Evangelical Alliance

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The Evangelical Alliance is a London-based charitable organization founded in 1846 with a claimed representation of over 1,000,000 evangelical Christians in the United Kingdom. This constituency is made up of individuals, churches, denominations, and organisations. As a UK Alliance it has Alliances established in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. It was a founding member of the World Evangelical Fellowship (now the World Evangelical Alliance).

It's mission reads, 'Uniting Evangelicals to present Christ as good news for spiritual and social transformation'. In order to work for this it has four principle purposes which are,

To provide a prophetic and evangelical voice in the public square

To motivate, mobilise and equip evangelicals as they engage in spiritual and social transformation as active citizens

To convene, catalyse, and engage with evangelicals for effective action best delivered Alltogether in promoting unity and truth

To service the strategic interests of Evangelical Alliance members

The Evangelical Alliance has about 7000 churches affiliated to it. Several well known Christian organisations are also linked to the Evangelical Alliance, for example Tearfund, and Serving In Mission (SIM).

The Evangelical Alliance lobbies the government on various political issues. For example, the Evangelical Alliance played a leading role in the opposition to certain sections of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006.

[edit] Recent Controversy

Recently the Alliance has had to face up to questions over what it means to be 'Evangelical'. Increasingly it has responded to those issues by attempting to broaden the definition and maintain a form of unity, rather than disciplining members who break with the traditional doctrinal line. An example of this policy came with the publication of Steve Chalke's controversial book The Lost Message of Jesus in 2004. Initially, the Evangelical Alliance published a strongly-worded statement:

"...we do not believe that penal substitutionary atonement can be rejected as it is rejected in The Lost Message of Jesus, and as Steve has persisted in rejecting it since. While affirming the many gifts which Steve has to offer, we urge him, as a much-loved brother in Christ, to reconsider both the substance and style of his recently expressed views on this matter."

However, this press release was later moved to the 'archive' section of the Alliance's web site, and subsequently quietly disappeared altogether. Now, according to a statement in 2005 by the General Director, it welcomes the fact that Steve Chalke has:

"affirmed [his] willingness to continue creative engagement with penal substitutionary atonement, and to work alongside its proponents in the cause of the gospel."

Currently the General Director is Joel Edwards and its Public Affairs Director is David Muir. Stephen Cave Directs Northern Ireland, Fred Drummond, Scotland, and Elfed Godding, Wales.