Evangelism & Social Justice

Charles Spurgeon accessed from anthonysvajda.com

                 

In this post we focus on the theme of evangelism and its relationship to social justice.  Take a moment to consider how you might define the term ‘evangelism’? 

Below are some of the best known definitions.

 ‘Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread.’

C.H. Spurgeon (19^th century preacher and evangelist)

That definition is accredited to the great Baptist preacher C.H. Spurgeon and it is the one used by Nicky Gumble on the Alpha course.  Its great advantage is its lack of arrogance and the way it places the evangelist on the same level as the one being ministered to.

Here is another definition of evangelism,

‘Evangelization will always contain ... a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all men, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy.’

The same source also states, with regard to witness by actions or deeds,

‘Nevertheless, this always remains insufficient, because even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not explained, justified – what Peter called always having ‘your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have’ – and made explicit by a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus. The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life sooner or later has to be proclaimed by the word of life.’

Pope Paul VI, Evangelization in the Modern World (Evangelii Nuntiandi)

That was the official voice of the Roman Catholic Church in a 1960’s encyclical, Evangelii Nuntiandi (Evangelization in the Modern World) penned by Pope Paul VI. 

Finally, here is a definition from an impeccable Anglican source. Some would regard this as the most complete definition of evangelism ever penned.

‘To evangelize is so to present Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, that men shall come to put their trust in God through Him, to accept Him as their Saviour, and serve Him as their King in the fellowship of the church.’ 

(Archbishop William Temple)

This quotation emanates from a Church of England Report which is over 70 years old and is still one of the most radical and exciting statements about mission ever written. The title of the Report was ‘Towards the Conversion of England’ and parts of it can still be found on-line.  Let us hear a sample of its teaching.  On the need for everyone to witness to their faith, it states,

‘We cannot exaggerate the importance of breaking down this traditional English reserve which produces a Church ‘of silent saints’.
 

(I would suggest that it is not just an English problem but that it’s present throughout the Communion and, indeed, present in most of our traditional denominations)
 

‘The Christian obligation of spoken witness does not require from all the duty of addressing public audiences: still less of button-holing comparitive strangers. It does demand being able to give a reason for the faith that is in us, when asked by a friend; and of praying that such openings shall be given and used by us.’

On the matter of that controversial notion of conversion, it says among other things,

81 ‘We cannot expect to get far with evangelism until three facts are faced. First, the vast majority of English people need to be converted to Christianity. Secondly, a large number of Church people also require to be converted, in the sense of their possessing that personal knowledge of Christ which can be ours only by the dedication of the whole self, whatever the cost. Thirdly, such personal knowledge of Christ is the only satisfactory basis for testimony to others.’

We need to think seriously about the idea of conversion because, as Richard Peace, the Professor of Evangelism and Spiritual Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary tells us, one’s view of conversion shapes and determines one’s view of evangelism.  Peace, in a recent article, looked in some detail at the concept of ‘conversion’ in five major Christian traditions: the evangelical, the Pentecostal, what he terms mainline or mainstream Protestantism (perhaps meaning those expressions of Protestantism which definitely are not ‘Evangelical’ in outlook), Roman Catholic and Orthodox. Having established the parameters of his study (all the classical branches of Christianity which were essentially Trinitarian in outlook), he looked at them through the grid of what Scot McKnight termed, the three main orientations towards ‘conversion’ (that is, the three main ways in which conversion is understood as a concept).

These were as socialization, as the effects of liturgical acts,  and finally as personal decision.’ Returning again to the five main religious traditions, McKnight himself suggests that each one of them identifies with only one of the concepts of conversion. Thus ‘Evangelicals worry about Roman Catholic conversions; Roman Catholics are uneasy with evangelical conversion; mainline denominations are uncomfortable with both; on the rebound, evangelicals and Roman Catholics lift their eyebrows at mainline Christianity…. These groups squabble and feud,’ claims McKnight.

To lay a foundation for what I am later going to say about evangelism I want us to consider briefly these three orientations towards ‘conversion.’  What is fascinating from an Anglican perspective, by the way,  is that all three orientations are actually found under the same Anglican umbrella.  Different churchmanships actually identify with different orientations. 

Conversion as Socialization.
 

Accessed at picclick.com

We begin with conversion as socialization.  This is the notion that Christianity is far more a matter of nurture than of decision. Thus the key decision is the one made on the behalf of individuals when parents bring their infant children for baptism. The decision that is later required of these baptized children, according to McKnight’s view of things, has more to do with continuing alignment with the community than with following Jesus per se.

The main aspects of post-baptism nurture would thus be Sunday School instruction (for children), cathechism and confirmation (for teens), and active participation in church leadership (for adults). In this context many would be uncomfortable with the language of ‘becoming a Christian’ but more naturally talk about simply being a Christian.  The language of ‘conversion’ might indeed be viewed as a ‘power word’ denoting a claim to being something that others are not. It certainly would be an indelicate word and one not identified with ‘middle of the road’ churchmanship.

The general outcome of such a perspective on conversion is that the concept is quite far removed  from the centre of one’s ecclesial vision. Thus in churches that have a socialization view of conversion, or what we might even call ‘conversion by osmosis’, there is a danger that faith remains extrinsic, linked to the outward life of the community, but not necessarily focused enough on personal

response to Jesus. One might want to say that where faith in this context is genuinely nominal, the goal should be to help individuals attain a more definite and individualised faith. How that might be done will be explored when we look at evangelism more concretely.

Conversion Through Liturgical Acts

Accessed from douglawrence.files.wordpress.com

The second model that McKnight explores is that of conversion through liturgical acts and here he has in mind Roman Catholics, Orthodox and certain high Anglicans.  Essentially, he is referring to a sacramentalist view of conversion where the work is seen to be done in the individual through the power of sacramental grace, given particularly in baptism and nurtured subsequently through penance and the eucharist.

Interestingly, though, Professor Peace notes that a lot of Roman Catholic reflection is caught between the experience of St Augustine and the fact of infant baptism.  In other words, the tension of whether we view conversion as an experience, or as a grace mediated by the church. For Augustine, conversion came in a moment when he heard a voice telling him to pick up the New Testament and read. As he did, ‘there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.’ 

If one reads the Catholic literature on the subject there is a considerable ambivalence going on with regard to the issue of conversion. Major thinkers such as Rahner and Lonergan are of the view that there is a problem if the subjective (experiential) element of conversion is removed or muted from one’s understanding of what conversion is about.  Rahner,  in fact,  encouraged Catholics to give up their suspicion of ‘the conversion phenomenon’ and embrace the whole idea of conscious conversion. (See Hudson’s article, ‘Catholic View of Conversion’) 

Indeed, Catholic church history is littered with conversion stories whether it be St Francis of Assissi, Ignatius of Loyola, or some other Catholic luminary who moved from a state of nominal faith to a passionate concern for the things of Christ.

Professor Peace, commenting on this liturgical view of conversion, suggests that it is in danger of being an empty ritual when the sacraments are approached without faith or engagement.  Indeed, even within Catholicism, there is a growing body of thought which recognises that people can be sacramentalised without having been effectively evangelised. Thus the publication of the radical pastoral letter by the French bishops back in 1970 entitled France Pagan.

Turning briefly to the Orthodox church,  one might say that, if anything, it is more tied to this liturgical view of conversion than is the Roman Catholic church.  Read some of the Orthodox theologians such as Ware,  Schmemann,  Archbishop Paul of Finland, and it is very clear that salvation is above all sacramental and ecclesial in the Orthodox worldview. The liturgy itself is both evangelistic and transformational. 

Conversion through Personal Decision
 

Theophany on the Road to Damascus accessed at arthuride.blogspot.com

This leads us to our third orientation towards conversion, and that is ‘conversion through personal decision.’  Here we cannot help but think of the evangelical tradition because conversion is absolutely central to that tradition, both in how people identify themselves and in the way ministry is exercised. Actually, we might lump in Pentecostals with evangelicals because they have roughly the same starting point.

In the evangelical world, conversion is the defining emphasis. In the more Fundamentalist expressions of evangelicalism one cannot even be a Christian unless one has been converted – and the more like the Damascus Road event one’s conversion is – the better.

For all its drawbacks,  though,  (and I’m afraid we need to address those drawbacks in just a moment) the emphasis on conversion through personal decision has been fruitful in helping many people make heartfelt responses to Christ.  In our own tradition, such luminaries as Archbishop Justin Welby, Archbishop George Carey,  Archbishop John Sentamu, Archbishop Donald Coggan,  Archbishop Stuart Blanche, Bishop Tom Wright,  Bishop Michael Nazir Ali, Bishop David Shepherd, Bishop James Jones and countless other bishops and priests have come to faith through personal decision. Evangelicals do not feel as comfortable in telling you that well known Anglican ‘heretics’ (and I use the word advisedly) such as atheist priest, Don Cupitt, are also from the evangelical stable and underwent conversion experiences. 

I have to own up at this point and let you know what you already know – that I come from that tradition myself and I know that, for all its deficiencies, it helped me to find personal faith and I will be forever grateful to evangelicals for that.  Another great benefit of this approach to conversion is that it offers a clear articulation of the gospel message and a way of framing that message that allows lay people to be able to share their faith with friends or acquaintances. These are tremendously helpful things for the church’s mission  – particularly, if this is increasingly a mission to an unchurched populace for whom Jesus is becoming a vague figure of history.

But there are significant shortcomings to this approach.  1. Without proper catechesis and a proper context, it can reduce ‘becoming a Christian’ to saying a short prayer and accepting a particular view of the atonement which one is told  ensures a place in heaven no matter what behaviour is engaged in subsequent to conversion. Can we say that this is what the New Testament teaches? The reality of that simplistic approach is that huge numbers who pray that prayer actually fall away. The Billy Graham organisation has discovered that there is a direct correlation between those who were brought to crusades through Christian friends and who were already connected to a church and those whose conversions proved to be solid. What I am suggesting is that a too simplistic conversionist approach can make shallow converts and maybe even inoculate people to the faith because they conclude, ‘I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work.’

A second problem is that the conversionist approach can leave people with an immobilised spirituality. It stops almost at the point at which it begins.  People often have a glorious conversion experience but spend the rest of their spiritual lives trying to feed off an experience that was meant, in the true scheme of things, to flower into something beautiful and redolent of Christ. 

Conversion in Biblical Terms
 



Accessed at graceonlinelibrary.org

Before we look specifically at evangelism I want to explain what conversion is in biblical terms and then look at how that relates to what form our evangelism might take.

 

Conversion in the New Testament

Conversion in the New Testament is expressed through the word epistrophe and means turning around – that is, reversing direction and going the opposite way.  One turns from the way of sin to the way of Jesus.

The other key New Testament term – and one that you will be no doubt familiar with – is metanoia or repentance. This word also contains the idea of turning, but it actually focuses on the inner cognitive decision to make a break with the past. Now here is a vital additional point. Metanoia must be combined with pistis –with faith in order to bring about epistrophe, conversion.

We see this idea – which is the classic New Testament understanding of conversion – perfectly encapsulated in the words recorded in Acts 26:20 which are Paul’s description, conveyed to King Agrippa, of what he preached to Jews and Gentiles. Here Paul says to both that ‘they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance.’

Thus Christian conversion is characterised by a decision (repentance) based on understanding (awareness, consciousness, conviction) to turn around from a life of sin (darkness, disobedience, waywardness) to the way of Jesus (light, holiness, God), with a resultant new way of living in the Kingdom of God.

The most famous example of conversion in the New Testament is Paul’s dramatic turn around on the road to Damascus. This experience is so central to the New Testament (where it is related three times in the Book of Acts and referred to by Paul in four major texts) that it has become for many the paradigm of true conversion.

I would suggest that although this paradigm fits many lives, it is not the only means of conversion.  There are countless inspiring Christians both inside and outside the evangelical tradition who most definitely could not pointto the day and hour that they submitted their lives to Jesus.  Indeed, many will talk of growing up in a family where Jesus was loved and the most natural thing in the world was for them to love Him too.

Outside of that tradition, there are many Christians who would not use evangelical terminology at all, but have an orientation towards God that could not be summed up in any other way but that of a ‘converted mentality.’  Indeed, the real proof of conversion, I would suggest, is in the reality of a life and not just the memory of an experience. J.I. Packer once put it like this,  ‘convertedness as a condition matters more than conversion as an experience.’

Conversion is about where one ends up.  Does a person love our Lord Jesus Christ? Have they turned away from a life orientated around themselves to a life in which they are unreservedly devoted to God? Do they bear the fruit of the Spirit?  If such is the case, one must say that they are converted. This state of convertedness may have been the result of a crisis experience or it may have come about through their childhood upbringing orit may have happened at an anonymous moment during a journey towards a deeper and more profound faith. The important issue is that the reality of conversion has been experienced and this does not require that it fit a certain evangelical mould. 

Actualising Conversion

How do we go about enabling conversion in our own ministry?  The starting point must be having a clear idea of what evangelism is. Today I am going to offer a definition of the nature of evangelism that is borrowed from the Lausanne Covenant. This is a document that came out of a major Conference on Evangelism (Lausanne) and it is cited by the late Anglican theologian John Stott in his book, Christian Mission in the Modern World.  The great value of this statement is that it is comprehensive,  true to the biblical material,  and aims at sensitivity.

To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that as the reigning Lord he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe. Our Christian presence in the world is indispensable to evangelism, and so is that kind of dialogue whose purpose is to listen sensitively in order to understand. But evangelism itself is the proclamation of the historic, biblical Christ as Saviour and Lord, with a view to persuading people to come to him personally and so be reconciled to God. In issuing the gospel invitation we have no liberty to conceal the cost of discipleship. Jesus still calls all who would follow him to deny themselves, take up their cross, and identify themselves with his new community. The results of evangelism include obedience to Christ, incorporation into his church and responsible service in the world.’ (Paragraph 4 of the Lausanne Covenant)

The Gospel and Sin

It is impossible to proclaim the message of the gospel without reference to Jesus’ death for our sins. I am of the view that theologians such as Karl Barth and Emil Brunner were absolutely accurate when they suggested that Christ’s death is essentially substitutionary.  However, it is also a proclamation about Christ’s Lordship and the invitation to repent of sin and receive or submit to Christ as Saviour and Lord. It is important to avoid clichés when proclaiming that message and to read the sermons of preachers who know how to present the old, old story with freshness, vibrancy and life.  Timothy Keller, Bill Hybels, Vaughn Roberts, and Nicky Gumbel are examples of contemporary communicators who have a winsomeness about them and who exhibit a redeemed humanity.

Pointers to effective evangelism.

Before we touch on evangelism’s relationship to social justice, I want to alert you to some key concepts which I hope will develop your thinking on evangelism.

Firstly, evangelism is as much to do with sowing as reaping.  The process of anyone becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ is precisely that – a process. It is rarely an overwhelming experience out of the blue without antecedents or background. The missiologist Engel is very helpful in this regard in that he has developed a scale which plots where people might be in terms of their responsiveness to the Christian faith.  The scale is 1-10 and someone who is at level 1 is an individual who disbelieves totally in God’s existence and views the church’s dogmas as a play for power. Moreover, they will have never met anyone identified with the church whom they have admired or liked.  For someone to call on a person at that stage in the faith journey to commit their life to Christ is seriously wrong-headed.

However, when an individual is at 7 or 8 on the Engel scale things will look very different. There is already acceptance of the basic truths of the faith and no innate predisposition against the church. Moreover, they are potentially ready to commit their lives to Christ.  It is my suspicion that increasingly fewer and fewer people will be that high up the scale and that evangelism which simply  aims to ‘reap’ converts in may find itself outdated and irrelevant. In the future Ireland, North and South, we may find an increasing number of 2’s, 3’s and 4’s on Engel’s evangelism scale.

Sowing before Reaping

The answer to the changing evangelistic climate is for the church to engage in ‘sowing’ activities. The church’s ministry to people at a low point on the Engel’s scale is essentially to demonstrate three things. 1. God is good. 2. Christians are nice. 3. The Bible speaks meaningfully to the issues and concerns that trouble them.  Sowing is developing church activities and outreach programmes that help communicate God’s reality. A well organised, low pressure Alpha course can very speedily move people up that scale.  So can a meaningful outreach that touches their physical or concrete needs. 



Brian McLaren accessed at thepublicqueue.com

Brian McLaren in his helpful little book More Ready Than You Realise (sub-titled Evangelism as Dance in the Postmodern Matrix) highlights key aspects of evangelism which he believes should be part of our own personal way of sharing our faith or of the culture of the church which we seek to develop.





 

The Relational Factor. Get outside holy huddles and develop genuine friendships with those who are outside the boundaries of the church.  And be nice to them, enquire after them, find out about their lives. As McLaren says, ‘Count conversations and not just conversions.

The Narrative Factor.  Don’t just share your faith as a series of propositions or formulas. Tell your story but listen to their story as well.

The Communal Factor.  Expect conversion to normally occur in the context of authentic Christian community and not just as a result of information being communicated.

‘In the context of imperfect but vibrant Christian community (even just two or three of you!), the message of Christ will come alive in a way that a disembodied  booklet or lecture never could convey. And once your community begins to function as such a portal, a process will be set in motion that will not always be easy, but will be exciting and worthwhile because every new person who comes in will make your community even more ready to welcome the next.’

The Journey Factor.  See disciple-making as a wholistic process and unending journey, not just a conversion event.

The Holy Spirit Factor. Realise that God is already at work outside the church in the minds and hearts of many people. Paul was told in a vision about a Gentile town he was about to visit, ‘I have many people in this place.’

The Learning Factor. We will learn lessons through evangelism. Peter learnt through Cornelius how ethno-centric and narrow he was. We may learn similar lessons.

The Missional Factor.  See evangelism as recruiting people for God’s mission on earth, not just for heaven. True conversion should be reflected in concern for others and God’s world, not simply an ‘I’m alright Jack’ mentality.

End Notes

I wish to end by talking about one particular way in which we can live missionally for the Kingdom right now.  This is expressed in the linkage between evangelism and social action. John Stott, in Christian Mission in the Modern World, outlined what he thought were two inappropriate ways in which these have been brought together in the church’s ministry.  Firstly, social action as a means to evangelism.  In its most blatant form this makes social action the sugar on the pill, the bait on the hook, to bring folks to Christ.  Here conversion is the price of the assistance being offered by the church.  This cannot be the basis for our service in the world, argues Stott. 

Secondly, social action as evangelism.  This is a lived out witness and service intended to draw people to Christ. Stott’s point is that while this is good and right to a certain extent, if it is simply done to produce an effect, it still falls short of the impartial, unconditional love of God. And it is the unconditional love of God that the church wishes to show: a love that is there even when there is not a response, a love that cares for justice and peoples’ rights, whatever their reaction is to our beliefs.

The true relationship between the two, according to Stott, is social action as a partner of evangelism.  It is thus a godly response to need … a breaking heart for the pain that others are feeling and undergoing, and a striving for justice on the behalf of those who have been denied it. One way this is happening increasingly in the church’s ministry is through advocacy, both in terms of the mission field abroad but also closer to home where injustice and suffering is encountered.

Advocasy

What is advocacy in a nutshell? Tear Fund, who have produced excellent material on advocacy and do tremendous work on the mission field, define it as this:

‘Seeking with, and on behalf of, the poor to address underlying causes of poverty, bring justice and support good development through influencing the policies and practices of the powerful.  Tearfund views advocacy as part of its mission to bring good news to the poor, motivated by the compassion of Christ.’

Among activities relating to advocacy are the following:

- prayer for God to intervene

- modelling an alternative that can influence others

- seeking social justice through influencing those in power

- bringing peace and reconciliation

- prophetic role in speaking out against injustice

- confronting the unseen powers

In terms of the home front – work for ethnic minorities,  helping people access rights,  supporting the vulnerable – are all means of living out our obedience to Christ. This is not done out of some manipulative evangelistic agenda but from hearts that share something of God’s heart for the poor. When that more altruistic approach is really visible  - the irony is that evangelism happens.

End with ‘Is he like Joe?’