Chapter Two — What Is Evangelism?
artin Luther once said, "Every Christian must become Christ to his neighbor." Was he suggest ing that each Christian should die on a cross to atone for the sins of his neighbors? No, he was saying that Christ is invisible to our unbelieving neighbors. They don't see the cross, the empty tomb, or the transfigured Jesus. They don't see Him in His ascended glory, and they don't see Him at the right hand of the Father. All they see is you and me—and in seeing us, they must see Christ.
What Is the Great Commission?
That picture of how we relate to Christ—and how Christ relates through us to others—has always meant something to me. When I was converted, it was through a man who told me about Christ, and though I can't remem ber a word he said, I saw the power of Christ in him. When I saw it, I knew that I had to have it, whatever it was (I certainly didn't know at the time). He was a faithful wit ness to Christ.
What does it mean to be a witness to Christ? What is evangelism? Are they the same thing? The word evangelism obviously has something to do with the evangel, the good message. Evangelism, in its simplest definition, is "gospel ing" or "making the gospel known."
The Great Commission in Matthew's gospel is one of the church's great charters for evangelism. It reads:
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
What Is Evangelism?
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:16–20)
Notice that Jesus prefaces this commission by announc ing to His disciples that He has been given all authority on heaven and earth. The impetus for the task of the church to be involved in evangelism resides in the authority of Christ, who commands that the church be engaged in cer tain kinds of activity.
In recent years, discussion has emerged on whether evangelism is even an appropriate enterprise of the church. Yet it seems unthinkable to me that a church should con sider whether evangelism is an appropriate enterprise when it has the mandate of the authoritative command of the Lord and Head of the church.
Why has this become a debatable point? Emil Brun ner gave one answer in The Mediator, his classic work on Christ. Brunner lashed out at the modern church, say ing that the issues of nineteenth-century liberalism, for example, are not a matter of technical debates about minor points of doctrine. Rather, the question is essentially one of
What Is the Great Commission?
unbelief, and we have to recognize that we do live in a time when there is a great deal of unbelief, not only outside the church but inside it as well. When strong unbelief is pres ent, the church's vision, zeal, passion, and commitment for evangelism tend to decline. Who would be zealous about urging other people to believe something that they them selves do not believe?
But it would be simplistic to assume that every discus sion about the legitimacy of evangelism resides in unbelief. That's certainly a factor, but there are other reasons as well. In many circles, evangelism has a bad name because it conjures up ideas of high-pressure techniques, simplistic buttonholing, and insensitive forms of communication. For others, evangelism implies those high-powered sales pitches that almost intimidate or manipulate people into "responding" in the way the salesperson desires. But that's not what the Bible teaches us about evangelism.
The Bible teaches that evangelism is the proclamation of the gospel to the whole world. That task is still central to the mission of the church. But notice in Matthew's account that Jesus is not just interested in declaring a simple mes sage. He goes beyond that, saying, "Make disciples." The Greek word translated "disciple," mathētēs, means "one
What Is Evangelism?
who is a learner or student." It's part of the church's mis sion to be involved in instructing and catechizing—that is, in discipling—people; this involves not just asking for an initial commitment, but rooting and grounding peo ple in the whole counsel of God. But there's some overlap between discipling, evangelism, teaching, and so on, which we can see as we consider the mandate given to the church in the opening chapter of the book of Acts.
As Jesus prepared to ascend into heaven, He gathered His disciples around Him. During this last opportunity to speak with Him as a person on earth, the disciples asked Him a question: "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). In other words, was He going to be the messiah they had been hoping from the beginning that He would be? Jesus does not disparage them by saying, "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" What He says is very impor tant for understanding the mission of the church:
It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem
What Is the Great Commission?
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
Jesus tells the disciples, first of all, that there are certain things that are in the hands of the Father that are none of their business; nothing can frustrate His plans, so they should quit worrying about it. But then, He gives them a mandate: "You will be my witnesses." Often, people use the verb to witness interchangeably with the verb to evangelize, as if the two words were synonyms. But these terms do not mean the same thing in the New Testament, though they are certainly intimately and inseparably related. In the New Testament, witnessing is a generic word that encompasses different kinds of ways of communicating the gospel—and one of these ways is evangelism.
Therefore, all evangelism is witness, but not all witness is evangelism. Evangelism is a special kind of witness. To bear witness to something, according to the New Testa ment, is to call attention to it. The word for "witness" in Greek is martyria, from which we get the English word "martyr." New Testament Christians understood that one way that they called attention to the truth of Christ, one way they sought to make visible the invisible kingdom,
What Is Evangelism?
that is, to bear witness to it, was by dying for it. They made manifest something that was invisible to their unbelieving neighbors.
Jesus was leaving, going to the right hand of the Father, to His coronation. He was going to be crowned the King of that kingdom that He had announced. But we don't see the kingdom; it's invisible. You can't look up in the sky and see Jesus sitting on a throne. Some people have sought to spiri tualize the kingdom altogether, saying, "It's something that's in the hearts of men." No, the kingdom of God is an objec tive reality, not just a subjective feeling—but it's invisible. So, what is the church's task? To make visible the invisible kingdom of God. That's what witnessing is all about.
To witness means that you show people something they don't see. There are many ways to do this, according to Scripture. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we're doing something visible that shows forth the Lord's death until He comes. Jesus spoke of another way to witness: "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). The way Chris tians relate to each other—which is something that people can see—bears witness to Christ. When we feed the hun gry, clothe the naked, and visit the imprisoned, we bear
What Is the Great Commission?
witness to the compassion of Christ. The Christian, with out converting people to Christ, can still bear witness to who Jesus is and what He is like.
There's a certain sense in which the bearing of witness to the kingdom of Christ is every human being's Godgiven responsibility, because every human being is made in the image of God. To be made in the image of God is to demonstrate to the whole creation the character of God. But since the fall, the image of God in man has been obscured; we have not reflected and mirrored the holiness of God to a fallen world.
Evangelism, on the other hand, is the actual proclama tion—either oral or written, but certainly verbal—of the gospel. It is declaring the message of the person and work of Christ, who He is and what He has done on behalf of sinners like you and me.
That means there are several things that evangelism is not. It is not living your life as an example. It is not build ing relationships with people. It is not giving one's personal testimony. And it is not inviting someone to church. These things may be good and helpful, but they are not evan gelism. They may lay the groundwork for evangelism. They may allow others to relate to us, or they may cause
What Is Evangelism?
someone to be curious about why we live the way we do. But they are not evangelism, because they don't proclaim the gospel. They may say something about Jesus, but they do not proclaim the person and work of Christ.
When we consider our own role in witnessing and evangelism, we have to be careful that we're not only doing pre-evangelism and making appointments for other people to do evangelism, and that we aren't simply being a silent witness. We must be sure that the church is fulfilling its mandate to do evangelism, which is the actual proclama tion of the person and work of Christ. That's the message that God has endowed with power, through which He has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save the world. It's the "power of God for salvation," as the Apostle Paul described it (Rom. 1:16).
Not every Christian is called to be an evangelist. In the New Testament, we see the church defined as a body with unity in diversity; the Holy Spirit gives gifts to every mem ber of the body of Christ. Every single person in the church has been gifted by the Holy Spirit to do and perform some task to bear witness to Christ. There are teachers, evange lists, administrators, and a host of other offices that Christ establishes in His church. Everyone, no matter their gift,
What Is the Great Commission?
must be willing to make a confession of faith themselves. But not everyone is called to be what the New Testament calls an evangelist, someone who focuses on proclaiming the gospel of Christ.
Some may give a sigh of relief, noting the difficulty they have with telling others about their faith. But remember this: every Christian must be willing to confess Christ with their mouths, or they're far from the kingdom. Likewise, it is every Christian's duty to make sure that the task of evangelism is done. Are all teachers? No—but it is your responsibility as a member of the body of Christ to make sure that teaching is done. Is everyone a missionary? No—but it is your responsibility to make sure that the missionary enterprise is carried out. So, we all have a part in the responsibility of the whole mission of the church.
There is no enterprise that's more exciting than evange lism. I'm not an evangelist; I'm a teacher. It seems obvious to me and to those who know me that my gift and calling is to teach. When I was a new Christian, I first volunteered to be an evangelist; God said "no." Next, I wanted to be a missionary; God said "no" again. I did not want to be a teacher; but I probably talked to a thousand people oneon-one about Jesus Christ before I ever saw a single person
What Is Evangelism?
respond to the gospel. There's still a sense in which I have the heart of an evangelist, and I care about evangelists, but it is not my gift.
We know that only the Holy Spirit can change a heart; but to be used by God to communicate that gospel to a human being—is there any greater privilege in this world than that? If the man who led me to Christ were convicted of murder in the first degree, or if he scandalized the Chris tian community by unbecoming conduct, or repudiated his friendship with me, I would still be eternally grateful that he opened his mouth and taught me about Christ. When I think of him, I think again of that text, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"