The Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) is a denomination in the

Evangelical Protestant Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual exper ...

tradition. The EFCA was formed in 1950 from the merger of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church and the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association.

History

Soap Lake, WA — Community Evangelical Free Church (2011)

The Swedish Evangelical Free Church formed from a number of Free Mission Friends as the Swedish Evangelical Free Mission in

Boone, Iowa Boone ( ) is a city in Des Moines Township, Boone County, Iowa, Des Moines Township, and county seat of Boone County, Iowa, Boone County, Iowa, United States. It is the principal city of the Boone, Iowa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encom ...

, in October 1884. Several churches that had been members of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Ansgar Synod and the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Synod, along with some independent congregations, were instrumental in organizing this voluntary fellowship. In the same year, two Norwegian-Danish groups in Boston, Massachusetts, and

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, began to fellowship together. By 1912, they had formed the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association. The Swedish and Norwegian-Danish bodies united in June 1950 at a merger conference held at the Medicine Lake Conference Grounds near

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. The two bodies represented 275 local congregations at the time of the merger.About the EFCA: Our History
Accessed 10 March 2010. The EFCA shares some early ties with those who formed the Swedish

Evangelical Covenant Church The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) is a Radical Pietistic denomination with Lutheran roots in the evangelical Christian tradition. The denomination has 129,015 members in 878 congregations and an average worship attendance of 219,000 people ...

as they both came from Mission Friends groups. It has been a member of the

National Association of Evangelicals The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is an association of evangelical denominations, organizations, schools, churches and individuals, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. The association represents more than 45,000 local churches ...

since 1943, the year after that organization was formed.

Doctrine

In its Statement of Faith, the Evangelical Free Church of America affirms the authority and

inerrancy Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact". Some equate inerrancy with biblical i ...

of the Bible; the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

; atonement through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ;

original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...

; Christ as head of the church and the local church's right to self government; the personal and imminent return of Christ; the bodily resurrection of the dead; and the two ordinances of water

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

and the

Lord's Supper The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

.EFCA Statement of Faith
Accessed 10 March 2010. The EFCA passed a substantial revision to its Statement of Faith on June 26, 2008, the first revision since the Statement was first adopted in 1950.EFCA: Resources for Statement of Faith Transition
. Accessed 10 March 2010. This revision was proposed in order “to update archaic language, to clarify some theological ambiguities, to seek greater theological precision, to address new issues, to have a SoF that would be better suited to be used as a teaching tool in our churches.”Strand, Greg

. Accessed 10 March 2010. Specific beliefs based on biblical interpretation can vary somewhat due to the congregational governance system that gives autonomy to individual local EFCA churches. The EFCA does not ordain women. The church describes its stance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage as "welcoming but not affirming," stating that the church "will not credential one who engages in homosexual conduct or one who does not believe that homosexual behavior is sinful, even though remaining celibate."

Structure

Grace Community Church (Superior, Nebraska) from N

The word ''Free'' in the Evangelical Free Church's name refers to its

congregational polity Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or " autonomous". Its first articu ...

, meaning each member church is autonomous, and to its history, meaning that the free churches were free from state control. The governing body of the EFCA is the Leadership Conference held annually.About the EFCA: Our Structure
. Accessed 10 March 2010. Delegates to the conference are credentialed ministers, chaplains, tenured university faculty, and representatives of each EFCA church. The Leadership Conference elects the board of directors which acts as the governing body between Leadership Conference meetings. As chair of the Directional Team, the President coordinates the work of the various national boards and ministries.About the EFCA: Office of the President
. Accessed 10 March 2010. The office of the President has responsibility for reviewing the licensing and ordaining of ministers and, in addition, oversees the discipline and restoration process for pastors. The EFCA is divided into 17 regional districts which, among other responsibilities, examines and approves applicants for ordination.''Steps Toward Credentialing''
, page 2. January 2000. Accessed 10 March 2010. The denomination maintains headquarters in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, and engages in ministries in education, publications, senior housing, children's homes, and camp facilities. The EFCA supports the mission of

Trinity International University Trinity International University (TIU) is an evangelical Christian university headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. It comprises Trinity College, Trinity Graduate School, a theological seminary (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), a law school ...

and

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is an academic divinity school founded in 1897 and located in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois. It is part of and located on the main campus of Trinity International University. It’s ...

in Deerfield, Illinois;

Trinity Law School Trinity Law School is the law school of Trinity International University, an evangelical Christian university in Bannockburn, Illinois. Although it is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (as part of Trinity International University) ...

in Santa Ana, California; and supports

Trinity Western University Trinity Western University (TWU) is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts university with campuses in both Langley, British Columbia (district municipality), Langley and Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia. The sch ...

in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. The Evangelical Free Church is a member of the

International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches (IFFEC) is a worldwide federation of evangelical free churches that trace their roots to the Radical Pietist movement (which split off/diverged from Pietistic Lutheranism). The member federa ...

Membership trends

In 1950 there were 20,000 members and under 300 congregations. By the 1980s there were over 800 congregations and over 100,000 members. In 2003, the Association reported 300,000 members in over 1,400 congregations. In 2014, the EFCA reported a weekly attendance of 371,191 in 1,500 congregations. In the United States there are 1,314 EFCA churches and 176 church plants with 270 multi-ethnic churches and 102 multi-site or second language services. Close to 550 missionaries serve in more than 80 countries.About the EFCA: Statistics
. Accessed 10 March 2010. As of 2000, California had the largest number of congregations with 175. However, membership is primarily concentrated in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

Notable members

* Walter Kaiser Jr., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary President Emeritus and

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

professor * D. A. Carson,

Emeritus professor of New Testament *

Chuck Swindoll Charles Rozell Swindoll (born October 18, 1934) is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. He founded ''Insight for Living'', headquartered in Frisco, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more t ...

Dallas Theological Seminary Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) is an evangelical theology, theological seminary in Dallas, Texas. It is known for popularizing the theological system dispensationalism. DTS has campuses in Dallas, Houston, and Washington, D.C., as well as cont ...

former president *

Cathy McMorris Rodgers Cathy Anne McMorris Rodgers (born May 22, 1969) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative for , which encompasses the eastern third of the state and includes Spokane, the state's second-largest city. A Republican, McMorris Rodgers ...

, the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

for since 2005. *

Tina Wesson Tina Marie Wesson (born December 26, 1960) is an American nurse, motivational speaker, and reality TV personality who won $1,000,000 as the winner of the second season of '' Survivor'', on '' Survivor: The Australian Outback'' in 2001. Wesson re ...

, winner of '' Survivor: The Australian Outback'', is a member and occasional speaker.

Presidents

*E. A. Halleen: 1950–1951 *A. T. Olson: 1951–1976 *Tom McDill: 1976–1990 *Paul Cedar: 1990–1996 *William Hamel: 1996–2015 (1996 Interim, 1997 President) *Kevin Kompelien: 2015–present

Notes

References

*''Encyclopedia of American Religions'', J. Gordon Melton, editor *''Handbook of Denominations in the United States'', by Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, and Craig D. Atwood *''Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States (2000)'', Glenmary Research Center * ''This Is the Evangelical Free Church''. Minneapolis, Minn.: Evangelical Free Church of America, 99- Without ISBN

External links

Evangelical Free Church of America
– official Web Site
Trinity International University
* Som
records
of the Evangelical Free Church of America are available for research use at th
Minnesota Historical Society.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evangelical Free Church Of America Radical Pietism 1950 establishments in Minnesota Members of the National Association of Evangelicals Christian organizations established in 1950