ARTICLES
Q TALKS
DISCOVER Q
EVENTS
All Q Events
Q Nashville 2014
Q Session | Innovate
Q Cast
RESOURCES
Books
Studies
Bible
Church Leaders
Speaking
PARTICIPATE
Praxis Accelerator
Host Conversations
Church
Business
Education
Social Sector
Arts + Entertainment
Science + Tech
Government
Media
Cities
Gospel
Restorers
Tweet
6
Gospel
What Do We Mean by "Evangelism"?
by
David Chronic
Evangelism is Presence.
Evangelism is presence but needs explication. The gospel is not only declaratory; it is performatory. It can be the first because it is the second (Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society). The presence of the gospel is of particular importance today as we are flooded with words, yet often experience the powerlessness of language. We know that our "actions speak louder than words," that our lifestyles "speak for themselves," and that a message is validated by its medium. The people of God embody, explain and are the living interpreters of the gospel. A Romanian Orthodox missiologist, Ion Bria, said, "[Evangelism] is not only oral proclamation of the gospel but also martyrdom (martyria), the following in the steps of the crucified Christ" (The Liturgy after the Liturgy). Martyria means "witness." First we witness through our lives and deeds, then we explain what happened. For example, Jesus’ witness to the Kingdom provoked those around Him to ask questions. Who is He that even forgives sins? Who is this Jew that receives a drink from a Samaritan? Who is this Prophet that dines with sinners? The gospel, then, is an answer to the question that a person or a people is asking (Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society). Jesus’ example shows that evangelism does not only mean that we "go and tell"; it also means that we witness through the work and lifestyle of the Christian community, provoking questions to which the Good News of Jesus Christ is the answer (Myers, Walking With the Poor).
In our affirmation of evangelizing through presence we must also recognize that this aspect has received current favor by many because we have lost confidence in the Truth—which if it is true, compels us to proclaim it. The Good News is entrusted to us. If we fail to proclaim it, we are unfaithful stewards. The gospel must be explicit. Though we often like to quote St. Francis of Assisi who said, "Preach the gospel and use words when necessary," we must also realize that he did use words and many heard the Good News and many came to the Lord. In fact, he preached to a Muslim sultan, who invited him because he had heard of St. Francis’ lifestyle. Peter exhorts us to live such a lifestyle:
Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation (1 Pet. 2:12).
Evangelism is Persuasion
Evangelism is persuasion, but not peddling or proselytizing. Persuasion is convincing people of the gospel through apologetics2. Paul said, "Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor. 5:11). But evangelism is not selling or enticing people to buy a marketable product. Paul said, "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God" (2 Cor. 2:17). The Indian theologian Vinay Samuel is fond of saying that evangelism is a commitment to sharing, not an announcement of expected outcomes (Myers, Walking With the Poor).
Evangelism means persuading people, but it does not mean proselytizing them (See Lesslie Newbigin, Signs Amid the Rubble).Evangelism does not mean making converts—though that is a desired result—or adding members to our club. Many times, we find ourselves struggling with feelings of guilt because there seems to be no tangible "fruit" from our ministry. At other times we find ourselves tempted to tell other Christians what they want to hear: "… we just saw another one come to the Lord," "… he has been coming to church on his own accord for a few months now," or "… she is starting to pray at mealtimes." These remarks may bring a few pats on the back, but only serve to propagate the misconception about "successful" evangelism.
When we place exclusive emphasis on the winning of individuals to conversion, baptism and church membership, numerical growth of the church becomes the central goal of mission. Then seeking justice and peace are separated and relegated to the margins of the church’s mission. Over the last century, much of the church has defined its failures and successes by numbers. If the church was growing numerically, it was successful; if not, it was failing. Though a growing church may be a sign of God’s life and work, this predisposes us to value the size more than the persons. Just as the ideology of the Industrial Revolution turned humanity into a cog in the machinery of society or an item on the assembly line of productivity, so the ideology of modern church success has turned humanity into a donor resource and community into church membership. This is not simply evangelism misconstrued; it is anti-evangelism because at its core it dehumanizes.
If Jesus is the model Evangelist, then we must let the cross be the critique of evangelistic success. At the cross, those persuaded by Jesus’ ministry either betrayed Him or went into fearful hiding. At the cross, there were no supportive crowds, no grandiose church buildings and no tally of the day’s converts. "Successful" evangelism is faithfully testifying to the crucified God, who died to preach the Good News to a lost and confused world; the attestation of successful evangelism is the Resurrection. This understanding puts the indication of success not in the response of the evangelized but in the obedience of the evangelist.
Evangelism is not an activity for non-believers only, because Christians never cease to need evangelism. Avery Dulles reminds us that evangelism is not complete with the first proclamation of the gospel: "It is a lifelong process of letting the gospel permeate and transform all our ideas and attitudes" (Cited in Bryant Myers, Walking With the Poor). This creates space for our worship, discipleship and spirituality to be evangelistic. This also frees us from our "savior complex" and releases conversion and salvation to God. As the song joyfully affirms: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb" (Rev. 7:10).
Evangelism is the Prevenience of the Spirit
Evangelism is the prevenience of the Spirit, not simply the activity of the Christian missionary. It is not enough to speak of the proclamation, presence and persuasion of the gospel; we must also recognize the prevenience or the previousness of the Spirit (Lesslie Newbigin. The Open Secret). That is to say that long before the Christian arrives with the Good News, the Spirit of God has been moving, preparing and wooing humanity to Himself. Evangelism participates in and flows from God’s previous activity.
Previous
1
2
3
Next
Tweet
Comments
Martyn
If this article is right, then it seems that as Christians we would have to find some way to be involved in "social action." For most of us that means we would have to put another thing in our already busy schedule. How in the world can we fit another thing in?
Sue
Hi Martyn, if we read our bibles how can we imagine leaving social justice out?
Ron
Martyn,
I believe you sense a problem. The thing to do is pinpoint it.
I am new to Q, and so far I am impressed with the attempts made to explain a Christian worldview from various perspectives, and I do find myself confronted with some new and useful thoughts, ideas that challenge, and sometimes, encouragement.
What concerns I have begin with what I see to be a postmodern (which is nothing new--"there is nothing new under the sun") approach to doing theology.
First of all, this "new" way of doing theology appears to hold that anything traditional or conventional is automatically bad. The burden of proving it bad is fulfilled by offering what one perceives the traditional definition of a thing to be.
In the case at hand, evangelism is "mere words."
"We can no longer understand evangelism as mere words."
Who ever understood evangelism as "mere words"? No examples are given.
So, what we have is a red herring.
Second, there is an obvious confusion in the authors quoted (why Christians are so easily sucked in to N.T. Wright's confusion has always baffled me).
And, the confusion of these authors is to mistake the Gospel of justification by an imputed righteousness with the fruit of believing that Good News, which is sanctification.
Romans 1:16 is quoted in part.
Interesting, because in that section Paul makes no mention at all of social justice. Actually, he speaks of God's justice and the revelation of His wrath against unrighteousness, and how the gospel is a revealing of the righteousness of God (this is a biblical definition).
This brings me to a third observation: the red herring allows the author to get to his agenda, which you caught on to, the social ramifications--consequences of--the gospel.
The proof for this is found throughout the article, but rears itself for the first time in the second paragraph. Assertions, sweeping ones, are made about a deficient ("truncated" was the word used) understanding the Church suffers from, based on a definition nobody cited (we are not referred to anybody) holds.
I want to hear when the gospel is believed, and I want to hear how that belief transforms the lives of people--what I do not need is a confusion of biblical terms and concepts.
The peace of God be upon you all.
Sarah
Ron,
I think part of what Mr Chronic is sharing is that some conceptions of the work of evangelism aren't as "traditional" as we might think. Dating back to the apostles we see them, for example, healing people in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, as an inextricable part of sharing the Gospel.
howard lawrence
Ron,
You say "there is obvious confusion in the authors quoted (why Christians are so easily sucked in to N.T .Wright's confusion has always baffled me)".
If you sense confusion on the part of N.T. Wright you are probably reading some of the more simplistic works on the matter by popular writers such as of John Piper. Wright graciously addresses Pipers confusion in his book "Justification",which is clear and will go a long way toward addressing your confusion.
Azhoni
Ron and Martyn,
I am surprised to see that you and I could read the article very differently. I would rate this article as among the best I read in recent times. It is a good wake up call to reasses our understanding of evangel.
Comments are now closed
ALSO BY DAVID CHRONIC
What Do We Mean by 'The Church?'
Church
The Servant Nature of God
Gospel
ALSO IN GOSPEL
To a Man, But for Men and Women: Rethinking Proverbs 31:10-31
by Ryan O'Dowd
Modesty: I Don't Think it Means What You Think it Means
by Rachel Held Evans
A New Kind of Neighbor
by Jeff Shinabarger