Misconceptions and glossary

Comparative overview

Five common misconceptions about Protestant and evangelical churches, with a glossary to make sense of their main acronyms.

Read the page See the contents

Five common misconceptions

Five things people often say, and how the history of the families helps answer them.

Misconception 1

“Evangelicals are an American thing.”

The Mennonites arrived in Alsace in the 16th century, Brethren gatherings are attested in the Ardèche in 1843, the Free Evangelical Churches were born in Paris in 1849, and the evangelical Reformed churches claim the Huguenot heritage of the Churches of the Desert. The American contribution is real — the Baptist missions, Pentecostalism — but it came late and only in part.

Misconception 2

“Evangelical and Protestant are two different things.”

The evangelical families in this document belong to the history that grew out of the Reformation, and several unions belong to both the FPF and the CNEF. “Evangelical” refers to a sensibility within Protestantism. The neighbouring groups covered in the appendices nevertheless have their own trajectories and do not all descend directly from the families of the Reformation.

Misconception 3

“Our church is the one most faithful to the early Church.”

Every family has a history, pioneers, institutions and turning points — our own included. Diffuse movements often have several pioneers rather than a single founder. This takes nothing away: it is in fact the best protection against the illusion of having been born straight out of the Book of Acts.

Misconception 4

“Jehovah’s Witnesses are an evangelical church.”

They share historical roots with 19th-century American evangelicalism, but their rejection of the Trinity places them outside Protestantism and its Trinitarian confessions of faith. Knowing their genealogy avoids two mistakes: confusing them with us, or denying that they come from somewhere.

Misconception 5

“Shared influences mean that the churches are identical or belong to the same organisation.”

Noticing shared influences does not mean that the churches are identical, nor that they all belong to the same organisation. Historical, theological or spiritual closeness can exist without any legal or federative link, or any institutional succession.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Frequently asked questions

Seven questions often asked about the Protestant churches, with a short answer and the page to read next.
Bible verses are quoted from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB) unless otherwise stated.

Are Jehovah’s Witnesses Protestants?Shared roots, a break over the Trinity

Neither the Protestant churches nor the Witnesses themselves say so. They emerged from the American revivals of the 19th century, but they reject the Trinity, which all the Protestant families confess.

The debate often turns on the prologue of John, already rendered « et Dieu estoit la parolle » in the Olivétan Bible (1535): word for word “and God was the Word”, which modern English translations give as “and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

John 1:1 · Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Read the comparative appendix on Jehovah’s Witnesses →

Are Adventists Protestants?Trinitarian, members of the FPF

Yes: the Seventh-day Adventist Church confesses the Trinity and is a member of the Protestant Federation of France, without belonging to the CNEF. It is distinguished by the Sabbath and by the place it gives to the writings of Ellen White.

It should not be confused with Jehovah’s Witnesses, another branch that came out of Millerism.

Read the page on the Adventists →

What are the Brethren assemblies?Dublin 1827, Darby, the Lord’s Supper at the centre

An evangelical movement born in Dublin in 1827, historically committed to the participation of all believers, to shared leadership and to the Lord’s Supper every Sunday; present-day practices vary from one stream to another, and the CAEF quite often have pastors. The movement readily appeals to a promise of Jesus, quoted here in Darby’s own translation; the participation of each person in worship refers to 1 Corinthians 14:26.

Matthew 18:20 · Darby Translation (1890)

For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Read the page on the Brethren assemblies →

Anglicans and Protestants: what is the difference?Heirs of the Reformation, with bishops

The Anglicans are among the heirs of the Reformation: they received its convictions through the Book of Common Prayer (1549) and the Thirty-nine Articles. At the same time, they have kept bishops and a liturgy inherited from Christian history.

Evangelical, Anglo-Catholic and liberal strands are all found within it.

Read the page on the Anglicans →

What is the Toronto Blessing?The 1994 renewal and the Catch The Fire network

A charismatic renewal that began on 20 January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church and later became the Catch The Fire network. Its participants see it as a visitation of the Holy Spirit; others, including among evangelicals, debate its manifestations.

Both attitudes appeal to the same passage:

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 · Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

Do not extinguish the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.

Read the page on Catch The Fire →

Are “evangelical” and “Protestant” the same thing?A sensibility within Protestantism

In the sense used here, evangelicals are part of Protestantism, but not all Protestants are evangelicals. “Evangelical” refers to a sensibility within Protestantism, not alongside it: the evangelical families come out of the history opened by the Reformation, and several unions belong to both the FPF and the CNEF.

Read misconception 2, further up this page →

What are the different Protestant churches?Families formed in layers

Lutherans, Reformed, Anglicans, Mennonites, Baptists, Methodists, Free Evangelical Churches, Brethren, Pentecostals and other families, each with its own colour in the guide.

Their identity has formed in layers: the Reformation, revivals, missions, migration, church unions.

Read the page on the Protestant families →

You can close each question and continue through the guide.

ADD
Assemblées de Dieu de France (Assemblies of God of France; Pentecostal, 1932)
AEEBLF
Association évangélique d’Églises baptistes de langue française (Evangelical Association of French-speaking Baptist Churches)
AEEMF
Association des Églises évangéliques mennonites de France (Association of Evangelical Mennonite Churches of France)
CAEF
Communautés et assemblées évangéliques de France (Communities and Evangelical Assemblies of France; Open Brethren)
CÉPÉE
Communion d’Églises protestantes évangéliques (Communion of Evangelical Protestant Churches; in the FPF’s evangelical section; member of the CNEF)
CMFI / CMCI
Christian Missionary Fellowship International / Communauté missionnaire chrétienne internationale (movement founded by Z. T. Fomum; see the appendices)
CNEF
Conseil national des évangéliques de France (National Council of French Evangelicals, 2010)
CTF
Catch The Fire (international neo-charismatic network, Toronto; in Lyon since 2017)
EPUdF
Église protestante unie de France (United Protestant Church of France; Reformed + Lutherans, 2013)
ERNC
Églises du réseau nouvelles connexions (churches of the New Connections network; in the FPF’s evangelical section; member of the CNEF)
FEEBF
Fédération des Églises évangéliques baptistes de France (Federation of Evangelical Baptist Churches of France)
FLTE
Faculté libre de théologie évangélique (Free Faculty of Evangelical Theology, Vaux-sur-Seine, 1965)
FPF
Fédération protestante de France (Protestant Federation of France, 1905)
PCC
Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (see the appendices)
UEEAF
Union des Églises évangéliques arméniennes de France (Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches of France; in the FPF’s evangelical section; member of the CNEF)
UEEL
Union des Églises évangéliques libres (Union of Free Evangelical Churches; the “libristes”, 1849)
UEEMF
Union de l’Église évangélique méthodiste de France (Union of the Evangelical Methodist Church of France)
UEPAL
Union des Églises protestantes d’Alsace et de Lorraine (Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine; Lutherans and Reformed, 2006)
UNEPREF
Union nationale des Églises protestantes réformées évangéliques de France (National Union of Evangelical Reformed Protestant Churches of France)

Online guide · church families and key points · 2026 edition

Sources and key references

Bibliography of the journey

  • Sébastien Fath, Une autre manière d’être chrétien en France. Socio-histoire de l’implantation baptiste (1810-1950) [Another way of being Christian in France: a social history of the establishment of Baptist churches in France, 1810–1950], Labor et Fides.
  • Sébastien Fath and Jean-Paul Willaime (eds.), La nouvelle France protestante. Essor et recomposition au XXIe siècle [The new Protestant France: growth and reconfiguration in the 21st century], Labor et Fides.
  • André Encrevé (ed.), Les protestants [The Protestants] (Dictionnaire du monde religieux dans la France contemporaine), Beauchesne.
  • Patrick Cabanel, Histoire des protestants en France, XVIe-XXIe siècle [A history of Protestants in France, 16th–21st century], Fayard.
  • Jean Baubérot, Histoire du protestantisme [A history of Protestantism], PUF, “Que sais-je ?”.
  • Musée virtuel du protestantisme (Virtual Museum of Protestantism) — thematic and biographical entries (in French).

See all the sources of the journey

Further reading