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''Conservative evangelicalism'' is a term used in the United Kingdom to describe a theological movement found within
evangelical 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 expe ...
Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
and is sometimes simply synonymous with ''evangelical'' within the United Kingdom. The term is used more often in the first sense, but conservative evangelicals themselves tend to use it in the second. Conservative evangelicals are sometimes called
fundamentalists Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishi ...
, but typically reject that label and are keen to maintain their distinct identity, which is more Reformed. Reformed fundamentalism shares many of the distinctives of conservative evangelicalism. In this sense, conservative evangelicalism can be thought of as being distinct from liberal evangelicalism, open evangelicalism, and
charismatic Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...
evangelicalism. Some conservative evangelical groups oppose women ministers or women preachers in mixed congregations.


History


Before the Second World War

By the 1930s, the term ''conservative evangelical'' was being used in contradistinction to ''liberal evangelical''. The points of distinction largely were that while liberal evangelicals "maintain some of the other typical evangelical emphases, do not maintain, and often repudiate, the total reliability of the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...
and usually do not preach
substitutionary atonement Substitutionary atonement, also called vicarious atonement, is a central concept within Christian theology which asserts that Jesus died "for us", as propagated by the Western classic and objective paradigms of atonement in Christianity, which ...
, even if they stress the cross in a doctrinally undefined way. Movements such as the Anglican Evangelical Group Movement and the Student Christian Movement could be described as liberal evangelical, the former organisation glad of the title "Liberal Evangelical". Organisations such as the Bible Churchman's Missionary Society (now Crosslinks) and the Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Evangelicals Unions (now
UCCF Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) is a UK-based charity that was founded in 1928 as the Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Evangelical Unions. UCCF's dual aims are: #To advance the evangelical Christian faith amongst students, gr ...
) were distinctively conservative evangelical in the
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
and university spheres respectively. The conservative evangelical movement was small and as such largely defensive, in part because "In academic circles it was almost universally assumed that a CE view of the Bible was dead." The
Keswick Convention The Keswick Convention is an annual gathering of conservative evangelical Christians in Keswick, in the English county of Cumbria. The Christian theological tradition of Keswickianism, also known as the Higher Life movement, became popularised ...
, which would later have a very significant role in the shaping of conservative evangelicalism in the UK, was a small outpost of evangelicalism still thoroughly committed to the sufficiency and authority of the Bible.


1960s

A key event in the development of British conservative evangelicalism was the 1966 National Assembly of Evangelicals, a convention organised by the
Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and socie ...
.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981) was a Welsh Protestant minister and medical doctor who was influential in the Calvinist wing of the British evangelical movement in the 20th century. For almost 30 years, he was the minister of Westminste ...
made an unexpected call for evangelicals to unite as evangelicals and no longer within their "mixed" denominations. This view was motivated by a belief that true Christian fellowship requires evangelical views on central topics such as the atonement and the inspiration of Scripture. The meeting was chaired by the
evangelical Anglican Evangelical Anglicanism or evangelical Episcopalianism is a tradition or church party within Anglicanism that shares affinity with broader evangelicalism. Evangelical Anglicans share with other evangelicals the attributes of "conversionism, a ...
John Stott John Robert Walmsley Stott (27 April 1921 – 27 July 2011) was an English Anglican cleric and theologian who was noted as a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. He was one of the principal authors of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974. In ...
. Lloyd Jones and Stott were the two leading figures within the conservative evangelical movement at that time, Lloyd Jones being a key figure to many in the Free Churches and Stott likewise amongst evangelical Anglicans. The two leaders clashed spectacularly as Stott, though not down as a speaker that night, used his role to urge Anglican clergy not to make any rash decisions, saying that Lloyd-Jones' opinion went against history and the Bible. The following year saw the first
National Evangelical Anglican Congress The National Evangelical Anglican Congress (NEAC) is an infrequent conference for evangelical Anglicans in the Anglican Communion. All congresses to date have been held in England, but have attracted delegates from other countries. They have been n ...
, which was held at
Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...
. At this conference, largely due to Stott's influence, evangelical Anglicans committed themselves to full participation in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
, rejecting the separationist approach proposed by Lloyd-Jones. These two conferences effectively fixed the direction of a large part of the British evangelical community. Although there is an ongoing debate as to the exact nature of Lloyd-Jones's views, they undoubtedly caused the two groupings to adopt diametrically opposed positions. These positions, and the resulting split, continue largely unchanged to this day. From at least around this time, conservative evangelicals have on occasion been referred to as
fundamentalists Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishi ...
, but typically reject that label and are keen to maintain their distinct identity, which is more Reformed.


1970s

From the war up until the 1960s, conservative evangelicals had been less of a distinct group within evangelicalism than they had before the war. The contributions, during the war, of C. S. Lewis to the evangelical cause helped to blend the lines between conservative evangelicals and others committed to evangelical distinctives from outside the movement. The stand taken by Stott and Lloyd-Jones against the liberalization of Christianity in the 1960s, meant that the biggest disagreements between evangelicals were over how to maintain evangelical distinctives in the light of the increasing shift of the major denominations toward liberalism. However, there were distinctions and disagreements within evangelicalism that went beyond this. With the dawn of the 1970s, evangelicals "were less united than they had been on church policies and on some theological issues." One of the most significant of these was the rise of the relatively young
Charismatic movement The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream Christian denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of sp ...
, which saw the importation of some of what had previously been
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestantism, Protestant Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian movementProtestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
denominations (but at this stage, largely within the evangelical constituency). The impact of this movement was so large that "By the 1970s, it was said, the majority of younger evangelicals in the Church of England were charismatic in outlook." The conservative evangelical movement can now be said to have a clearer definition from charismaticism. But the two movements could never be clearly separated as "Many congregations included a charismatic element ... This was partly because the more extreme groups tended to leave and form their own congregations, and partly because a charismatic element was more often accepted as a possible constituent of a broader fellowship, even by those who did not share its emphases."


21st century

In the 21st century there are an estimated 2 million evangelicals in the UK. According to research performed by the
Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and socie ...
in 2013, 87 per cent of UK evangelicals reported attending Sunday morning church services every week and 63 per cent reported attending weekly or fortnightly small groups. An earlier survey conducted in 2012 found that 92 per cent of evangelicals agreed it is a Christian's duty to help those in poverty, 45 per cent reported attending a church which has a fund or scheme that helps people in immediate need, and 42 per cent reported attending a church that supports or runs a foodbank. Sixty-three per cent believed in tithing and reported giving around 10 per cent of their income to their church, Christian organisations, and various charities. A 2011 report indicated that 83 per cent of UK evangelicals believed that the Bible has supreme authority in guiding their beliefs, views, and behaviour and 52 per cent read or listened to the Bible daily. The Evangelical Alliance, formed in 1846, was the first ecumenical evangelical body in the world and works to unite evangelicals, helping them listen to, and be heard by, the government, media and society. In December 2014, it was announced that the Church of England would appoint a new
Bishop of Maidstone The Bishop of Maidstone is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Canterbury, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the county town of Maidstone in Kent. Canterbury suf ...
to provide alternative episcopal oversight for conservative evangelical members of the church who take an alternative view on "headship". In September 2015,
Rod Thomas Rod Thomas (born 11 January 1947) is a Welsh former professional footballer who represented Wales at International level. During his career Thomas played for Gloucester City, Swindon Town, Derby County, Cardiff City, Gloucester for a second ...
was consecrated as the Bishop of Maidstone and became the first flying bishop for conservative evangelicals. The conservative evangelical presence in the Church of England is represented by groups such as the Church Society,
Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
, and the Fellowship of Word and Spirit, whose mission is the continued reformation of the Church of England. In May 2018 these groups officially merged into Church Society. The
Anglican Mission in England The Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) is an Anglican convocation affiliated to the Anglican Network in Europe that seeks to establish Anglican churches in England outside the Church of England. It seeks to support Anglican churches and individua ...
(supported by
GAFCON The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (branded as GAFCON or Gafcon) is a global network of conservative Anglican churches that formed in 2008 in response to an ongoing theological crisis in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Conservative ...
) and the
Free Church of England The Free Church of England (FCE) is an episcopal church based in England. The church was founded when a number of congregations separated from the established Church of England in the middle of the 19th century. The doctrinal basis of the F ...
seek to plant Anglican churches outside the established structures of the Church of England. In 2007
Word Alive Word Alive (previously known as New Word Alive) is an annual evangelical Christian conference which originated through a partnership between the UK Christian organisations UCCF and Keswick Ministries. The conference is focussed on Bible tea ...
split from Spring Harvest due to the increasingly liberal theology of Spring Harvest leaders, prompted by Steve Chalke's denial of the
penal substitution Penal substitution (sometimes, esp. in older writings, called forensic theory)D. Smith, The atonement in the light of history and the modern spirit' (London: Hodder and Stoughton), p. 96-7: 'THE FORENSIC THEORY...each successive period of history ...
theory of atonement, and along with the
Keswick Convention The Keswick Convention is an annual gathering of conservative evangelical Christians in Keswick, in the English county of Cumbria. The Christian theological tradition of Keswickianism, also known as the Higher Life movement, became popularised ...
is a distinctly conservative evangelical convention. In recent years there has been a resurgence in cross-denominational partnerships between conservative evangelicals (which suffered in the disagreement between John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones), particularly in the training of gospel workers. Such initiatives include 9:38, the Proclamation Trust (who run the Cornhill Training Course), and the Gospel Partnerships (who run the Ministry Training Course).


See also

*
Church of England (Continuing) The Church of England (Continuing) is part of the Continuing Anglican Movement. Although the church was widely discussed in Anglican circles at the time of its founding, it has not achieved significant growth since that time. In 2019 the church h ...
*
List of conservative evangelical Anglican churches in England A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...


References


Footnotes


Bibliography

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Further reading

* * {{refend


External links


The Gospel Partnerships
- a network of cross-denominational regional partnerships of conservative evangelical churches
Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches
-an affiliation of Independent conservative evangelical churches
GraceNet UK
- contains a large directory of conservative evangelical Baptist and Free churches
The Latimer Trust
- Conservative evangelical thinktank Christian theological movements Evangelicalism in the United Kingdom