Evangelical vs. Evangelistic

Have you ever (prepare yourself for the rhetorical question) found yourself annoyed by a slight nuance of a conversation?

My number one annoyance is, when in the context of prayer, the one offering it repeats the word "JUST" about a million times. God would you just... Just ____ just____... It has become such a mind numbing distraction I actually have started counting while they are prayer. Not good I know but it gets me so that this #1 annoyance has almost hijacked this blog post. "Just" aside my number 2 issues isn't as nearly infuriating as the "Just" one. Here it is...

A handful of times in the past week I've been having a discussion in one form or another. The person I'm talking with tries to describe something where the gospel is preached to those who do not believe. They refer to the purpose of the gathering as evangelical. The word however they were looking for was evangelistic. Let's examine shall we.

• Evangelicalism: This term is increasingly hard to define. In reformation times it had come to mean the confession in "a belief in the truth of the five solas: Sola gratia, Sola fide, Solus Christus, Sola Scriptura, Soli Deo Gloria. In short, they confessed that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in the Person and work of Christ alone as revealed in the Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone." (www.ReformationTheology.com) however in more modern times it's come to mean "the religious movements and denominations which sprung forth from a series of revivals that swept the North Atlantic Anglo-American world in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries." (isae.wheaton.edu) in its simplest terms it's the name given for a tradition within Christianity. 

• Evangelistic: This term simply refers to the proclamation of the gospel as the good news that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died a sinless death on our behalf, taking on himself the wrath of God due us for our sin, then he rose from the dead triumphing over the sin filled world, our sinful flesh, and our accusing enemy. Offering us not only forgiveness for our sins but separating us from all sin as well as offering us life eternal.

More then mere semantics? I think so.  Evangelical might describe the people holding the gathering. It might refer to the church where it is taking place however the actions there in are evangelistic in nature.