Where and when did evangelical Christianity begin?
I don’t know if you mean Evangelical Christinaity as a denomination or division within Christianity, or if you mean the practice of preaching and teaching in public and private, from door to door and in the streets, for free. My limited understanding of the term simply means that it is people who believe the Bible, try to apply it in their dialy lives and try to teach it to others. If it is a division, then it might be as recent as the last hundred years or so. The term was not really put into regular use until even more recently, probably just in the last few decades that it has become familiar to the majority. As for the status given to any specific group as a religion, that varies depending on the territory you are in. Even if a denomination is recognized legally in one country, another may not give it the same consideration, others may even imprison someone for affiliating themselves with such a group, so legal recognition as a religion is ambiguous. As for the first one to use it
An Evangelical is someone who lives their life in accordance with the Christian gospel. Using this definition, evangelical Christianity began about 33 C.E. Some groups like to redefine words like Evangelical into much narrower terms and claim that many Christians are not Evangelical. Current popular usage of the term chich is often synonymous with conservative Protestant Christians is very recent. With love in Christ.
I think that the problem here is that “modern” religious organizations have suceeded in politicizing the word “evangelical” and here we see that the light of truth and reality are having trouble in shining through. Xanderman’s answer is accurate and useful. Jefflovstrom is just as accurate and very succinct. Here is why we have trouble with the word, or even the concept of “evangelical”. Meriam Webster’s Main Entry: 1evan·gel·i·cal 1 : of, relating to, or being in agreement with the Christian gospel especially as it is presented in the four Gospels 2 : PROTESTANT 3 : emphasizing salvation by faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ through personal conversion, the authority of Scripture, and the importance of preaching as contrasted with ritual 4 a capitalized : of or relating to the Evangelical Church in Germany b often capitalized : of, adhering to, or marked by fundamentalism : FUNDAMENTALIST c often capitalized : LOW CHURCH 5 : marked by militant or crusading zeal Consider also i
