In a post about a week or so ago, I mentioned this question, "What is an evangelical?" in a post about Sarah Palin's reaction among evangelicals. This term is often bandied about, without most people actually having a concrete understanding of exactly who might fall under its mantle. So, I decided to provide a brief summary which will hopefully separate the actual characteristics of an evangelical from the extra baggage that has become attached to the term.
Pollster George Barna at the Barna Research Group recently looked at how Americans view evangelical voters. Near the end of that update, he outlines his definition of evangelical, which is helpful for considering this issue (which I've adapted for clarity). He writes,
“Evangelicals" are born again Christians. In the survey, people qualified as evangelicals if they met the born again criteria...
1. They have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today.
2. They believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.
They also affirmed the following:
3. Their religious faith is very important in their life today.
4. They have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians.
5. They believe that Satan exists.
6. They believe that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works.
7. They believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth.
8. They assert that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches.
9. They describe God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.
Being classified as an evangelical is not dependent upon church attendance or the denominational affiliation of the church attended. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as "evangelical."
Given the additional characteristics associated with contemporary evangelicals, many Christians have chosen to adopt the term, "Christ-follower". This is a legitimate consideration, but it does beg the question, "What does it actually mean to follow Christ?" I assume this means that we conform our lives to the way Christ would live His. What did Christ believe? How did He live? What did He think about God's Word? (That is, after all, the grid through which earnest Christians evaluate how to live lives that are like Christ's.) This is the essence of what it means to apply a Christian worldview to all of life, summarized in that pithy, overused phrase, "What would Jesus do?"
On a practical level, then, one might consider how an evangelical (or Christ-follower, whatever your term preference) might view the accuracy and authority of Scripture. What does the Bible say about homosexuals? What about homosexuality? Is there a difference? What about developing a theological understanding of how Christians should approach the political arena? What about the workplace? How does the Bible help us understand how to engage responsibly on the myriad of bioethical issues, like embryonic stem cell research, cloning and euthanasia? The questions go on...
As an evangelical, I understand the reluctance by many to be categorized as such, given the misconceptions that others (and evangelicals themselves) have thrust upon the evangelical sub-set. But given the criteria outlined above, those who take the Bible and their Christian faith seriously need not hesitate to be considered an evangelical (which continually working to overcome misconceptions about evangelicals). 
Comments