Defining the "E"-word: Evangelism as a Christian Practice

In this post, I offer my understanding of evangelism as a Christian practice. As I develop this understanding and situate evangelism within the broader calling and mission of the church, I will compare and contrast it to the theologies of evangelism offered by William Abraham and Bryan Stone.

Walt Klaiber is quite right when he notes that biblical usage of terms surrounding evangelism and mission are not uniform, and equally right when he suggests that it is less important to argue for a “right” designation of scope than to clarify how it is that one intends to use these terms.  In this spirit, I suggest speaking of the calling of the church as inclusive of worship, fellowship and witness.  Worship refers to those practices which manifests a proper love for God.  Fellowship entails the practices which express the church’s love for one another, and witness, includes the cluster of practices that enact the church’s love for the world. In an important sense, both worship and fellowship do witness, but they do so in a passive mode, since their orientation is more directly to God or the fellowship than to the “watching world.”  This passive witness is “before” the world but active witness is purposefully “for” the world.  Active witness can also be labeled mission and it includes the pluriform ways in which the church participates in the missio dei—God’s pluriform action in history toward the new creation.  Among these modes of active witness are included social action, environmental stewardship, ministries of compassion, and evangelism, among others. Evangelism, then, is the form of witness which hopes to join the missio dei in the creation of a new redeemed humanity.

Evangelism, as a Christian practice, is fundamentally a dimension of the Church’s participation in the activity of the Triune God.  Therefore, the primary agent in evangelism is God, who brings humans “from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son.”  I describe this divine work, employing language familiar to evangelistic literature, as a holistic conversion.  I must immediately clarify that this conversion is not to be regarded, as it has regularly has, as a mere decision of the will, or cognitive assent—though both will and mind are deeply involved.  Conversion is a holistic process akin to learning a new language, joining a new social group, receiving a new history, and undergoing a paradigm shift.  [I've posted on conversion here and here.]

The church’s practice of evangelism, then, is a stewardship of and a participation in God’s holistic work of conversion within people by which they become full citizens in the reign of God, through and in the church.  The church’s participation with God’s work of holistic conversion takes the primary forms of invitation and initiation.

Two substantial proposals, those of Abraham and Stone, contribute to development of these two modes.

Charles Finney's on Revivals of Religion: Summary

This post offers a biographical sketch of Second Great Awakening revivalist Charles Finney and summary of his most important book.

Charles Grandison Finney was born in Connecticut on Aug. 29, 1792 and died Aug. 16, 1875 in Ohio.  After a brief stint teaching, Finney studied and practiced law.  In 1821 he underwent a religious conversion and dropped his law practice to become an evangelist and was licensed by the Presbyterians. Finney was most active as a revivalist between 1825-35 and was known for his innovations including having women pray in public meetings of mixed gender, development of the "anxious seat" (a place where those considering becoming Christians could come to receive prayer), extemporaneous preaching and public censure of individuals by name in sermons and prayers. His revivals achieved spectacular success in large cities, and in 1832 he began an almost continuous revival in New York City as minister of the Second Free Presbyterian Church. His disaffection with Presbyterian theology and discipline, however,

Making Christians: Conversion as Skill Acquisition

Christians are made, not born.
~ Tertullian, 3rd century (Apol, xviii)

If Tertullian is right, the question follows: how are Christians “made”? The specific approach to this question in this post looks at the dynamics and dimensions of religious conversion, as well as theories of skill acquisition that correlate to an understanding of Christianity as a way of life.


To clarify, I consider a Christian to be one who (however haltingly) lives in the way of Jesus. Thus, Christianity is understood to be a way of life for the sake of others.[A]  Furthermore, Christianity is regarded, in Pierre Bourdieu’s terms, as a habitus – an intellectual, behavioral and social dwelling. A disciple, then, is one who views reality from within a Christian worldview and embodies a distinctively Christian way of life. It should be noted that the terms Christian and disciple are throughout taken to be synonymous, for with philosopher and author Dallas Willard, I find that biblically speaking there is no such thing as nondisciple Christian (Willard 1980).

Evangelical Hospitality by Baucum: Book Review

 
In Evangelical Hospitality: Catechetical Evangelism in the Early Church and its Recovery for Today Tory K. Baucum self-consciously engages in ressourcement[1] to leverage the Christian tradition of the catechumenate for “present missional challenges” (11). Baucum’s interest grows out of a personal “struggle for a living faith” and “desire to help other people in their spiritual journey” as he seeks to contribute to the fulfillment of the Great Commission (5).  In this regard, Baucum and I share similar motivations for approaching the catechumenate.

The ancient catechumenate serves as the “seminal precedent” for Baucum’s comparative analysis of early Methodism and The Alpha Course as means of evangelism and formation (2).  Baucum describes

Catechumenate: Conversion in the Early Church

The challenge of “making” Christians is as old as Christianity itself. Contemporary theologians and practitioners might draw upon models from over 2000 years of practice in any one of thousands of communities across the globe. Therefore, the choice that this study will look to the ancient catechumenate for normative guidance must be reasonably supported.

Robert Webber wrote Journey to Jesus as an attempt to draw upon the catechumenate as a model for postmodern worship, evangelism, and nurture. He justifies this ressourcement upon the linkages made in his earlier work between the situation of the ancient church and that of the postmodern church.[1] Most notably, the catechumenal process was developed and used in “a setting hostile to the church and its values” (41) that included persecution by the state and a religious scene that was both pluralistic and pagan. With Constantine’s conversion, Christianity moved from this position and has until recently enjoyed the privileges of state-sponsorship. “Now, for the first time in centuries, the church has been freed from the Constantinian model. The end of Christendom brings us full circle to a society similar to premodern times” (52).

While much more could be said to connect the contemporary Western situation to that of the environment that birthed the catechumenate, perhaps it will suffice to add that major denominations have asserted its present usefulness. In 1972, through Vatican II, the Roman Catholic Church called for the reinstatement of the catechumenate as the Rite of Christian Initiation (RCIA). Balthasar Fischer, the chairman of the concilium that drafted RCIA explains: “It was not our intention to keep ancient texts merely because they were old or for nostalgic reasons, but because the texts, while they linked us with the past, still answered contemporary needs” (Ciesiak 7).

Evangelism for Davis Square, MA: Practices

This is post three in a three part project on Evangelism in Davis Square, MA, co-written with Ross Ponder.  I've made some final editoral omissions.   Part one, on evangelistically relevant characteristics of residents, is here.  Part two, drafting a contextual theology of evangelism, is here.

Practicing Evangelism in Davis Square
     The evangelizing community practices evangelism to invite others to participate in a unique and shared way of life, we call the kingdom of God. Below we develop faithful evangelistic practices to the jaded, progressive, educated, aspiring, and sojourning people of Davis Square. We continue to use our contextual definition of evangelism, call to a community of cause, highlighting specific methods to voice the call of a shared narrative, to shape a communal way of life and to join in service of a common cause.

A Practice of Call: Giving Voice to a Unique Narrative
    Practicing call narrates the story of God’s people in fresh ways to others. Stone writes, “This story [of the people of God], with its various characters, subplots, twists, turns, and surprises, literally ‘makes sense’ out of the Christian life by depicting its beginning, way, and end and thereby orienting us on a journey” (55). Therefore, our suggested practice of call seeks to demonstrate the uniqueness of the Christian story within the context of competing narratives. 

Evangelism for Davis Square, MA: A Contextual Theology

This is post two of a three part project on Evangelism in Davis Square, MA, co-written with Ross Ponder.  I've made some final editoral omissions.   Part one on evangelistically relevant characteristics of residents is here.

A Contextual Theology of Evangelism for Davis Square, MA.
    Before proposing several practices that could constitute faithful witness to the jaded, progressive, educated, aspiring, and sojourning population of Davis Square, a grounding contextual theology of evangelism bears articulation. While evangelism is always, as William Abraham has stated “the polymorphous ministry aimed at initiating people into the kingdom of God” (Chilcote 19), the contours of this ministry should

Evangelism for Davis Square, MA: Characteristics

The following three posts are sections of a paper co-written with Ross Ponder for our project on Evangelism in Davis Square, MA.  I have made a few, final editorial omissions. 

Evangelistically Relevant Characteristics of Davis Square, MA Residents
     Stepping outside of the Davis Square Red Line T-stop, a person quickly encounters a number of local businesses (i.e., restaurants and bars, delicatessens, coffee shops, and stores) throughout the Square. Curiously, though, most churches (over a half dozen) in Davis Square are positioned along College Avenue, which leads up to Tufts University. The churches function as landmarks for passersby on their way up to Tufts, even as the church has traditionally marked a person’s journey through life. Interaction between local congregations and the residents of Davis Square, as our research contends, is marginal and of little consequence to the daily lives of most Davis Square residents.  Our research identifies five key characteristics about the residents of Davis Square and wider Somerville for the church to practice faithful evangelism. Christian witness in Davis Square needs to address 1) a jaded attitude towards Christianity, 2) questions that surface among the highly educated, 3) an aspirational stance towards life and its possibilities, 4) politically progressive attitudes and commitments, and 5) the experience of sojourning in a “transient” lifestyle.

Save the Planet vs. Save Souls

There's a debate in Christian circles which goes like this: "We must save the planet, it's God's creation!" and the other says "No, the earth is doomed, we must save souls from this sinking ship!" Perhaps you've heard or participated in a version of this conflict yourself. I want to propose that the former is a strategy for the latter.* That is, a vibrant, flourishing planet is an irrepressibly persistent, remarkably effective and undeniably global apologetic for the God of the Bible. It can't be stopped by borders, or language barriers. It has the power catch people when their defenses are down. It can be both overpoweringly awesome and quietly insistent. Helping Creation speak, by preserving it's wildlife, habitats, and resources, ought to be a top priority for those with true evangelistic zeal. Not sure you agree?


Hear the Psalmist's claim: 

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psm 19)

And Paul's assertion:

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities— his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Rom 1:20)

And St. Augustine's rebuke:

Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book:the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?

And St. Bernard of Clairvaux's (1090-1153) opinion:

Believe an expert: you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.

So if you're a Christian as yet unconvinced to join the green cause, someone who admits no other aim than 'saving souls' then drive a hybrid or plant a tree for those souls that will be drawn to the Creator God through the beauty of his Creation.

*Nancy Ortberg gave voice to this idea in a sermon titled "A.K.A. Creator" at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church on 6/14/09.

Book Review: The Celtic Way of Evangelism by George Hunter

According to George Hunter III:  The way St. Patrick and those who followed in his legacy went about evangelism has much to teach us today.  Patrick’s experience in slavery among the Celts attuned him to Celtic culture and informed his approach when he returned decades later as missionary bishop.  His strategy included a team that wouldset up camp near a settlement, engage with the local leader, converse with all, pray for the sick and make open-air presentations of the gospel in culturally familiar forms including story, poetry, parable, symbol and drama, all with the goal of planting a church (21).  Church took shape as lay monastic communities that offered a visible place of hospitality free from violence (29).  Celtic Christianity (CC) prized the imminence of God and thus gave attention to the middle-level issues of life and

Evangelism after Christendom: Review and Reflections Pt. 3

According to Bryan Stone:

Evangelism, as a practice of the Spirit, is therefore  utterly pacifist in nature.  The pacifism of evangelism is not passive but arises from an eschatological trust in the Spirit who goes before the evangelist (229).  Apologetics, if an attempt to make faith compulsory on the basis of reason, fail the test of pacifism (232).  Instead, apologetics are primarily an act that seeks to reveal the beauty of holiness.  Thus the primary tasks of evangelism are “confession, proclamation and public exemplification” rather than argument and persuasion (232).  This task occurs in and through

Evangelism after Christendom: Review and Reflections Pt. 2

According to Bryan Stone:
Christian conversion is foremost an exchange of narratives. Two rival narratives have significantly shaped the social, political and economic orders and religious life of Western cultures.  The Constantinian story fuses church and world and calls for ‘realistic’ appraisal of faithful Christian living.  Constantinian-storied evangelism pragmatically values worldly power and is committed to effectiveness, control and success (125).  The second rival, the Story of Modernity, is characterized by the freedom of the individual and the ‘secular’ arenas from the influence of religion.  Modern-storied Evangelism is reduced to “church marketing” (167) and promoting the “usefulness of the gospel for “everyday living” (146).  This is commodification of salvation, and

Evangelism after Christendom: Review and Reflections Pt. 1

If you haven't read Bryan Stone's Evangelism After Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness, consider these next three posts a primer to this significant contribution to the theology of evangelism.  

Stone’s overarching thesis is that faithful evangelism is most fundamentally accomplished in the “beauty of holiness made real in the church” (12). Laying the foundation for this thesis, he identifies evangelism as a veritable practice—a virtuous activity whose ends are intrinsic. Moreover, evangelism is a constitutive Christian practice (47); the whole Christian life can be described as evangelism and the absence of evangelism, broadly defined as witness, is effectively the absence of Christianity. Stone asserts that most of what has been written in recent decades on evangelism is misguided due to a focus either on pragmatics or apologetics, both of which are grounded in non-Christian narratives. The primary logic of evangelism is that

Jesus Loves Porn Stars

Yep.  That about says it.

A Nightline report on XXX Church.

I am second

Check out this simple, clear way to bring stories of following Jesus to your glocal neighbors. I hope to see it, and others like it across the map. www.iamsecond.com

Searching for Jesus (on Google)

Despite the outcry of many that the world is running from God, Google tells another story.

Every month 1 million people search for "Jesus" on Google. One of them works in your grocery store. One of them is your neighbor. One of them in your co-worker. One of them is in your family. Maybe you could save them the trouble, and see if they have any questions about Jesus that you could answer.

A respected friend of mine told me he is 10 years into an experiment. Every time someone makes a reference in conversation to religion, or spirituality or philosophy, he is committed to following up with a question. Maybe, "Tell me more about what you believe" or "What has your life experience been around that?" or "What do you think about the Christian claim that ____?" He said despite his fears - he has not been fired, or scared off any friends. To the contrary, grateful friends have made for meaningful conversations, and a few decisions to follow Jesus.

I challenge you to take on the Follow-Up Challenge. Don't miss the opportunity. Trust me, you'll give better perspective than they'll find from a Google search.

don't evangelize, poorly

I recently finished teaching a class on Evangelism and trying to walk the balance between creating urgency to share faith, and fostering thoughtfulness and sensitivity about how it ought to be undertaken. D.L. Moody reportedly responded to a critic of his evangelistic style with this: "I don't much like it either. How do you do it?" When the reply came that the critic didn't do it at all, Moody uttered these reverberating words: "I like my way of doing it, better than your way of not doing it." As challenging as these words are, I don't always agree. Some do evangelism so poorly the world might be better off without it at all. But, of course, that some do it poorly, is no excuse that I shouldn't do it at all. Perhaps the very fact that I observe others doing evangelism poorly means that I'm well equipped to do a decent job of it. I suppose that those Christians with the harshest critiques of evangelism might make the church's best evangelists if they would just get to it. Gandhi apparently noted that "If all Christians lived like Jesus, the whole world would be converted." I have to agree. And yet, how can any of us behave like Jesus unless we feel like Jesus. How can we act like Jesus unless we have attitudes like Jesus. And then, how do we arrive at attitudes like Jesus? Well, we have to follow Jesus' pattern of life: a cycle of solitude, community and ministry (H. Nouwen). But that's a matter for another blog. So let's just assume that we could miraculously behave like Jesus, would that negate the need for spoken evangelism? Critics of spoken evangelism often quote St. Francis as having said "Preach the gospel always, if necessary use words." It's a memorable way of noting the importance of witnessing by our lives. Letting our lives speak, so to speak. But this isn't what Francis actually said. He said "Preach the gospel always, when necessary use words." WHEN necessary, as in "it is only a matter of time." And the fact of the matter is, it is always necessary eventually. Consider Paul and Barnabas who after performing miracles among the Greeks were mistaken for Greek gods. They had to do some proclaiming to explain the meaning of their actions. And such is always the case. Indeed, our actions ought to cause those around us to question their source, but it remains our task to identify the source as Jesus. So why don't we do spoken evangelism? Is it really because we're afraid of damaging seekers impressions of God? Or is it because we fear damaging our impression in their eyes? Do we really think it's not necessary given the witness of our lives? Or are we concerned that our lives don't match up to whatever we might speak of the gospel? Only you can say. I suggest that rather than not doing it, we preach the gospel always by living like Jesus, and that when words inevitably become necessary we not shrink from our task out of either insecurity or pride.