Last week I said that discipleship is the most neglected of the essential
activities of the Church. This week’s topic, evangelism, is just the opposite.
It is the least ignored activity in many denominations but also the most
misunderstood and misapplied. I am speaking here from my own experience in the Southern
Baptist Convention, one of several denominations so focused on evangelism that
the term evangelical is used to
describe them. Other denominations, often referred to as non-evangelical, tend to emphasize evangelism much less, often relegating
it to obscurity. This, too, represents a misunderstanding and misapplication of
the term. The time has come to see where and why we have gone wrong.
(1) We have attached getting people saved to
evangelism.
Evangelism comes from a compound Greek word that means sharing the good news. Today we have
changed the definition to sharing the
good news and seeing people saved. Salvation, however, is the result
of evangelism, not evangelism itself. Sharing
the good news of Jesus Christ, in whatever form that message is delivered,
is evangelism in its purest form. This sharing, of course, is done with the hope
that people will see the truth about Jesus and come to know him as Savior and
Lord. But the Church needs to acknowledge the fact that evangelism is simply sharing,
regardless of the outcome. Hopefully, this will help churches get away from the
numbers mentality that pervades so
many evangelistic efforts today.
(2) We have attached being a mature Christian to evangelism.
Christians who make evangelism part of their daily lives are some of
the most mature people I know. But I also know many mature Christians who do
not start and end the day sharing the good news with unbelievers. The reason is
simple: not every Christian has been given the gift of evangelism. When the apostle
Paul states outright that God has called some
to be evangelists, he implies that he has not called others to that activity. Instead,
He calls others to be preachers, teachers, and so on. Somehow we have missed
the message here. No one believes that all mature Christians must be preachers,
but a lot of churches imply rather strongly that all mature Christians must be
evangelists. The inconsistency here is obvious and regrettable. Spiritual gifts
are individualized, and Christians gifted in evangelism should bear the major responsibility
of sharing the good news.
(3) We have attached telemarketing strategies to evangelism.
There was a time when it would have
been acceptable in America for someone to come unannounced and uninvited
to a house. Today is not that time. Even if the cause is a good one, people are
turned off by such intrusions. They hate telemarketing strategy and door-to-door
salesmanship as much as they hate telemarketers and door-to-door salesmen, and it
is amazing to me that churches still use these tactics. Such strategy is not
effective today, and it is my contention
that it was not used by the first century Church. Remember, Philip preached to
the Ethiopian eunuch after he was asked, Cornelius was expecting Peter’s arrival when the disciple came to his house, and the Jews at the synagogues and the Gentiles at the market places welcomed
Paul as a spokesman (even though they often rejected his message). In short, the
gospel was not force-fed in the first century and should not be so today.
(4) We have attached one size fits all to evangelism.
Today we have reduced evangelism to the following formula:
A + B + C
A
You are a great sinner.
B
Jesus is a great Savior.
C
Accept His forgiveness
and salvation.
While this formula is true, churches often err when they assume that each
person needs all three points emphasized equally. This is not the case and
never has been. Zaccheus, a ruthless tax collector and social outcast, was well
aware of his sinfulness when Jesus spotted him in the sycamore tree. Jesus did
not, therefore, spend a lot of time on point A. In fact, he paid a
compliment by asking to come to Zaccheus’ house. (Notice, again, that Jesus
asked to come. He didn’t show up uninvited and unannounced.) Likewise, Jesus
did not have to tell the woman caught in the act of adultery of her sinfulness.
His approach with the self-righteous Pharisees and Sadducees was
much different. He emphasized over and over again the greatness of their sins,
because he knew they needed to recognize the truth of point A. In the same way,
churches must tailor the evangelistic message to their particular audience, giving
weight to what is needed in each circumstance.
(5) We have attached social activism to evangelism.
The good news of Jesus has tremendous social implications. His message
of love encompasses rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, male and female, master and
servant. Indeed, churches have missed what Jesus said if they fail to become socially
aware and active. Social benevolence is an essential activity of the Church and
will be dealt with in the weeks ahead. This notwithstanding, a grave mistake
has been made when social activism is equated with evangelism. Evangelism is
sharing the good news that Jesus is both crucified Savior and resurrected Lord.
It is done with the hope that it will lead to repentance, conversion, baptism, and
discipleship. Sadly, many non-evangelical churches today have adopted an exclusively
social gospel and have eliminated Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection from
their outreach. There is no call for repentance, conversion, baptism, or
discipleship. There is thus no evangelism going on in these churches, at least in
the first century meaning of the term. This retreat is as regrettable as the
overzealous tactics of the evangelicals.
Will evangelical churches change their outlook and strategy and become
more effective in sharing the good news to a sinful world? Will non-evangelical
churches once again share the message of Jesus as crucified Savior and
resurrected Lord as part of their social activism? Will the meaning and spirit of first
century evangelism be restored in the twenty-first century?
Part 7
Communion (Lord’s Supper)
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