This week we are starting to head into articles dealing with more practical matters for the church and how it operates and views the world. The first of these articles is article XI concerning evangelism and missions:
XI. Evangelism and Missions
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-6; Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 9:37-38; 10:5-15; 13:18-30, 37-43; 16:19; 22:9-10; 24:14; 28:18-20; Luke 10:1-18; 24:46-53; John 14:11-12; 15:7-8,16; 17:15; 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2; 8:26-40; 10:42-48; 13:2-3; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 3:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; Hebrews 2:1-3; 11:39-12:2; 1 Peter 2:4-10; Revelation 22:17.
Given that the major emphasis in most (all?) Southern Baptist churches is on missions and evangelism, one would expect this to be a very solid article. And reading it over, it doesn’t seem to disappoint. The one thing that we have to be careful of is checking to see if they actually say too much and overreach on what the Scriptures actuallt call us to in sharing the message of the gospel.
The opening statement is very bold: “It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations.” Many will dispute this and say that Jesus’ commands in Matthew 28.18-20 and Acts 1.8 were directed only to the apostles, but this fails to account for why many who weren’t there, say like Timothy or Titus or Apollos, felt inclined to fulfill it as well. Instead we see that everywhere the apostles go they not only preach the word of God but that also encourage others to do it as well. So, unless they missed the interpretation of Jesus’ commands right from the start I think it is safe to say that the Great Commission(s) is meant for all believers.
The statement that it is a privilege echoes Peter’s sentiments that we are a chosen people that now “may proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2.9).
After making such a strong declaration of our calling to do evangelism and missions, I am very impressed by the way that the BF&M then proceeds to say, in so many words, “But still, evangelism and missions is not to be done out of plain obedience.” This is important. A lot of people, even a lot of great theologians (RC Sproul comes to mind right away) will argue that the reason why we do missions is because Christ commands us to. That is a good reason, but I think it falls short of what the Bible actually says. Now, I know that RC comes from this angle because he is arguing for why we should do evangelism and missions if God has already set out to save all and only the elect who have been chosen unconditionally from before time, but hear me out: if our gospel witness comes just from pure obedience then we are missing the point. When we are regenerated we are adopted into God’s family. This then should produce a love in us for the family and thus a desire to see all of the members of the family (i.e. the elect) brought home and reconciled with the Father. So, we have this longing and the Scriptures tell us that the only way to see it happen, to see them reconciled, is through their hearing and receiving the message of the gospel (cf. Acts 4.12, Romans 10.9ff). Viewing our participation in evangelism and missions as simply fulfilling an obligation sets it up as an item on a checklist that we can cross off eventually without having completely sold ourselves out to doing it, which of course is the breeding grounds of legalism. Viewing it as our internal desire to see the whole family reconciled makes it a lot more personal and more accurately conveys the spirit of him who called us (cf. Galatians 4.1-7).
Finally, we are hit with the question of how we should go about doing evangelism and missions. This again is a place where I think the BF&M gets it just right. It says that we are to try and ”win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ. ” Of course, I am not a huge fan of the language of us “winning people to Christ” since I think this puts too high a value on our actually abilities, but the principle expressed is absolutely correct. Our first weapon is a verbal witness, for “how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10.14b), and then this is to be followed up with a consistent Christian lifestyle and all other means of witness which do not contradict the commands of Scripture. I think we have all been guilty at one time or another of witnessing only through “lifestyle evangelism,” whether we meant to or not, and I like the fact that the BF&M takes a clear stance that this is not the proper type of biblical witness. Of course, we shouldn’t expect all of the people in the church to be George Whitefield, especially right out of the gates, but that is why the SBC has invested so much through LifeWay into evangelism training courses and through NAMB and IMB for missionary training. This is far and away one of the biggest advantages of being in the SBC.
So, going in there was a concern that maybe the BF&M would go too far in its assessment of the Scriptural writings on evangelism and missions, but honestly, I think they did an excellent job in staying true to the word here; and even though this is not a popular way to live– I know I struggle with placing enough focus on evangelism myself– we would all do better at fulfilling God’s call on our lives if we truly embraced what this article says.
April 3, 2009 at 4:33 pm |
Well, I’ll step out on a limb and say that the statement does go too far by calling out “verbal” witness. I’m not talking about “lifestyle” witnessing either (what I call being a salt-lick Christian…you are just standing in the world doing nothing, waiting for someone to see how desirable your life and attitude is and wanting a taste).
But one can witness via gospel tracts, email, and even testimony letters. The entirety of the New Testament is ours because it is WRITTEN. If by “verbal” the statement above means personally interactive, at least to some extent, then it is on track. If however, it means that unless you actually engage someone in conversation concerning the gospel you are not an effective witness…I can’t agree.
Just some thoughts I felt compelled to share…basically the statement is fine, I just feel like many avoid evangelism altogether because there is this notion that unless you stop a stranger on the street and give them a mini-sermon, you haven’t “arrived” yet. A recipe for closet Christians if ever there was one.
Blessings,
Michael
April 3, 2009 at 4:41 pm |
Michael,
Thank you for comment. I think that tracts, email, and testimony letters would fall under the “other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ” mentioned in the article. They are good, useful ways, and are newer forms of media (as opposed to what was available during NT times) that are compatible with the gospel. However, I do not feel that any of these things should ever completely supplant the spoken word as God seems to have put a high priority on the spoken word as the primary means of reaching non-believers with the message of the cross.
April 3, 2009 at 9:47 pm |
Michael,
I have to agree with Todd. In their list of Scripture references they list Romans 10:13-15, which I would expand to 10:8-17, places much weight on the hearing of a verbal witness. Scripture was clearly written, and Paul obviously wrote numerous letters; however, we find in the opening verses of Romans that he desires to verbaly proclaim the gospel to them. Furthermore, even though it is clear that the written word played an important role at the time the weight of Scripture rests on men being verbal witnesses to Christ. We do not find the Holy Spirit prompting the apostles to write tracts, though I do not deny that they are useful, rather we find the Holy Spirit inspiring Scripture for the community of unbelievers and then urging the apostles to open their mouths and proclaim the Word to those who do not believe.
“If however, it means that unless you actually engage someone in conversation concerning the gospel you are not an effective witness…I can’t agree.” God has created us in His image and as a relational being, He has eternally existed in relation to the other members of the trinity, we are therefore relational. If we never engage individuals in relationship and conversation then we fail to accurately bear that image. In the garden God sends Himself to Adam and Eve. Throughout Israel’s history He sends the prophets to speak the word. He then sent His Son. Now He and the Son send the Spirit. God has not merely sent us a written word, He has sent a personal word proclaimed by persons and we would do such a word injustice by sharing it impersonally.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you need clarification.