Unity In Essentials

One of the things which Roman Catholics criticise protestants for, is that they are so divided, that they don’t know what they believe. There is no such thing as protestantism if it does not consist of a set of core beliefs which make it distinctive. Otherwise it’s just a loose collection of alternative christian denominations. Evangelicalism can effectively be regarded as a mainstream alternative to catholicism – or even as the genuine core of true protestantism, and therefore true Christianity, if it has an identifiable set of beliefs, which are essential and common to all it’s sub-set denominations – Presbyterians, Baptists, etc.

But what are these essentials, and do all evangelicals agree on these essentials?  

I bought J.I. Packer’s book today “Honouring The Written Word of God”, and it mentions the Lausanne Covenant, which I hadn’t come across before. It is a kind of Evangelical Manifesto which seems to attempt to summarise the common core beliefs of a wide range of Evangelical Christians. Having read it though, it is more a statement about christian objectives, goals and purpose, than beliefs or doctrine.

Here it is, the Lausanne Covenant.