What is "evangelical union"

Evangelical \E`van*gel"ic*al\, a.

1. Contained in, or relating to, the four Gospels; as, the evangelical history.

2. Belonging to, agreeable or consonant to, or contained in, the gospel, or the truth taught in the New Testament; as, evangelical religion.

3. Earnest for the truth taught in the gospel; strict in interpreting Christian doctrine; pre["e]minently orthodox; -- technically applied to that party in the Church of England, and in the Protestant Episcopal Church, which holds the doctrine of ``Justification by Faith alone;'' the Low Church party. The term is also applied to other religious bodies not regarded as orthodox.

4. Having or characterized by a zealous, crusading enthusiasm for a cause.

5. Adhering to a form of Christianity characterized by a conservative interpretation of the bible, but disavowing the label 'bdfundamentalist`'b8. Evangelical Alliance, an alliance for mutual strengthening and common work, comprising Christians of different denominations and countries, organized in Liverpool, England, in 1845. Evangelical Church.

   1. The Protestant Church in Germany.

   2. A church founded by a fusion of Lutherans and Calvinists in Germany in 1817.

      Evangelical Union, a religious sect founded in Scotland in 1843 by the Rev. James Morison; -- called also Morisonians.

The Evangelical Union was a religious denomination which originated in the suspension of the Rev. James Morison, minister of a United Secession congregation in Kilmarnock, Scotland, for certain views regarding faith, the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation, and the extent of the atonement, which were regarded by the supreme court of his church as anti- Calvinistic and heretical. It professed a creed which allowed them greater freedom as preachers of the Gospel. See also Morisonianism.

Morison was suspended by the presbytery in 1841 after publishing in the previous year a pamphlet entitled The Question, 'What must I do to be saved?' Answered under the pseudonym Philanthropos, and soon withdrew from the United Secession Church. His father, who was minister at Bathgate, and two other ministers, were deposed not long afterwards for similar opinions. The four met at Kilmarnock on May 16, 1843 (two days before the Disruption of the Free Church), and, on the basis of certain doctrinal principles, formed themselves into an association under the name of the Evangelical Union, for the purpose of countenancing, counselling and otherwise aiding one another, and also for the purpose of training up spiritual and devoted young men to carry forward the work and pleasure of the Lord.

The doctrinal views of the new denomination gradually assumed a more decidedly anti-Calvinistic form, and they began also to find many sympathizers among the Congregationalists of Scotland. Nine students were expelled from the Congregational Academy for holding Morisonian doctrines, and in 1845 eight churches were disjoined from the Congregational Union of Scotland and formed a connection with the Evangelical Union.

The Union exercised no jurisdiction over the individual churches connected with it, and in this respect adhered to the Independent or Congregational form of church government; but those congregations which originally were Presbyterian vested their government in a body of elders. In 1889 the denomination numbered 93 churches; and in 1896, after prolonged negotiation, the Evangelical Union was incorporated with the Congregational Union of Scotland.

Evangelical Union can refer to:

• Evangelical Union (Scotland), a religious phenomenon in Scotland
• Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states in the 17th century
• A union between Lutheran and Reformed Churches, e.g. Prussian Union

University unions

• A campus Christian group affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ, the largest evangelical organization in the United States, according to USA Today
• The Sydney University Evangelical Union A University Christian group with the University of Sydney, affiliated with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students