are essential to evangelicalism. Westwind273 (talk) 05:53, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Pentecostals = Fundamentalists?

In the "Christian fundamentalism" subsection, the last sentence of the first paragraph reads, "Most fundamentalists are Baptists and dispensationalist [183] or Pentecostals and Charismatics.[184]" The citation for this is to Exporting the American Gospel: Global Christian Fundamentalism, which looks legitimate; however, I do not have access to the source to verify it. My understanding has always been that Pentecostals are not fundamentalists and have never been accepted by other fundamentalists due to the fact that fundamentalists are cessationists by definition. While there may be similarities between some fundamentalists and some Pentecostals, the Pentecostal belief in the continuance of prophetic revelation and the openness to female pastors places Pentecostals outside the fundamentalist fold. Ltwin (talk) 01:19, 29 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It wouldn’t be surprising if reliable sources include them even if many other fundamentalists do not think they belong. Often reliable sources use this label just for the more “militant” evangelicals. — JFHutson (talk) 04:45, 29 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Leaders functioning as bishops?

"The ministry of bishop with a function of supervision over churches on a regional or national scale is present in all the Evangelical Christian denominations, even if the titles president of the council or general overseer are mainly used for this function."

I have known many evangelical churches to have no general overseer in a role that can be in anyway described as bishop. Could someone explain what this sentence is adding to the article? It seems contradictory to me. TMcB23 (talk) 07:20, 22 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]