What Makes a Church Evangelical?

by James Montgomery Boice

Despite evangelicalism's strong truth-heritage, the spirit of the postmodern age—with its rejection of absolutes and beliefs of any kind—is threatening the health of the church and the faith of many of God's people. Only a return to our theological roots—the biblical doctrines summarized by the solas of the Reformation—can keep the evangelical church standing strong. Which truths are most crucial for Christians to recover? Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), and soli deo Gloria (glory to God alone). Without them, the evangelical church will lose its distinctiveness and fail to carry the Gospel into the new millenium. We must recover the historic Christian faith—a robust theology that entails a great view of God and an informed focus on the doctrines of God's grace. That recovery begins with the biblical truths shared in these pages.

48 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 1999

About the author

James Montgomery Boice was a Reformed theologian, Bible teacher, and pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1968 until his death in 2000. He was also president and cofounder of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, the parent organization of The Bible Study Hour on which Boice was a speaker for more than thirty years.

Reviews

[Mark A Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

In another volume of the Today’s Issues series of booklets, Boice tackles the identity of evangelicals, pointing to the definitive belief: justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Although brief in nature, Boice’s work is able to give some helpful insight into the distinguishing features of an evangelical church. Sadly, the format limits the depth of information, which tends to be sporadic at times. A serviceable primer on evangelicalism, but little else.