The Evangelical Alliance (EA) 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, England and Wales. It was a founding member of the World Evangelical Fellowship (now the World Evangelical Alliance) as well a being a member of Global Connections, the UK network for organisations and churches involved in evangelism around the world.
Overview
The Evangelical Alliance has over 3000 churches affiliated to it[1]. Several well known Christian organisations are also linked to the Evangelical Alliance, for example Tearfund, Hope 08, Fusion 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[2].
The new General Director of the Alliance is Steve Clifford, replacing Joel Edwards in April 2009. Its Public Affairs Director is Dr. R. David Muir whilst Stephen Cave Directs Northern Ireland, Fred Drummond, Scotland, and Elfed Godding, Wales.
Position on substitutionary atonement
Recently the Alliance has had to face up to questions over what it means to be 'Evangelical'. An example of this came with the publication of Steve Chalke's controversial book The Lost Message of Jesus in 2004. The Evangelical Alliance published a statement, which included:
"...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."[citation needed]
However, this press release was later moved to the 'archive' section of the Alliance's web site, and subsequently quietly disappeared altogether.[citation needed] 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."[3]
Position on defence of the rights of Christians
In November 2006 the Evangelical Alliance released a report which stated that violent revolution should be regarded as a viable response if British legislation encroaches further on Christian rights: "If, as most Christians accept, they should be politically involved in democratic processes, many believe this may, where necessary, take the form of active resistance to the state. This may encompass disobedience to law, civil disobedience, involving selective, non-violent resistance or, ultimately, violent revolution."[4] Very Rev. Colin Slee, the Dean of Southwark, said such actions would send out a confused message, as "the fundamental themes of the gospel are love and reconciliation, not violent revolution."[4] Aversion to physical violence for the defence or propagation of the faith has been the norm for most major evangelical faiths, who take the Scripture as their supreme authority.
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