Designation of "Evangelical" Protestantism

[RINO Tom]

I'm trying to make a county map of the US by religion using my own categories, so I ask you all the following:

What is your personal definition for when a denomination/family of Protestant Christianity should be classified as "Evangelical"?

I will start by saying (as I have many times on here) that I find Pew's classification really lacking, as it effectively just labels more liberal churches "Mainline" and more conservative churches "Evangelical."  The example I give is that growing up Missouri Synod Lutheran (before going to an ELCA church at an older age), I don't think anyone would have seen ourselves as Evangelical Christians, and most had a very distinct impression of "Evangelicals" as something very separate.  In other words, a Missouri Synod Lutheran would feel much more connection to an ELCA Lutheran with a more liberal interpretation of Scripture than he would with a more conservative Southern Baptist with more of a "low church" orientation.

According to Wikipedia, "Evangelical Protestantism" has the following definition:

Evangelicalism, also called Evangelical Christianity or Evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experiences personal conversion; the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity (biblical inerrancy); and spreading the Christian message.

It also gives this definition for "born again," which was bolded above for emphasis:

Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in Evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth," or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and separately caused by the operation of the Holy Spirit, and it is not caused by baptism in water. It is a core doctrine of the denominations of the Anabaptist, Moravian, Methodist, Baptist, Plymouth Brethren and Pentecostal, Churches along with all other evangelical Christian denominations.

I definitely do not have a perfect cutoff myself, but I am inclined to draw more of a dividing line among "high church" and "low church" for my classifications.  I have a really hard time calling ANY Anglican/Episcopalian an "Evangelical" simply because their church didn't like the liberal direction and decided to splinter off.  I am less knowledgeable about the splits among Methodists and Presbyterians, but I would certainly lean toward calling all Episcopalians and Lutherans "Mainline."  On the flip side, I am not sure ANY denomination of Baptist should be called "Mainline," but I am less knowledgeable there.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any responses and respectful discussion!

[Skill and Chance]

I would say American Evangelical churches are defined by at least 2 of these 3, and the clearest cases have all of them:

1. Non-literal understanding of Communion

2. Baptism only after coming of age

3. Entrepreneurial system of local pastors with significant (sometimes total) autonomy.

[jojoju1998]

You have to use the Bebbington Model.

Biblicism: a particular regard for the Bible (e.g. all essential spiritual truth is to be found in its pages)
Crucicentrism: a focus on the atoning work of Christ on the cross
Conversionism: the belief that human beings need to be converted
Activism: the belief that the gospel needs to be expressed in effort

[RINO Tom]

I would say American Evangelical churches are defined by at least 2 of these 3, and the clearest cases have all of them:

1. Non-literal understanding of Communion

2. Baptism only after coming of age

3. Entrepreneurial system of local pastors with significant (sometimes total) autonomy.

Thanks for the response!  So of the largest Protestant denominations that are "split," which of the following "conservative" denominations would you say count as Evangelical?  Because I feel like only a few would:

Baptist: Southern Baptist Convention ... definitely Evangelical.
Lutheran: Lutheran Church Missouri Synod ... I would personally say definitely not.
Presbyterian: Presbyterian Church in America ... not sure?
Methodist: Free Methodist Church ... not sure?
Episcopalian/Anglican: Anglican Church in North America ... almost certainly no?

On a related note, I have to wonder if the "Mainline" Baptist church (American Baptist Churches USA) should actually be counted as Evangelical, even if it is more theologically liberal?

[Skill and Chance]

I would say American Evangelical churches are defined by at least 2 of these 3, and the clearest cases have all of them:

1. Non-literal understanding of Communion

2. Baptism only after coming of age

3. Entrepreneurial system of local pastors with significant (sometimes total) autonomy.

Thanks for the response!  So of the largest Protestant denominations that are "split," which of the following "conservative" denominations would you say count as Evangelical?  Because I feel like only a few would:

Baptist: Southern Baptist Convention ... definitely Evangelical.
Lutheran: Lutheran Church Missouri Synod ... I would personally say definitely not.
Presbyterian: Presbyterian Church in America ... not sure?
Methodist: Free Methodist Church ... not sure?
Episcopalian/Anglican: Anglican Church in North America ... almost certainly no?

On a related note, I have to wonder if the "Mainline" Baptist church (American Baptist Churches USA) should actually be counted as Evangelical, even if it is more theologically liberal?

SBC: Clearly Yes
LCMS: Clearly No (clearly fails #2 and #3)
PCA: Likely No (fails #2 and probably fails #3)
Asbury Style Methodists: Likely Yes (only fails #2)
UMC Style Methodists: Likely No (fails #2 and #3)
Anglicans: Clearly No (fails all 3)

ABC and liberal Non-Denominationals: Yes (this is much deeper than politics)
Quakers and Salvation Army: Also Yes (no sacraments at all!)

[RINO Tom]

^ Nice, thank you for your response!  Super helpful.  The one I was the most "ready" to call Evangelical (besides Southern Baptists, obviously) was the conservative Methodist church.  Methodism seems to have had an inherently more "Evangelical" foundation compared to other Mainline Protestant denominations, even if it can trace itself back to splitting from Anglicans.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

It depends on a lot of factors. If a person self-identifies as an evangelical or "born again" (the latter one grinds my gears because all Christians, by definition, are "born again" according to Scripture). The ACNA has both evangelical and charismatic congregations in addition to Anglo-Catholic ones.

But I generally agree with the OP in that the word "evangelical" is too often used synonymously with "conservative." Interestingly, Pew finds that the majority of white mainline Protestants vote Republican, although a lot of that probably has to do with conservative Southern Methodist churches. That's significant because most non-Baptist Protestants in the South are Methodist.

Speaking of which, the UMC is still headed for a split last I heard. The conservative churches will stay in communion with the conservative African and Filipino congregations, whose primates outnumber and have repeatedly punished the UMC for accepting homosexuality, while the liberal churches will just keep what they're doing. Until it's official though, liberal and conservative Methodists are still under the same tent.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I would consider a person an evangelical if they believe in the literal sense of the word- the need to evangelize to prevent others from going to Hell.  Churches that embrace more liberal theology- either that deemphasize Hell entirely or that believe that non-believers can be Saved- are the ones that would not be classified as evangelical.  Being an evangelical Christian has nothing to do with style of worship (although I personally prefer the stereotypical "low-church" style).  PCA is absolutely an evangelical denomination (just talk with any PCA person about theology), and I'd lean towards saying LCMS is as well.

[RINO Tom]

I would consider a person an evangelical if they believe in the literal sense of the word- the need to evangelize to prevent others from going to Hell.  Churches that embrace more liberal theology- either that deemphasize Hell entirely or that believe that non-believers can be Saved- are the ones that would not be classified as evangelical.  Being an evangelical Christian has nothing to do with style of worship (although I personally prefer the stereotypical "low-church" style).  PCA is absolutely an evangelical denomination (just talk with any PCA person about theology), and I'd lean towards saying LCMS is as well.

That means eternal suffering for the majority of the world. Could anything be worse than that?
That's a pretty horrible thought and definitely BAD news.
Let's all hope it is false which it clearly is.

That is not the topic of this thread, we all know your views.

[LabourJersey]

I always appreciate threads like this.

I frankly did not know any Evangelicals while growing up, and as an adult I only know ex-Evangelicals who have since left their church for other denominations like the Episcopalians or left church altogether. The blurry lines delinating who is and isn't an Evangelical align with my assumptions on this, but it's appreciated reading people much more familiar with this subset of Protestantism than I am.

[RINO Tom]

Shameless bump ... lol, I tried to start with my own denomination that I would be most familiar with (Lutheranism), and after some research I ended up dividing the churches in my dataset like this.  The more I think about it, the less comfortable I am with "Mainline" being the more exclusionary of the two definitions ... in other words, "Mainline" should extend beyond the Seven Sisters, and "Evangelical" should be a more descriptive and exclusively defined term.

Mainline
ELCA
Missouri Synod
North American Lutheran Church
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
American Association of Lutheran Churches
Apostolic Lutheran Church of America
Association of Free Lutheran Congregations
Evangelical Lutheran Conference and Ministerium of North America
Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America
Latvian ELCA

Evangelical
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America
Church of the Lutheran Confession
Concordia Lutheran Conference
Independent Lutheran Diocese
Laestadian Lutheran Church
Old Apostolic Lutheran Church of America
Orthodox Lutheran Confessional Conference

I hope to eventually do this for every Protestant denomination, but beyond the obvious ones, it is very difficult and time consuming, lol.