Mormons and JWs are certainly “evangelical” in their practices, since they go out and preach the gospel in the streets, and go door to door to evangelize.
You’re talking about being evangelistic. Evangelicals are persons belonging to Evangelicalism, which is something far more than being passionate about sharing your religion.
Is “Evangelical” an actual denomination, or is it more of a description of how they practice their faith?
Evangelical refers to a type of Christian. In the 16th century, it was first applied to Lutheran and Reformed churches, because they stressed the doctrine of justification by faith alone and the primary authority of scripture and the priesthood of all believers.
In America, the term became associated with not simply Protestantism in general but a specific type of Protestant. This happened in colonial times and the association has stuck. During America’s colonial era, “Evangelical” was used to describe those Protestants, particularly Baptists and Methodists, who stressed the importance and necessity of a conscious conversion experience. Evangelicals were and still are dedicated to world missions, and they have spread Evangelicalism around the world.
While this will be highly simplified, for the sake of brevity, I will summarize for you the “evangelical” distinctive:
The need for personal conversion, or being “born again”
A high regard for biblical authority
An emphasis on teachings that proclaim the saving death and resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ
Actively expressing and sharing the gospel
In other words, “conversionism, biblicism, crucicentrism, and activism”. Thanks to Wikipedia and David Bebbington for the list and quote!
In recent years, the liberalization of the Protestant mainline has contributed to a simplistic notion that “evangelicals” are simply “conservative” Protestants, while the mainline churches are “liberal.” It is certainly true that evangelicals tend to hold to the historically orthodox positions of Christianity (like believing in the Bible’s reliability and things like an actual Virgin Birth); however, liturgically, evangelicals are often quite progressive (incorporating modern worship music and dispensing with clerical vestments, etc.). Also, there are considerable numbers of evangelicals within mainline Protestant churches.
While heterodox groups like Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses may be evangelistic, no one either inside or outside of Evangelicalism claims them to be “evangelicals.”
P.S. Baptists and Pentecostals are generally considered evangelical across the board. While not all Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans (or Episcopalians), and other mainline churches are evangelical, many of them are. Historically, evangelicalism has been the dominant form of Protestantism in America, but with the rise of modernism and theological liberalism, the mainline churches institutionally have not stood for evangelical values in many decades.
