Written by: Richard Volzke on February 7, 2014

Evangelicalism

David Bebbington’s book, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, traces the history of the evangelical movement in Britain from the 1700’s through the 1980’s. I appreciate how the author describes the different nuances of evangelicalism that have been found throughout the history of English culture from the time of John Wesley through the 20th century.

Bebbington states that“there are the four qualities that have been the special marks of Evangelical religion: conversionism, the belief that lives need to be changed; activism, the expression of the gospel in effort; biblicism, a particular regard for the Bible; and what may be called crucicentrism, a stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.”[1] Upon reading this, I took time to consider how I viewed Evangelicalism. I believe that the author is correct that these are the four essential elements that make up the Christian evangelical religion. In my masters program, we studied the life and ministry of John Wesley.  I went back and looked at some of my notes and books, and I discovered that John Wesley did not list these four aspects in any of his writings or sermons although the key elements were included in his understanding of Christianity.

Conservatism, activism, biblicism, and crucicentrism were all preached and practiced by Christ in his ministry. Christ stressed that first and foremost, a person’s life will change when they become a Christian. Once a person’s life has been changed, the next natural act is a life of service to others as Christ demonstrated. A person cannot truly be a Christian unless they’re willing to serve others and spread the gospel as Christ commanded. This is an issue that I see within many churches and Christian individuals. People are converted, and then there is no action put towards that conversion and they sit in the pews and call themselves Christians without ever reaching out to the world around him. This is neither the model that Christ demonstrated, nor that of the other early church leaders.

The heart of the evangelical Christian movement is that our lives are changed, and with that change action occurs.  The action is that we no longer focus on our wants or needs, but focus on the world around us and actively share the love of Christ, furthering the gospel message. Focusing on the Scriptures is important, as this is how we develop a relationship with Christ and learn about the model for which we should live.   The key to evangelicalism is remembering the sacrifice that Christ made for us, and understanding it is by Grace we are saved.  Works does not save us, however action and evangelism come out of our changed relationship with Christ.

Richard

[1] Bebbington, David W. (2004-03-09). Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (pp. 2-3). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.

About the Author

Richard Volzke