The Church and Evangelism

By Rev. Dr. Sandra Bochonok

The following reflection is a selected portion of a 1999 Doctor of Ministry dissertation; "Unleashing God's Mighty Power through Internet Evangelism." Readers are requested to email the author for permission to reprint or distribute these thoughts. Email requests may be sent to the Rev. Dr. Sandra Bochonok at revsandyb@aol.com.

"Jesus did not tell the world to go to church. Jesus told the church to go to the world." The Church is always under mandate to witness to all the nations with the Gospel. While the world has changed, our message has not. "The Church is in the world to save the world. It is a tool of God for that purpose; not a religious club established in fine historical premises. Every one of its members is required in one way or another, to cooperate with the Spirit in working for that great end and most of this work is done in secret and invisible ways. We are transmitters as well as receivers."¹

An early church "photo" by an Athenian philosopher, Aristicles wrote this about the church: "When they see the stranger, they take him to their dwelling…if any among them are poor and in need, and have no food, they will fast 2-3 days to supply them with needed food." The early church was a power church that turned their known world upside down. This has everything to do with evangelism. They followed Jesus, the master evangelist and missionary par excellence. They believed in the risen Christ! They had a commission to witness, make disciples, and baptize believers in the name of the Trinity. They had an enormous concern for people to hear the gospel. They prayed for people to share the faith, went themselves, shared what they knew often in the first person singular and intentionally discipled new babes in the faith. They were rooted in scripture and took young believers on missionary trips. They demonstrated conversational evangelism in gossip and chatter while performing overseas mission work. Teams went out from the early church on short and long-term gospel trips that were centered on sharing Jesus. The teams returned to their mother churches to report events and remain accountable in ministry.

Radical Christianity is the New Testament Church model. The Greek word, ecclesia, means "called out ones" and is used one hundred times in the Greek texts. The church is the foundation of New Testament evangelism. It is the visible, loving fellowship marked by compassionate service. The early church was passionate about evangelism. The early Christians seen through the book of Acts constantly taught and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah. They rejoiced in obstacles, gossiped the gospel constantly as they were scattered in persecution, and preached the kingdom of God through the name of Jesus Christ.

Evangelism has always been a magnificent lay movement. The first three hundred years of the early Christian church had no clergy, as we have them today. The people knew they had a beautiful mission to share what they knew of Christ. Laity came preaching the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ. They spoke these words to people they normally would have had nothing to do with (Acts 5:42; 8:4, 12, 25, 35, 40; 10:36; 11:20). With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they reinterpreted the Levitical laws to allow "outsiders" who were not from their community, culture or spiritual orientation to be allowed "insider" status (Acts 15:19ff) as believers and friends through the risen Christ. They constantly told the story of Jesus from birth, life, and the centrality of the cross, to his death and resurrection. They preached the drama of the gospel, our sin problem and Jesus as the solution. Theirs was a precise message of the death, burial and resurrection. They were the Easter people. Only Christ bore our sins. Other religions cannot compete. There is simply no other name at which every knee shall someday bow, and every tongue confess as Lord (Philippians 2:9-11). They lived in eager expectation of Christ's return. Marantha! "Our Lord, come" (1 Cor. 16:22b).

The Christian church has a mandate to share the Gospel with members, seekers, visitors and attendees in our churches, as well as with unchurched "outsiders" who find Christianity irrelevant. Each generation has the ongoing task to further the spread of Christ's message of peace with God. A church, which is not actively evangelizing, is not living God's heartbeat. The church is called to be a subversive influence in the world, to turn the world upside down with God's agenda for lost people to be found and cared for.

The church is to be a public witness. The early church made a conscious decision not to remain private and "closeted." Their struggle with ours is timeless. How do we communicate the never-changing Christ in a very changing world? They stayed with the centrality of Christ and the story of Jesus. The book of Acts is a rich study. God knows we need others for help, encouragement, teaching and caring. We need friendships, prayers and human kindness along with accountability with and for each other. The church is a vital part of God's love story. They knew nothing great happened without prayer.

The early church led a spiritual revolution, which continues today. They evangelized through friendship and sharing their spiritual experiences with Christ among their households. "Frangelism"² as practiced by the early church, was simply sharing personal spiritual autobiographies with friends, relatives, acquaintances and neighbors. The New Testament church practiced social network evangelism of relatives and friends. These make "bridges of God." Sharing faith is natural for friends, colleagues and neighbors who have relationships of trust. Friends and families care and share. New Testament evangelism also includes families of choice as well as nuclear families. In the New Testament, the early church spread naturally in these households (Greek word, Oikos). "Oikos evangelism is normative.... It is the God-given and God-ordained means for naturally sharing the supernatural message. It transcends cultures and is relevant to the struggles for any generation.... It is sharing the astonishing good news about Jesus in one's own sphere of influences, the interlocking social systems composed of family, friends, and associates."³ Friends, relatives and clients can be relational social non-biological units. Ruth and Naomi are a beautiful Old Testament example of household evangelism. This love story values and can greatly encourage, invite and bless same-sex couples and families often hesitant to participate in the life of the church. Ruth and Naomi offer a "link" towards God for an often excluded segment of North American society. The Church is to offer many links for seekers of all sexual orientations.

"A person's coming to Christ is like a chain with many links. There is the first link, middle links, and a last link. There are many influences and conversations that precede a person's decision to convert to Christ. I know the joy of being the first link at times, a middle link usually and occasionally the last link. God has not called me to be only the last link. God has called me to be faithful and love all people."⁴ The Willow Creek Church stresses to its people that "you won't be the whole chain" and "every link in the chain is as important as the last link. We are to be the link, or links, as God calls you to be with seekers."⁵

Our personalities, life experiences and even our Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator⁶ influence how we share important life events and relationships with others in the first person singular. Evangelism is a lifestyle of faith and not a simplistic or legalistic methodology. The church is full of diversity in personalities and spiritual gifts for outreach and spiritual formation. In Becoming a Contagious Christian, Bill Hybels identifies at least six Biblical styles of evangelism, which represent the spectrum of human personalities. People are sometimes confrontational, confident, assertive, and are certainly direct and impulsive (Acts 2). Others are intellectual, inquisitive, analytical and logical (Acts 17). Others are testimonial, such as the blind man (Jn 9) who shared his experience: "I was blind and now I can see!" Some experience Jesus through warm interpersonal relationships, others through conversation and friendship orientation. Matthew, the tax collector is a dramatic example (Lk 5:29). The Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4) found Jesus relational, hospitable and persuasive. Dorcas (Acts 9) centered on others in a lifestyle of service as her witness.

Let me summarize with this anonymous quote, "See your community as a mission field, and your church as a missionary church. Don't be content with mere church attendance or nominal Christianity, but only active discipleship." Be intentional in church discipleship. The church has a magnificent calling and is God's means to reach the world. A significant aspect of discipleship is sharing our faith stories in the first person singular through our personalities and spiritual autobiographies in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. All of us through the church are "links" in the chain.

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