I have given them your word, and the world has hated
them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not
belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the
world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do
not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent
me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded
you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

But I do not count my life of any value to myself,
if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received
from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.
At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted
me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by
me and gave me strength , so that through me the message might
be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it… The
Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his
heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

To them God chose to make known how great among the
Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning
everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present
everyone mature in Christ.

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are
engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. Therefore, my
beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work
of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is
not in vain. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit.

Luke 4:18; John 17:14-19; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts
20:24; 2 Timothy 4:16-18; Colossians 1:27-28; Ephesians 4:11;
2 Corinthians 4:1; 1 Corinthians 15:58; Romans 15:13.

…..

Every Christian is a ‘missionary’. That is, each
of us is on a special mission for the King. Some missionaries
are ‘cross-cultural’, others are mechanics, homemakers, schoolteachers,
pastors or whatever. Each of us is ‘called’ to a mission especially
designed for us. This is the reason you are on earth and not yet
in heaven. Before anything was created, before you were ‘formed
in the womb’, before you were born, God ‘consecrated’ you, set
you apart for a special task (see Jeremiah 1:4-5).

Every Christian is therefore a ‘minister’, that is
a servant – of the Lord and of the church. Some ministers have
a ‘secular’ vocation where they serve the Lord. Others, such as
pastors, leave their jobs to minister to the church and the world
without the interruption of other income-earning efforts.

‘Mission’ includes everything Christians are sent
into the world to do. Biblical mission involves three concerns:
compassion for those the New Testament calls the lost (evangelism);
compassion for the hurting (mercy) and compassion for the powerless
(justice). These three concerns are highlighted by Micah (6:8)
and Jesus (Matthew 23:23) as being essential to an authentic biblical
faith. Justice has to do with our relationships to worldly powers,
mercy our relationship to others’ pain, faithfulness our relationship
to God’s plan. Mission in the Bible involves three modes: word
(what we say to others for God); deed (what we do for others in
the Lord’s name); and sign (what God does to corroborate his word
through our words and his works through our deeds). In this chapter
we will focus on evangelism.

The world has 11,500 ethnolinguistic peoples: 2000
of these do not have a viable Christian church and witness. However,
on this day about 80,000 people will join the church. In this
year about 23 million more people will profess Christ’s name.
There are as many are ‘newly evangelized’ each day as are born
(360,000). But the painful fact is that 53,000 people leave the
Christian church from one Sunday to the next in Europe and North
America.

Old religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam
and new religions and sects are making their presence felt, sometimes
with amazing force. In the U.S., for instance, the New Age movement
has a very impressive network for the dissemination of its ideas,
values, and attitudes. According to a recent report, millions
of copies of Shirley Maclaine’s three autobiographies have been
sold, 23% of the population believe in reincarnation, and 25%
believe in a nonpersonal energy or life-force but not in a personal
God. Even in a secularized society people long for transcendence.

In the apostolic church ordinary Christians wandered
around sharing the good news with those they met. Churches everywhere
are healthy or unhealthy to the extent that their members are
verbalizing their faith. Where this is left to ‘professional’
clergy or evangelists, those churches are diseased.

Evangelism is ‘one beggar telling another beggar
where to get food’ (D.T. Niles). Jesus came to seek and to save
the lost (Luke 19:10). The Lord wants all to turn away from their
sins (2 Peter 3:9). It is God’s desire that all hear the good
news in such a way that they will turn from idols, i.e. living
for anything other than God (1 Thessalonians 1:9). In the terms
the New Testament uses, people either ‘perish’ or are ‘saved’
according to their response to this good news. And we, his people,
are commissioned to preach it. What an awesome responsibility!

Peter Wagner (Your Church Can Grow) says 10% of all
Christians have a special evangelistic gift, but only about one
half of one per cent are actively using it. (Why is that?). The
other 90% are also ‘gifted’: all the spiritual gifts are meant
to lead persons to Christ.

Evangelism is more than words. Although ‘evangelism’
usually describes ‘an action of verbal communication in which
the name of Jesus is central, the New Testament gives no authorization
to assign primacy to words over deeds’ (Lesslie Newbigin). Some,
like the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus, who follow
in the steps of Pere Charles de Foucauld, communicate the gospel
in silence.

Good evangelism is more than ‘apologetics’, which
attempts to give a reasoned defense of the Christian faith. Apologetics
cuts down trees; evangelism builds houses! Evangelism is more
than imparting organised doctrine. As the well-known evangelical
leader John Stott puts it, you have to win a person’s confidence
before you can win their soul! We should do what Jesus did: minister
to a ‘felt need’ first — for example, loneliness and poor self-image,
sickness, hunger. John Stott told a conference on evangelism in
Britain: ‘Christians are more like the pharisees than Jesus. We
keep our distance from people. We do not want to get hurt or dirty
or contaminated.’

The best evangelism happens within the loving community
of the local church. But good evangelism is more than being friendly:
I come across ‘friendly’ churches that can’t name many people
who have committed their lives to Christ in the recent past. (Reason:
new people change the chemistry of the group and we unconsciously
freeze them out of our social life). Good evangelism is more than
inviting your neighbour to a ‘mission’ at the church. (Although
these are valuable: your church ought to have regular special
evangelistic efforts, appropriate to the culture of the people
you are aiming to reach). Evangelism is relating as Jesus did
to people day by day, week by week. The best evangelism is done
by new converts: they still have the most non-Christian friends!
And the best evangelistic churches are where people truly love
one another, especially across racial, social, cultural and other
barriers which previously divided them.

So Christian faith must strip itself of Christian
religion. We can use religion to escape from God. The church,
as Bonhoeffer said, is ‘Christ existing as community’; ‘it is
that section of humanity in which Christ has already taken form’
. Bonhoeffer proposed a number of ministries to be practised within
the Christian community: the ministry of holding one’s tongue,
meekness, listening to others, active helpfulness, bearing the
burden of others, freely speaking God’s Word to another when the
moment is right, exercising authority based on loving service,
and aural confession from one Christian to another as each attempts
to live under the cross.

You ask, ‘What do I say to people when I talk to
them about the Christian good news?’ There are two responses to
this question. First, a personal one: you’ll tell of all the wonderful
things the Lord has done for you – your own experience of him.
But perhaps you respond, ‘I’m still figuring out what’s happening.
I’m uncertain about what the Lord’s doing in my life.’

OK, the other dimension is the essence of the good
news you’ll find in the New Testament. Summarized, it would sound
like this: God who made the universe has a special love for each
of us. Even though we rebel against his rule, he wants to be reconciled
to us, to live within us, and ‘remake’ us, to help us find out
why we were given life and new life. He has come to us in Jesus
Christ his Son, who lived among us, taught us God’s truth, suffered
with us, died for us, and rose from the dead. He’s now in heaven
‘cheering for us’. So, as Father, God offers us a place as adopted
sons or daughters in his heavenly family. As Redeemer he offers
release from all that has enslaved us and is destroying us. As
our Judge he offers a pardon for all the sins we have committed
against him. As Protector, he promises his help and companionship
all the days of our lives. And as our eternal Saviour he will
rescue us from the power that sin has over us, and has reserved
a beautiful place for us in his heavenly home. Wow!

In the end, however, an evangelistic lifestyle arises
out of the reality of our experience of Christ. If he has really
changed our lives, that’s great news and we’ll want to share it!

Finally, you should seriously consider whether you
are being called to do special training for a full-time pastoral
or evangelistic vocation. I believe young people especially should
enquire about Bible College or Theological Seminary training.
Even if you go back to your original job or profession, the experience
of a couple of years’ serious study will enrich your knowledge
of the Lord and of his word, the Bible. You will be in an atmosphere
of commitment and learning and interaction with seasoned missionaries
and others. Most Christian denominations also offer some sort
of ‘frontline training’ and Scripture Union, Youth With a Mission
and other parachurch groups also have intensive training opportunities.

The task is still unfinished. Let us humbly confess
our pride, prejudice, competition and disobedience that have hindered
our generation from effectively working at the task of world evangelization.

In our strategizing, let us work towards cooperation
between all members of the worldwide church: Catholic, Orthodox,
Protestant, Anglican, Pentecostal, Para-church. Coordination would
eliminate duplication, bigotry, the evils of proselytization,
and the scandal of a divided church before the world.

…..

As many are ‘newly evangelized’ each day as are born
(360,000). There are 2000 global and regional ‘AD 2000’ plans
to evangelize various people groups.

David Barrett, ‘2000 plans towards AD 2000’, in International
Journal of Frontier Missions, Vol. 6, Nos. 1-4, Oct. 1989, pp.
18ff..

Evangelism must not be defined in terms of results.
Indeed the apostolic preachers sometimes ‘evangelized’ villages
or towns, and there is no indication that those who heard the
word were converted. Many former ‘definitions’ of evangelism are
deficient at this point. Kagawa said ‘evangelism means the conversion
of people from worldliness to Christlike godliness.’ William Temple
said that ‘evangelism is the winning of persons to acknowledge
Christ as their Saviour and King, so that they may give themselves
to his service in the fellowship of his Church.’ The Evanston
Assembly in 1954 spoke of evangelism as ‘the bringing of persons
to Christ as Saviour and Lord that they may share in his eternal
life.’ But evangelism is neither to convert people, nor to win
them, nor to bring them to Christ, though this is indeed the first
goal of evangelism. Evangelism is to preach the gospel.

John Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World,
London: Falcon Books, 1975, pp. 38-39.

Evangelism is not the same as mission. If ‘mission’
includes everything the church is sent into the world to do, evangelism
is that dimension of mission which seeks to offer every person,
everywhere, a valid opportunity to be directly challenged by the
gospel to explicit faith in Jesus Christ, with a view to embracing
him as Saviour, becoming a living member of his community, and
being enlisted in his service of reconciliation, peace and justice
on earth.’ [There are] eight dimensions of evangelism: 1. It is
the core, heart or centre of mission (but it is more than ‘soul-winning’).
2. It seeks to bring people into the visible community of believers
(but it is more than ‘church growth’, which can lead to institutional
aggrandizement). 3. It involves witnessing to what God has done,
is doing, and will do (but is more than verbal witness only: euangelizesthai
refers to more than ‘preaching’, and includes ’embodying the Gospel’).
4. It is invitation (but not coaxing, threat, or inculcating guilt
feelings). 5. Evangelism is possible only when the community that
evangelizes – the church – is a radiant manifestation of the Christian
faith and has a winsome lifestyle (the New Testament churches
did not have ‘evangelistic campaigns’ to encourage people to ‘join’:
outsiders were drawn to the church as if by a magnet). 6. To evangelize
is to take risks: the gospel ‘comes alive’ in all sorts of surprising
– and perhaps upsetting – ways, and sometimes the evangelist is
‘converted’ again, as was the Rev. Simon Peter when he evangelized
Cornelius! 7. Christ does offer joy, hope, trust, vision, relief,
and courage in this life, and the assurance of eternal blessedness,
but when evangelism is offered as a psychological panacea, then
the gospel becomes the opiate of the people – ‘a television commercial
where the call to conversion is presented in a Things-go-better-with-Jesus
wrapping.’ 8. Evangelism is calling people to become followers
of Jesus, to challenge the dominions of evil. Often the church
offers cheap grace, and the content of our gospel then is – in
the devastating formulation of Orlando Costas – ‘a conscience-soothing
Jesus, with an unscandalous cross, an otherworldly kingdom, a
private, inwardly spirit, a pocket God, a spiritualized Bible,
and an escapist church.’

David Bosch, ‘Evangelism: Theological Currents and
Cross-currents Today’, International Bulletin of Missionary Research,
Vol 11, No. 3, July 1987, pp. 98-103.

Evangelism is something that God is doing… [It]
ought not to be seen as the province of experts… [It happens]
best when the whole people of God have found this to be a natural
and spontaneous expression of their lives. We need to find ways
of talking naturally and easily about faith.’ (Bill Adams). ‘The
offer is never just personal. It is always an invitation to be
part of the community of faith… It is a matter of gently calling
people into life: body, mind, heart and soul.’ (Dorothy McMahon).
‘Evangelism is cruciform in its methods. The church stands with
the world in its lostness witnessing to the true source of the
world’s life and hope. The Christian evangel dares to be weak
with God in the world. Evangelism bears witness to the Lordship
of Jesus Christ. It is to be addressed to the principalities and
powers of the world as well as to individuals.’ (Rodney Horsfield).

‘Views on Evangelism’ in Vaughan Hinton (ed.,), Being
Christian in Australia, Melbourne: JBCE, 1983, pp. 59ff.

Without empathy – seeing reality as the other perceives
it – the missionary may do more harm than good… Not only have
we institutionalized Christ; we have also tried to legislate for
the Holy Spirit… The Spirit in his freedom has more than one
way of making a Christian… It is rigidity that divides us, not
truth, for the truth would set us free.

There is one perennial disappointment which more
than any other grieves and bewilders both the missionary and the
student of church history. Before the first generation of converts
has passed away gospel is turned into law.

John V. Taylor, The Go-Between God: The Holy Spirit
and the Christian Mission, London: SCM, 1972, pp. 21, 119, 121,
153.

The most overtly ‘evangelistic’ Christians are the
fundamentalists, who have a more literal view of hell. As we move
towards the ‘universalist’ end of the theological spectrum (‘everyone
will be saved’; ‘if there is a hell God will empty it’), evangelism
becomes almost non-existent. Three other theologies which hinder
evangelism are ‘hyper-Calvinism’ (‘God saves who he wants to save
and rejects the rest; there’s nothing we can do about that’);
anti-proselytism (‘even if they are only nominal members of my
church, don’t you preach to them’); and syncretism (‘all religions
are valid; Christianity doesn’t have all the answers’). What is
your view?

Rowland Croucher, unpublished paper.

If the vocation [of ministry] is interpreted primarily
as ‘serving the people of God’, attempting to meet their insatiable
needs and multitudinous expectations, many of them unrealistic,
conflicting and trivial, then the student/minister is much more
prone to being locked into the negative cycle. The outcome, sooner
or later, or cyclically repeated is distress, depression or burnout…
If the call is primarily interpreted as ‘to serve God’, then from
this spiritual orientation flows an openness to modes of formation
and functioning in ministry which are far more positive, flexible,
and persistent even under considerable stress… To understand
oneself as called to serve God, to ‘seek first the Kingdom’, undoubtedly
flows on to desiring to serve his people, but it does so, not
via a frenetic justification by works, but via a self-giving obedience
first of all to the one who calls. It is then easier to accept
the strengths and shortcomings, gifts and shadow, or yourself
and others.

Robin Pryor, A Review of Some Issues Related to Spiritual
Formation for Ministry, a paper presented to the Asian Consultation
on Spiritual Formation, Keliurung, Indonesia, 26-29 April, 1988,
pp. 10-11.

The Catholic tradition has generally stressed the
central position of `the priest’, and left others, `the laity’,
in a very secondary role. However, this has now begun to change,
and if there is to be true growth throughout the Church, in every
branch and age group, vested interests will be faced with a shock
to their constitution. For the task laid down by St Peter, `That
you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out
of darkness into his own marvellous light’, is your task and my
task from baptism and confirmation, not only for those who are
also in the ordained ministry…

I am quite convinced that there is no way forward
unless the ordained priesthood willingly accepts the immense power
and effectiveness of the `royal priesthood’, with encouragement,
teaching, and openness.

Michael Hollings, Hearts Not Garments, London, Darton,
Longman and Todd, 1982, p.80.

By the time I started the second wave of evangelisation
among new villages, I had developed a different way of carrying
on the dialogue with the Masai. I would look for someone in the
very first meeting with a new people, someone who seemed to understand
the message better than the others. At the end of the meeting,
when the crowd had dispersed, I would ask that person to remain.
I would go over what we had covered in the meeting, and ask him
if, at the beginning of the next meeting, he could refresh everyone’s
memory as to what we had talked about. When he had finished doing
this at the next meeting, I would take over and continue on with
new things. In some places it was difficult, if not impossible,
to find such a person. In other places the system worked very
well, and in such places, after many meetings, we had a pagan
in the group who, unknown to himself, was a catechist in the making.

Vincent J Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered, London:
SCM, 1985, p.111.

Our mandate should be ‘Let the whole church take
the whole gospel to the whole world’… By the year 2000 young
persons (under 24 years old) will total 48.4% of the world – over
3 billion individuals. responsibility.

‘God’s Word: Hope for All’, UBS Council in Budapest,
Hungary, Sept. 14-21, 1988

Set a goal. Let us boldly seize the opportunities.
It’s like the Pax Romana again: it has never been easier [particularly
in Eastern Europe and the former USSR Republics]. We haved more
resources: literature, money, technology. One nation – America
– spends $300 billion a year on defense… But even without much
money, and with almost no financial help from abroad, 4000 Indonesian
Christian leaders met in 1988 and after several days of earnest
prayer and prolonged discussion pledged themselves to share the
Good News with every person in their country by the year 2000,
and also train at least 5000 to serve in other countries as evangelists
and church planters.

Arthur F. Glasser, ‘Mission in the 1990s’, International
Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 13, No. 1, January 1989,
p.6.

…..

Once we were God’s enemies, far away from God; but
now by the Son’s death, God has made us friends.

Through the Son, God has reconciled and won back
the universe; God made peace through Jesus’ death on the cross.

God has reconciled all things on earth and in heaven;
so we preach Christ to all the world.

A New Zealand Prayer Book, Auckland, Collins, 1989,
p.131.

…..

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there
is hatred let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there
is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there
is sadness, joy, for your mercy and your truth’s sake. Amen.

Francis of Assisi, cited in Praying with the Saints
Dublin, Veritas Publications, 1989, p.41.

Lord, you love this sad, sad, lost world: Sad because
of our preoccupation with materialism, Lost because we have chosen
our own way instead of yours. So half the world has too much,
the other half too little. Half the world’s peoples have ready
access to the Gospel, the other half are ignorant of the best
news they could ever hear.

Lord, we have not obeyed your laws or returned your
love, We have built religious, political, and economic kingdoms
which are destined to perish… Lord, forgive us. And may your
kingdom come, May your will be done on earth as it is so perfectly
done in heaven.

Here am I. Send me.

…..

A Benediction: May the eternal Giver of love and
power who sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world, and who likewise
sends you into the world to preach the gospel of his kingdom,
confirm you in his mission and help you live the good news you
proclaim.

And the blessing of God our Creator, Redeemer and
Giver of life be with you always. Amen.