What About Evangelism?
Bible Study
Questions Of Faith For Inquiring Believers
The doorbell rang late one Saturday afternoon. I was not expecting visitors. When I went to the door, I was surprised to find a nicely dressed couple about my age. They smiled and asked if they could talk for a few minutes. I didn't recognize them, but maybe they were inactive members of the church. Perhaps they were travelers whose car had broken down. Perhaps they sought out a church parsonage thinking a minister might have funds to repair their car.
When I asked how I could help, they launched into a speech that seemed more rehearsed than spontaneous. "Mister, we are going from door to door in this neighborhood doing a survey. Do you mind if we ask you a couple questions?"
Not wanting to be impolite, I agreed to talk. Without so much as properly introducing themselves, they began, "If you were to die right now, do you know where you would go?" I wondered if they might be employed in door-to-door cemetery sales, so I told them I was not ready to make my funeral arrangements.
They assured me that they were not selling burial plots. They wanted to know if I knew the status of my eternal soul. "If you would die right now, would you go to heaven or hell?" The man continued, "If you die before you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you will burn in hell for eternity." It was then that I noticed the well-worn Bibles tucked under their arms.
I tried to assure them that I was a Christian minister and that I went to church every Sunday. They were not satisfied with my answer. The woman wanted to ascertain the orthodoxy of my faith. She had a long checklist of the things to which I had to ascribe before my faith in Jesus Christ passed muster. The man, whom I assumed to be her husband, opened his Bible to a few dog-eared pages and began to read. He insisted that if I would listen carefully, the error of my ways would become abundantly clear.
I quickly realized this was not going to be a very productive conversation. All three of us could put our time to better use. I simply do not share their understanding of the gospel and I certainly don't think about the task of evangelism in the same way.
After they left, I had to admit that even though I did not agree with their theology I had to be impressed by their commitment. They went into the summer's heat to tell others about what they believe. Few members of any church I have served would be either as clear or as passionate in sharing their faith. Most people with whom I work equate evangelism with membership recruitment. Many even argue that we only recruit members to help with the bills and to ensure the church survives into the next generation.
Actually, evangelism does not equate to membership replenishment and, although church survival is important, we don't do evangelism for that purpose. We do, however, have an obligation to share the faith with others. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) makes abundantly clear that we are to proclaim the Reign of God and make disciples. We are to invite all God's people into faith in Christ Jesus.
That differs significantly from a church membership drive. In fact, evangelism has little to do with the church. A sound understanding of evangelism is not rooted in our theology of the church, that is, our ecclesiology. It issues from our understanding of the nature of God and the nature of people. By that I mean evangelism has to do with our doctrine of God and our anthropology.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son offers a paradigm for understanding. This well-known story from Luke 15 reminds us of our humanness and of God's unconditional love. To paraphrase, once upon a time, there was a family with two sons. The youngest boy is a know-it-all. While still in his teens, this kid has the audacity to tell his father he is tired of waiting for the old man to die. He wants the family to sell off half the farm and give him his inheritance.
Against his better judgment and with the love only a parent with a willful child can understand, the father does as the son requests. As expected, this kid grabs the money and heads for the big city. He buys one of those sports cars shaped like a torpedo with so much bass in the sound system it can be felt two blocks before it is heard. The kid moves into a swinging singles condominium and throws a party every night.
Also as expected, he soon runs out of money. When he can't afford the nightly party, his friends abandon him. A shadow of economic depression settles over the country and the kid, who never finished his education, cannot find a decent job. In fact, the only work offered is feeding pigs. It pays so poorly that he picks through the hog slop to supplement his diet.
A few months before, he was so arrogant that he demanded his inheritance. Now he has lost all his friends, turned his back on his own family, spent all his money, and sits in a hog pen fighting pigs for enough to eat. A young Jewish boy cannot slip lower.
Jesus continues the story. He says that one day the kid comes to his senses. It occurs to him that the hired hands on his father's farm live better than he is living. He decides to swallow his pride, go home, and beg his dad for a job. He even writes a little speech and practices it as he heads toward home. "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I don't deserve to be your son. But please just give me a job."
Meanwhile, back on the farm, his father has never given up on him. Every day the father scans the horizon in hopes his boy will come home. One morning, the father's prayers are answered. On his way down the lane to pick up the newspaper, he sees that familiar silhouette. He would recognize that slump-shouldered, little kid walk anywhere. His son has come to his senses and has returned home. The father races out to meet him. The boy tries to give his well-rehearsed speech, but the father will hear none of it. The father throws his arms around his neck, welcomes him as a full member of the family, and throws a party in his honor.
That story dwells at the heart of our faith. It concerns this God of ours who creates us and gives us the freedom to make our own decisions -- even decisions not in our best interest. It is also a story of conversion and thus of evangelism. This boy came to his senses and changed his ways of thinking and doing. That young man came home to God and was welcomed.
We believe God created us in such a way that we live at our best only when we are in loving relationship with God and one another. Even if we live in some other way, God still loves us. God never abandons hope in us and for us.
This is the context in which we ask the question, "What about evangelism?" As people of faith, we are motivated to reach out and share with others because the very nature of God is to reach out. We tell people of the Good News of God's love and invite them into a loving relationship with God and others. This is the essence of evangelism. As D. T. Niles put it, "Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find food." Keep in mind that we do not coerce hungry people to take bread. We invite them. In that same way, threats are not consistent with the gospel. When evangelism is consistent with the nature of God, it relies on invitation, not intimidation.
In fact, evangelism is a series of invitations. It begins with an invitation into a relationship with God. Then it becomes an invitation into a life-long spiritual journey of growing and changing. Because of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we are called to live by a different set of standards. In a very real sense, the Christian faith is a radically different way to look at this world. Faith is a set of spectacles through which we see with clear focus what God intends. Through the lens of faith, we see clearly that it is better to love than to hate and better to forgive than to seek revenge. By faith we know that the greatest joy comes to those who strive to be peacemakers rather than those who just talk about peace. Through the lens of faith, we see clearly that we are all brothers and sisters of the same parent God and we are called to live like family.
To be converted to the Christian faith is to have your ways of looking at the world turned inside out. It is to begin to see things the way God intends us to see them. In shorthand, that means to value loving people and using things -- instead of the other way around. It means to so yearn for peace and justice that you work for it -- even when that requires personal sacrifice. As Paul says in the book of Romans, we are to be "transformed by the renewal of our minds" (12:2). "To be converted" literally means "to be turned in a different direction." Sitting in the midst of the pigpen, the young man "came to his senses." He decided to turn his life in a different direction. It is not, however, just any direction. It is in the direction of that relationship with God that leads to the abundance of life.
This change in thinking and doing begins at a specific moment, but it is never completed. We are always in the process of converting to the faith; always growing in our capacity to see the world as God wants us to see it. We give up our old world-view one tiny bit at a time. Many people take decades to be transformed from self-centeredness or to change a pagan view on sexism, racism, nationalism, or that host of other "isms" that plague the human community. The wallet is often the very last thing to be converted. In fact, some people never get thoroughly converted to Christian stewardship.
Because conversion is a process and not just an event, we need to take our spiritual journey in a community of believers. Consequently, we invite people to come to church. The church is a community where brother and sister strugglers along the way support and encourage one another. We invite people to come to church not to ensure the survival of the church or to get help in paying the bills, but because we need one another in this spiritual journey. In the church, a community of the imperfect struggling to become, we remind one another of those truths that we might tend to forget if we remained isolated from one another.
Evangelism is a series of invitations. It begins with the invitation to a loving relationship to a risen Christ. Then comes the invitation to a life-long journey of learning to harmonize your ways of thinking and doing with the teaching of scripture. This spiritual journey must take place in a supportive community of believers. Therefore, we invite people to participate in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Note well, however, that evangelism happens by caring invitation, not by arm-twisting sale. The reason, of course, is that evangelism involves inviting people to fall in love with God and with God's ways. We can never coerce people to fall in love. We can only look our best and invite them into a relationship.
Imagine that you have gone out for a walk just as the sun is setting. You are walking east on an east/west road. As you walk, you pass people coming from the opposite direction. Because they walk west, the setting sun lights their faces. Their faces are aglow because they see what you do not see. That is the image of evangelism. It is to have your face, as a believer, aglow because you walk in a different direction and because you see what others cannot see. The light of God's love shines from your face and attracts others to walk in the same direction.1
We are called to do evangelism because it is the very nature of our Creator to reach out to all God's children. We persist in evangelism because God never gives up scanning the horizon in hopes that some of the kids will come to their senses and come home. We do evangelism because we want others to know the deep joy that comes from seeing the world in relationship to God.
South American theologian Pablo Richard notes that the church needs to say to the poor, "You deserve to live." Richard rightly insists that is an evangelistic statement. It proclaims the Good News of the gospel by offering hope to the less fortunate.
I thoroughly agree, but want to take it one more step. The church needs to say, not just to the poor, but to all the children of this world, rich and poor, young and old, women and men, "You not only deserve to live, but God yearns for you to know the abundant life." For this faith of ours does more than claim, "In Christ, there is no death." Our faith insists that by faith there is life in the midst of death.
____________
1. I believe Leslie Newbiggin is the source of this image. I have long since lost the reference.
For Further Reflection And/Or Discussion
When you hear the word evangelism, what comes to mind?
Do you ever invite anyone to attend church?
Describe your faith journey in terms of whether it has been smooth or rough; continually on the rise or up and down.
What kinds of events or particular experiences cause you to grow in your faith?
When I asked how I could help, they launched into a speech that seemed more rehearsed than spontaneous. "Mister, we are going from door to door in this neighborhood doing a survey. Do you mind if we ask you a couple questions?"
Not wanting to be impolite, I agreed to talk. Without so much as properly introducing themselves, they began, "If you were to die right now, do you know where you would go?" I wondered if they might be employed in door-to-door cemetery sales, so I told them I was not ready to make my funeral arrangements.
They assured me that they were not selling burial plots. They wanted to know if I knew the status of my eternal soul. "If you would die right now, would you go to heaven or hell?" The man continued, "If you die before you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you will burn in hell for eternity." It was then that I noticed the well-worn Bibles tucked under their arms.
I tried to assure them that I was a Christian minister and that I went to church every Sunday. They were not satisfied with my answer. The woman wanted to ascertain the orthodoxy of my faith. She had a long checklist of the things to which I had to ascribe before my faith in Jesus Christ passed muster. The man, whom I assumed to be her husband, opened his Bible to a few dog-eared pages and began to read. He insisted that if I would listen carefully, the error of my ways would become abundantly clear.
I quickly realized this was not going to be a very productive conversation. All three of us could put our time to better use. I simply do not share their understanding of the gospel and I certainly don't think about the task of evangelism in the same way.
After they left, I had to admit that even though I did not agree with their theology I had to be impressed by their commitment. They went into the summer's heat to tell others about what they believe. Few members of any church I have served would be either as clear or as passionate in sharing their faith. Most people with whom I work equate evangelism with membership recruitment. Many even argue that we only recruit members to help with the bills and to ensure the church survives into the next generation.
Actually, evangelism does not equate to membership replenishment and, although church survival is important, we don't do evangelism for that purpose. We do, however, have an obligation to share the faith with others. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) makes abundantly clear that we are to proclaim the Reign of God and make disciples. We are to invite all God's people into faith in Christ Jesus.
That differs significantly from a church membership drive. In fact, evangelism has little to do with the church. A sound understanding of evangelism is not rooted in our theology of the church, that is, our ecclesiology. It issues from our understanding of the nature of God and the nature of people. By that I mean evangelism has to do with our doctrine of God and our anthropology.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son offers a paradigm for understanding. This well-known story from Luke 15 reminds us of our humanness and of God's unconditional love. To paraphrase, once upon a time, there was a family with two sons. The youngest boy is a know-it-all. While still in his teens, this kid has the audacity to tell his father he is tired of waiting for the old man to die. He wants the family to sell off half the farm and give him his inheritance.
Against his better judgment and with the love only a parent with a willful child can understand, the father does as the son requests. As expected, this kid grabs the money and heads for the big city. He buys one of those sports cars shaped like a torpedo with so much bass in the sound system it can be felt two blocks before it is heard. The kid moves into a swinging singles condominium and throws a party every night.
Also as expected, he soon runs out of money. When he can't afford the nightly party, his friends abandon him. A shadow of economic depression settles over the country and the kid, who never finished his education, cannot find a decent job. In fact, the only work offered is feeding pigs. It pays so poorly that he picks through the hog slop to supplement his diet.
A few months before, he was so arrogant that he demanded his inheritance. Now he has lost all his friends, turned his back on his own family, spent all his money, and sits in a hog pen fighting pigs for enough to eat. A young Jewish boy cannot slip lower.
Jesus continues the story. He says that one day the kid comes to his senses. It occurs to him that the hired hands on his father's farm live better than he is living. He decides to swallow his pride, go home, and beg his dad for a job. He even writes a little speech and practices it as he heads toward home. "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I don't deserve to be your son. But please just give me a job."
Meanwhile, back on the farm, his father has never given up on him. Every day the father scans the horizon in hopes his boy will come home. One morning, the father's prayers are answered. On his way down the lane to pick up the newspaper, he sees that familiar silhouette. He would recognize that slump-shouldered, little kid walk anywhere. His son has come to his senses and has returned home. The father races out to meet him. The boy tries to give his well-rehearsed speech, but the father will hear none of it. The father throws his arms around his neck, welcomes him as a full member of the family, and throws a party in his honor.
That story dwells at the heart of our faith. It concerns this God of ours who creates us and gives us the freedom to make our own decisions -- even decisions not in our best interest. It is also a story of conversion and thus of evangelism. This boy came to his senses and changed his ways of thinking and doing. That young man came home to God and was welcomed.
We believe God created us in such a way that we live at our best only when we are in loving relationship with God and one another. Even if we live in some other way, God still loves us. God never abandons hope in us and for us.
This is the context in which we ask the question, "What about evangelism?" As people of faith, we are motivated to reach out and share with others because the very nature of God is to reach out. We tell people of the Good News of God's love and invite them into a loving relationship with God and others. This is the essence of evangelism. As D. T. Niles put it, "Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find food." Keep in mind that we do not coerce hungry people to take bread. We invite them. In that same way, threats are not consistent with the gospel. When evangelism is consistent with the nature of God, it relies on invitation, not intimidation.
In fact, evangelism is a series of invitations. It begins with an invitation into a relationship with God. Then it becomes an invitation into a life-long spiritual journey of growing and changing. Because of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we are called to live by a different set of standards. In a very real sense, the Christian faith is a radically different way to look at this world. Faith is a set of spectacles through which we see with clear focus what God intends. Through the lens of faith, we see clearly that it is better to love than to hate and better to forgive than to seek revenge. By faith we know that the greatest joy comes to those who strive to be peacemakers rather than those who just talk about peace. Through the lens of faith, we see clearly that we are all brothers and sisters of the same parent God and we are called to live like family.
To be converted to the Christian faith is to have your ways of looking at the world turned inside out. It is to begin to see things the way God intends us to see them. In shorthand, that means to value loving people and using things -- instead of the other way around. It means to so yearn for peace and justice that you work for it -- even when that requires personal sacrifice. As Paul says in the book of Romans, we are to be "transformed by the renewal of our minds" (12:2). "To be converted" literally means "to be turned in a different direction." Sitting in the midst of the pigpen, the young man "came to his senses." He decided to turn his life in a different direction. It is not, however, just any direction. It is in the direction of that relationship with God that leads to the abundance of life.
This change in thinking and doing begins at a specific moment, but it is never completed. We are always in the process of converting to the faith; always growing in our capacity to see the world as God wants us to see it. We give up our old world-view one tiny bit at a time. Many people take decades to be transformed from self-centeredness or to change a pagan view on sexism, racism, nationalism, or that host of other "isms" that plague the human community. The wallet is often the very last thing to be converted. In fact, some people never get thoroughly converted to Christian stewardship.
Because conversion is a process and not just an event, we need to take our spiritual journey in a community of believers. Consequently, we invite people to come to church. The church is a community where brother and sister strugglers along the way support and encourage one another. We invite people to come to church not to ensure the survival of the church or to get help in paying the bills, but because we need one another in this spiritual journey. In the church, a community of the imperfect struggling to become, we remind one another of those truths that we might tend to forget if we remained isolated from one another.
Evangelism is a series of invitations. It begins with the invitation to a loving relationship to a risen Christ. Then comes the invitation to a life-long journey of learning to harmonize your ways of thinking and doing with the teaching of scripture. This spiritual journey must take place in a supportive community of believers. Therefore, we invite people to participate in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Note well, however, that evangelism happens by caring invitation, not by arm-twisting sale. The reason, of course, is that evangelism involves inviting people to fall in love with God and with God's ways. We can never coerce people to fall in love. We can only look our best and invite them into a relationship.
Imagine that you have gone out for a walk just as the sun is setting. You are walking east on an east/west road. As you walk, you pass people coming from the opposite direction. Because they walk west, the setting sun lights their faces. Their faces are aglow because they see what you do not see. That is the image of evangelism. It is to have your face, as a believer, aglow because you walk in a different direction and because you see what others cannot see. The light of God's love shines from your face and attracts others to walk in the same direction.1
We are called to do evangelism because it is the very nature of our Creator to reach out to all God's children. We persist in evangelism because God never gives up scanning the horizon in hopes that some of the kids will come to their senses and come home. We do evangelism because we want others to know the deep joy that comes from seeing the world in relationship to God.
South American theologian Pablo Richard notes that the church needs to say to the poor, "You deserve to live." Richard rightly insists that is an evangelistic statement. It proclaims the Good News of the gospel by offering hope to the less fortunate.
I thoroughly agree, but want to take it one more step. The church needs to say, not just to the poor, but to all the children of this world, rich and poor, young and old, women and men, "You not only deserve to live, but God yearns for you to know the abundant life." For this faith of ours does more than claim, "In Christ, there is no death." Our faith insists that by faith there is life in the midst of death.
____________
1. I believe Leslie Newbiggin is the source of this image. I have long since lost the reference.
For Further Reflection And/Or Discussion
When you hear the word evangelism, what comes to mind?
Do you ever invite anyone to attend church?
Describe your faith journey in terms of whether it has been smooth or rough; continually on the rise or up and down.
What kinds of events or particular experiences cause you to grow in your faith?
