Evangelism Absent ‘Evangelicalism’

Door-to-door proselytism…

“Gospel” tracts that, equal parts cartoonish and horror, have nothing whatsoever to do with anything remotely describable as ‘good news’…

Revival tent meetings preaching fear and separation to a room mostly comprised of the converted, sadistically savoring every moment of it…

Purposefully misleading ‘family fun’ community events that only care about people insofar as they are brought into the doctrinal…and tithe-paying…fold…

With this circus of absurdity and disingenuousness going on all around us, is it any wonder the word ‘evangelism’ leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouths of so many?  This works-based, formatted, programmatic focus of institutional religion has become so entrenched in the western faith that it has its own movement descriptor: evangelicalism.  

And therein lies the real tragedy.  The movement has redefined its foundational term to such a warped degree that true, scriptural, Christ-centered evangelism is entirely foreign to most of the faithful.   Sure, they can recite the ‘sinner’s prayer’ backwards and forwards.  They can walk an unsuspecting person through the ‘Roman Road to Salvation’ with the same tenacity as the revivalists of yesteryear.  But when it comes to actually fulfilling the Great Commission and engaging with the evangelistic model taught by Jesus, they fail miserably.  

How so?  They’ve exchanged the true ministry of reconciliation (wherein all of creation is INFORMED of their PAST TENSE restoration, not asked to give their consent) which emphasizes real eternal security and inclusion in the Finished Work of Christ for a counterfeit ministry of separation, lack, and perpetual unworthiness.  By accentuating what MAN must do to be restored in the eyes of the Lord, rather than embracing what Jesus already accomplished for man to see he was never separated from Him to begin with (apart from within man’s mind), it transitions humanity from a position of rest and sonship to toil and slavery.  A son embraces who he is by right of who his father is.  But a servant knows that only through diligent service can he hope to gain any form of favor from his master.  

More tragic still is that many who have been freed from the performance trap of western evangelicalism opt to disconnect themselves from the Great Commission altogether.  Content to experience freedom for themselves, they isolate from both the brethren and their community at large, hiding their light under a bushel.  Their neighbor is still in torment and misery.  Their friends and family still deluded by a spirit of condemnation.  But because they don’t know how to “do evangelism” apart from the western evangelical model, they sit silent, eyes shut, pretending nothing is wrong.  

While evangelicalism may have co-opted the Great Commission for its own misguided ends, make no mistake: it is still Father’s plan to transform people, cities, regions, and nations.  But the mechanism through which that is achieved is not false separation, but reconciliation.  

2 Corinthians 5:17-20 lays out the manner in which ministering reconciliation fulfills the Great Commission directive of Matthew 28…

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

There’s so much truth in those verses.  Let’s break it down:

1. Placement in Christ is where this whole experience begins.  And as we see in v. 19, ‘the world’ was enveloped into this miraculous experience. 

2. God the Father reconciled us to Himself through Christ. 

3. The Godhead entrusts the ministry of reconciliation to us…whereby we tell, proclaim, ‘minister’ the truth that reconciliation has already taken place to a world that falsely believes God is angry with, or distant from, them. 

4. God is not counting people’s trespasses against them!  Notice that the people specifically cited there are those to whom believers are sharing the message of reconciliation.  Meaning, the ministry of reconciliation is declaring to those STILL BLIND TO THE TRUTH that God isn’t counting anything against them!!! 

5. As His children, Father has entrusted the responsibility of revealing this truth of past-tense, fully accomplished reconciliation to all of those who remain unaware.  

THAT is grace-centered evangelism!  To both reveal and dispense reconciliation to the world! 

#Grace
#FinishedWork 
#evangelism
#Godislove



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