On Mission & Evangelism

Sometimes I wonder how effective mission is. 3 weeks ago I was at Marjons Christian Union speaking on mission, and it challenged me to rethink what mission is all about.

At times we probably feel it would be so much easier if we could be like Lucy in the old Peanuts cartoon: Lucy says to Charlie Brown, "I would have made a great evangelist." Charlie Brown answers, "Is that so?" She says, "Yes, I convinced that boy in front of me in school that my religion is better than his religion." Charlie Brown asked, "Well, how did you do that?" And Lucy answers, "I hit him over the head with my lunch box."

Wouldn’t it be great if evangelism was that easy?

I know sometimes I feel like doing that with some people who just don’t seem to understand the point! Thankfully though, sharing the good news of Christ is not about beating up people into the kingdom, but sharing good news.

Who is our role model for mission?

Well, a good place to start would be Philip - the Model Missionary. He identifies 3 key points of evangelism:

Evangelism starts with GOING

Evangelism requires the GOSPEL

Evangelism ends with JOY

Evangelism starts with going.

Philip is told to go on his own, south of Jerusalem, into the desert. No questions asked. Even though God hadn’t told him what was going to happen, or what the plan was, he simply says GO. And Philip, trusting God, GOES.

For Philip – God reveals STEP 1 – Go south on the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza.  And when he gets there, God will let him in on STEP 2.

Don’t we always just want more information? If we were Philip we would by now have filled in 5 risk assessments – packed our stuff, made sure we had enough water?

Yet God says GO and Philip GOES.

Even though Philip doesn't know why God has called him away, or what his purpose is, he goes willingly.

We must go where God asks us to go, and go enthusiastically.

Evangelism requires the Gospel.

This is often the most overlooked, misunderstood and mishandled part of evangelism. Sometimes we are too keen to get stuck in – fire stuff all guns blazing and completely dazzle the person we are talking to. On the other hand, sometimes we can be so timid and afraid of the gospel that we simply glaze over it and talk about football, or something interesting that happened recently.

Clearly, an explanation of the gospel is the point of evangelism.

What is the point in mission if we are not out to share Jesus Christ with the world? And thankfully, Philip helps us out by modelling some key values of evangelism. First and foremost, Philip takes time to listen to the man. How often do we miss out this step, or glaze over when someone is talking to us.

Philip doesn’t just run into it. He first surveys the situation by listening to what is going on. He works out that the man is reading from Isaiah. Having identified what the man is doing, he can engage him in conversation, and ask him questions on his understanding.

And it’s here that we find the core value of evangelism – the person has to be searching for an answer. We can shove the gospel down people’s throats until we are blue in the face and they are really annoyed, but if they are not open to hearing the response, we aren’t really doing anyone any favours.

Philip waits for the invitation to answer his questions, and by doing so opens up a relationship with the man and engages with them at his request.

Evangelism ends with JOY.

We are proclaiming that nothing stops us from coming to God through Jesus Christ, and if we can get that across then people will find a new joy found in commitment to him.

And this is the point of mission. We don't want people to just hear the word; we want them to commit, to give their lives to Christ. That's what the Ethiopian does - and baptism is a sign of his commitment. He's so keen he wants to get it done straight away!

Some people will reject God’s word, but others, like the Ethiopian will just lap it up.

Our role is to be obedient like Philip. And it's good to remember that this leads to joy! We can get so caught up in our fears that we forget that it's a joyful thing.

Who knows the consequence of this encounter?

It’s only speculation of course, but was this man the first ever African Christian, in a continent that now boasts more Christian per capita than any other? And who knows the consequences of your mission field. Perhaps God is lining up people specifically for you to meet in order that more people will come to know him better.

Remember the great commission Jesus gave to us all:

“go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

God calls us to share the gospel, even if it’s to unexpected places or with unexpected people. We should take time to listen and ask questions before opening up the Bible. And we should be praying that there will be commitments to Jesus and joy as a result!