RELEARNING EVANGELISM

During one of my tours as an Army chaplain, I served in one of our branch schools teaching ethics to junior officers (lieutenants and captains) as they were preparing to advance to higher levels of responsibility. The Army leadership doctrine contains an entire section on the “ethical decision-making process.” As part of my class, I would present various ethical dilemmas and give students the opportunity to apply this process. An ethical dilemma occurs when two values are in conflict with one another and you must choose one or the other. An often-used dilemma is set in the 1940s Germany and supposes that you are hiding Jews in your home. One evening, there is a knock at your door and there stands a soldier who asks you if there are any Jews in your home. How you answer that question will be determined by which value you believe to be most important, truth-telling or the lives of the Jews that you are hiding in your home. On the surface this seems to be a dilemma, but that is only if you accept the two options that are presented to you. Who says you have to answer the soldier at the door? Maybe you can invite him in, show some hospitality and hopefully disarm any suspicion. The point of this story is that we often find ourselves trapped in an either/or fallacy – it must be one or the other.

When it comes to evangelism, I’m afraid we can fall into this trap if we’re not careful. Some will strongly advocate for Dr. Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion, which has been masterfully adapted, taught and modeled by our own Dr. Chic Shaver. It’s a great way to lead people to Christ, and countless people have come to faith in Jesus under this model. Others will argue that lifestyle evangelism is the way to go. Rather than call on people and formally present the gospel, we should be a “faithful witness” to our neighbors, family, and friends. There are several who have written about and advocate for this model of evangelism, and similarly, many have come to faith in Christ as the result of the faithful witness of someone in their life.

But perhaps a better way would be to throw off any either/or thinking and relearn evangelism. Maybe there is a better way, a both/and way. Each year, Nazarene pastors must complete an Annual Pastor’s Report, and the first item on that report is the “Accountability Care List” (ACL). As a pastor, district NDI president, and now in my current role, I get many questions about the ACL. Here’s what I have come to believe about this list – these are the people who have some relationship with my church; they are under God’s prevenient grace, and our mission is to cooperate with the Spirit to bring them to saving grace. We call on them, we invite them, we seek to build a relationship with them and be a faithful witness to them, and we share our faith with them. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. It’s important that people see us living an authentic Christian lifestyle that draws them to Christ. It is also important that they hear the message and that they are given an opportunity to say “yes” to Jesus.

If our mission is to make Christlike disciples, then we must first make disciples by introducing people to Jesus. And, in most cases, this will take more than one method. Let’s not be restricted by either/or thinking. Instead, let’s use every tool in our toolbox to make disciples, Christlike disciples.