In the field of social services, of which I am vocationally related, outcomes are an important element in determining what actions are needed. So, likewise with evangelism—if an outcome of evangelism is “personal decisions for Christ,” then activities of soul-winning, witnessing, crusades, and salvation-centered preaching are reasonable; if numerical church-growth is the outcome, then activities that promote such “growth” are acceptable; and, as I will posit here, if addressing the issues of poverty and social-righteousness are outcomes, then social action is a valid evangelistic activity.
Those who have the highest interest in evangelism are usually those least interested in “critical, theological reflection.” Since evangelism seems mostly self-evident, rarely is the subject examined or evaluated theologically, but consigned to matters of church praxis. This does not promote biblically relevant criteria to precede the discussion, and thus limits critical analysis, biblical evaluation, and creative thinking regarding evangelism.
There is a tendency to define evangelism etymologically and stop there. Since the Greek noun εὐαγγέλιον means “good news” and the Greek verb εὐαγγελίζω means “to proclaim the good news,” evangelism, then, is simply “proclaiming the good news.” With this definition, proclamation-centered activities are the valid forms of evangelism: Preaching, teaching, witnessing, or sharing a testimony. The hoped for outcomes of a proclamation-centered evangelism are individual- and number-oriented: confessions of faith, increased church attendance, etc. However, does the Gospel narrative itself allow this definition to go unchallenged?
The narrow, proclamation-centered definition only succeeds if solely based on word-studies and isolated proof-texts. It is not entirely clear that the New Testament presents “a vision of evangelism merely from verbal consideration related to the etymology of ‘evangelism.’” The early Church, especially in the Gospels, seem more interested in creating a narrative so future generations of the Church can imagine what it means for the Gospel of the Kingdom to have been inaugurated. Any attempt to develop a coherent theory of evangelism must begin with the eschatological implications of the presence of the Kingdom, which is wholly constitutive of the gospel. The remainder of this paper will explore how the parable of the Sower who sows, which fits within this framework, offers a narrative definition of evangelism that includes social action outcomes.
References and footnotes to citations and quotes will be available after the paper is finished and presented in a pfd version of the whole paper. I will post the link after Novemeber 19th sometime.
The Wasted Evangelism thread 1, I1, II1, II2, II3, III1…
Posted by Chip Anderson at 05:41 AM. Filed under: Wasted Evangelism • "Wasted Evangelism" (Mark 4) paper •
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