There have been some encouraging reports of growth in the numbers of British evangelicals. Anecdotally, some churches have been reporting an increase in visitors, with a significant number of younger men among them. That’s certainly true in the church that I pastor. And this is backed up by two recent survey reports, one by Ligonier Ministries and another by the Evangelical Alliance. In my city of Manchester, two evangelical mega events also give the appearance of evangelical resurgence. But is it really gospel growth?
Take the recent surveys by Ligonier and the EA. They both provide evidence that British evangelicalism is growing. But how are they defining ‘evangelical’ exactly? Here’s what the EA says about its definition, ‘Evangelical identity was measured by asking respondents whether they considered themselves an evangelical, and whether they would be comfortable using the term to describe themselves.’ In other words, they’re evangelical because they call themselves so.
But the EA, to their credit, also used a different method to define a tighter group. They used four statements based on the Bebbington Quadrilateral. What’s that, I hear you ask. It’s the belief in these four things: the authority of the Bible, the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, the need for conversion (or being ‘born again’), and that faith produces good works. It’s a standard definition which has been used for years, but you can see there’s still a good bit of wriggle room in those four beliefs.
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