This word comes from the word “gospel” which means good news. “Gospel” in the original Greek is “evangel.” So to be “evangelical” means that a person believes in, and lives their life out of, THE good news. That good news is that God has sent His Son into the world to save us, sinners, even though we deserve His anger and righteous punishment (see What is a Christian?).
So to be evangelical does not mean to be of a particular political persuasion, or even belong to a particular church – it really means to be a Christian, not just in name, but in reality.
Evangelical means that we now hate sin, wickedness and wrong-doing, and we trust in God to forgive us of the things we do wrong each day. It means we love God and we love those around us, because God first loved us. It does not mean we are perfect – far from it!
Evangelical means that we rely upon God to give us strength and grace to live each day as we should, in love and service to others. It means that the gospel (the Bible) teaches and guides us in all our life. It also means that we look forward to our eternal home with God, when He will make all things right.
Evangelical finally means that we truly desire all other people to come to know this same life-changing truth and share the same fullness of joy and peace that we have in God and in Jesus Christ.
Would you like to know more? Come along to our church!
Rev. David Torlach
Brisbane EPC