\u201cI hate evangelism!\u201d my friend Edward said as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo you don\u2019t,\u201d I said. \u201cYou just don\u2019t know what it is yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be honest, I used to think I hated evangelism. To be extra honest, I have a personal preference for the word ministry<\/i>, but that\u2019s just because I\u2019m working through my own evange-baggage.<\/p>\n
The dictionary defines evangelism as \u201cthe spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
The reason why Edward thinks he hates evangelism is because all he\u2019s heard about it is that he should go knock on people\u2019s doors and pressure total strangers to start believing the way he\u2019s been told he\u2019s supposed to believe.<\/p>\n
Edward\u2019s a pretty socially savvy guy and that whole concept just totally wigs him out. His dilemma makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. It makes me want to sit him down for a cup of tea and tell him how crazy I used to be.<\/p>\n
But Edward is on the other side of the country now, so I\u2019ve decided to write him a letter. Feel free to listen in, especially if you have evange-baggage of your own.<\/p>\n
Dear Edward,<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time for a paradigm shift. I know you think you hate evangelism, but I don\u2019t think you do. You hate what you think evangelism is. I hate that too, but it isn\u2019t evangelism.<\/p>\n
Once upon a time, I thought that evangelism meant social suicide. It was primarily about disseminating factual information in a non-relational way and then challenging people to accept and act on it. I thought that everyone who did evangelism was weird. I thought a lot of things that were wrong.<\/p>\n
But I don\u2019t think those things anymore, Edward. And I\u2019m really glad I didn\u2019t throw the baby out with the bath water, because evangelism is one of my favorite things. Evangelism is simply the sharing of Jesus. We naturally want to share the things that we\u2019re excited about.<\/p>\n
If evangelism means sharing Jesus and Jesus is awesome, then true evangelism just has to be awesome.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u2019m excited about Jesus, Edward. Not as excited as He deserves, but still excited. Why? Because Jesus is the most consistent, compassionate friend I\u2019ve ever had. When I spend time with him, He gives me His peace, and His love, and His joy, and thousands of other things that I don\u2019t even have time to say.<\/p>\n
But in order for Him to give me those things, He had to really suffer. But He chose to because He loves me. And Edward, the reason I\u2019m telling you this is because I want Jesus to make your life awesome! Oops. I think I might have just accidentally participated in evangelism. It sort of just slipped out…<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s the deal. If evangelism means sharing Jesus and Jesus is awesome, then true evangelism just has to be awesome.<\/i><\/p>\n
My head is about to explode, Edward. Because I\u2019m going to tell you something epic.<\/p>\n
You know how you care about the environment so much? Well, you might not believe me, but evangelism is environmental activism. Bear with me here for a little bit. Let\u2019s think of five super-worthy causes that are aimed at making the world a better place:<\/p>\n
\n
- efforts to end human trafficking<\/li>\n
- world hunger initiatives<\/li>\n
- environmental activism<\/li>\n
- efforts to end child abuse<\/li>\n
- animal compassion<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Evangelism helps with all of this. It\u2019s the most effective form of activism. How? First of all, because we can\u2019t share Jesus without getting involved in causes that bring relief to the suffering. That\u2019s what Jesus does in the here and now. But in addition to that, evangelism promotes the total restoration of all things. When we share Jesus, we\u2019re sharing the One who will ultimately bring an end to all suffering. He will recreate the environment. He will end world hunger. He will end abuse.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have time to get involved in every cause. I get overwhelmed when I think of the many varieties of suffering that exist. But evangelism gives me a way to cooperate with Jesus in the restoration of all things. What more could an activist ask for?<\/p>\n
\u201cBut wait,\u201d you might say. \u201cIsn\u2019t evangelism also about sharing truth… like sharing doctrines with people?\u201d Yes, but not in the way you might think. These days, when we hear the word \u201cdoctrine,\u201d it\u2019s usually in a negative context. But doctrine is simply a set of teachings. If Jesus is awesome, then wouldn\u2019t His teachings be awesome too?<\/p>\n
True doctrine brings freedom.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If Jesus is love, then wouldn\u2019t his doctrine be full of love? Yes. Sometimes humans fail to present the Bible the way Jesus wants it presented, but that doesn\u2019t make it any less beautiful.<\/p>\n
Doctrine brings justice, Edward. I believe it with all my heart. The devil is the oppressor of minds. True doctrine brings freedom.<\/p>\n
You should have seen the fear in my friend Katie\u2019s eyes as she told me how scared she is of burning in hell forever. I\u2019m sure it has grieved the heart of God to see her believe such lies about His character. What more of a loving thing could I do than share the teaching of how a loving God deals with the problem of evil? Don\u2019t let doctrine become a dirty word, Edward. True doctrine brings justice to the oppressed.<\/p>\n
So Edward, please don\u2019t give up on evangelism. I don\u2019t want you to miss out. Call it ministry if you need to, or outreach… call it whatever you want. But remember<\/p>\n
…if evangelism is sharing Jesus and Jesus is awesome, then true evangelism has to be awesome too.<\/p>\n
Your friend,
\nElise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI hate evangelism!\u201d my friend Edward said as he wrinkled his nose in disgust. \u201cNo you don\u2019t,\u201d I said. \u201cYou just don\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-8075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-evangelism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Evange-Baggage.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paAh8r-26f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8075"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11712,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075\/revisions\/11712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}