Researchers estimate there are 600+ million evangelicals in the world and this number increases significantly each year. This is slightly more than Orthodox and ‘mainline’ global protestants and less than the 1.4 billion Catholics. By comparison, there are an estimated 2 billion Muslims in the world.

The term “evangelical” means good news and was used in the early 1500s by Martin Luther and others to describe people who emphasize the authority of the Bible over church tradition. By the mid-1800s, evangelicalism was defined by four beliefs:

1. Truth: The Bible, revealed by God is our primary source of truth.

2. Good News: Trust in Jesus is the only way to connect with God for eternity, and this should be shared with others.

3. Trust: We grow through the indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit.

4. Action: We proclaim this good news and display God’s character by impacting our world for good.

The first question that people in North America often ask is, “Isn’t 'evangelical' a description of a conservative political voting bloc?” The term “evangelical” has been used by US media as a political term, so in this region, the term has its original meaning plus a vague political meaning. Yet in the rest of the world, especially the global south, the word evangelical has a longstanding strong reputation to describe “people who serve the poor and pursue justice for the vulnerable.”

When Timothy Keller was asked, “Why not just get rid of the word evangelical and call yourselves something else?” he replied, “Because most of us are in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and like the word evangelical just fine. North Americans aren’t entitled to choose what we’re called.”

Today, global evangelicals will meet in a “once-every-six-years” assembly. Global evangelicals are represented by an umbrella network called the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), which traces its roots to 1846 and has independent national evangelical alliance organizations in 161 nations. Every six years, the WEA holds a General Assembly. That event will take place in Seoul, South Korea, and will end next Saturday, November 1.

Bakke Graduate University (bgu.edu) was asked in 2017 to develop training and coaching programs for the 161 national alliances. BGU Chancellor Dr. Brad Smith serves as the Alliance Engagement Director for the WEA to oversee this work. As Brad and other BGU leaders will be active in the Seoul meetings, they will produce several short email updates since people are often curious about the fastest-growing population group in global Christianity, called evangelicals.

Why should this matter for people who live in North America? Timothy Keller’s quote used the term “us” and “we”. If you hold the four beliefs listed above, this is our family reunion. Even if we avoid our “name”, most of our family reveres it. It might be worth learning more about what they know that we are missing.