EVANGELISM: AN OVERLOOKED COMMISSION

A recent Barna survey determined that:

·       …more than half of U.S. churchgoers have not heard of the Great Commission. Additionally, even when presented with a list of passages, 37 percent don’t recognize which well-known passage typically goes by this name. (barna.org)

In addition to this, only 17% of U.S. churchgoers were willing to try to explain the Great Commission. This raises the all-important questions: “What are our churches teaching?” and “What is the vision of church leadership?”

Evangelism has been reduced to merely doing voluntary service at a secular agency in hope that someone might one day ask, “Why are you performing this service?” Meanwhile, their activity is not crediting God. Instead, in the absence of any direct testimony about Jesus, people will conclude that human nature is really beautiful thing! They might even conclude, “Well, this is proof that we don’t need God to be good.”

By anyone’s estimation, evangelism has dropped precipitously but not this world’s hatred of Christians. We had mistakenly thought that if we’d just keep our mouths shut about Jesus, the world would accept us. Why did we have this misconception? Because, we always hear about how obnoxious Christian are when they tell the world that they need Jesus.

If only evangelism is what we have been doing! But it has become as rare as unicorns, and the world wants to keep it this way.

I have been attending many secular discussion groups around NYC. Rarely do I meet Christians at these groups. When I do, it is hard to distinguish what they are saying from what the secular world is saying. Instead, it seems that our primary goal is to first win acceptance in hope that the unbeliever will snuggle-up to us and ask to hear the Gospel. Instead, they will probably regard us as disingenuous as everyone else.

However, to win acceptance for ourselves is not the same thing as presenting the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).

I had been going to a seeker-sensitive church. A trans-guy and a lesbian couple were in our home fellowship group. Christian friends had counseled me to first make friends with the group before I showed my true colors. I tried but painfully failed. One evening, I palled-up to one of the lesbians in the group who was going to a Christian seminary. Whatever she said, I tried to be affirmative, but I felt like a phony, and I was. I left the group that evening feeling like a dirty rag making believe that he was a three-piece suit. It felt uncomfortable – and wearing filthy rags should feel uncomfortable - and vowed that I would never do that again. We are not called to make-believe.

Playing games doesn’t seem to be part of Jesus’ strategy. In His Great Commission, He instructed His disciples:

·       “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Nothing about first making friends! However, Paul did write about being all things to all people so that he might win some to Jesus:

·       To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:22-23)

However, this doesn’t require us to misrepresent our intentions or who we are in Christ. This would be a betrayal of the Gospel. I had betrayed the Gospel when I acted affirmatively toward the Lesbian. If I was going to say anything about her involvement in seminary, it shouldn’t have been said affirmatively. Instead, I should have emphasized her need to repent of her sin, as Jesus would have done.

·       “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:4-5)

We need to repent before taking the Lord’s Supper. This should pertain to all forms of Christian service. While we can affirm the unrepentant in regards to appearance, personality, or their worth as a human being, we cannot affirm what Jesus will not affirm. To do so is to betray our Master and His Gospel.

We’ve left this seeker-sensitive church. Could I have done things differently? For one thing, I should have more transparent about my beliefs. In fact, the lesbian woman was probably very aware of my stance. In any event, I might have mustered together all of my love and asked, “How are you able to feel at peace in your relationship in light of the fact that the Bible provides absolutely no justification for it? I’d really like to understand. Perhaps we can meet for a coffee.”

Nevertheless, I don’t think it would have gone well. Although our church took a Biblical stance, it didn’t directly address the issues of sexual sin, nor would our home fellowship group. I had approached the trans-guy, and we did meet for a coffee. It seemed to go amicably. However, the next time we met, it became clear to me that bitterness was brewing.

Jesus had given us a way out. Sometimes we just have to wipe the dust off of our feet and move on to more promising pastures, and that’s just what we did.