Evangelism

Evangelism

Matthew 28:19-20

            Evangelism can be difficult.  Most of us don’t want to make fools of ourselves by saying the wrong thing to people and being told to go away; or getting into an argument; or appearing to be stupid because we don’t know what we’re talking about; or perhaps worst of all, being ignored.  So we may, if we know someone really well, suggest that they might want to visit our church, but we almost never tell them about our own experience with Christ, or ask about theirs.

            Part of the problem is that evangelism has gotten a bad name from some who have been, shall we say, overly dogmatic.  In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, white missionaries from Europe and America fell into this category.  They went to places like Africa, India, and the Far East and tried to remake the inhabitants into copies of themselves.  Instead of learning as much as possible about those they were trying to win for Christ, speaking to them in terms they would understand, and adapting the gospel message to their culture, they came in like bulldozers, intent on tearing down societies that had been in place for thousands of years and constructing little European or American copies in their place.

            Paul, the first Christian missionary, knew better.  Instinctively, it seems, he understood that you can’t change a person’s culture—nor is it necessary—in order for that person to become a Christian.  This is particularly interesting in light of Paul’s background.  Remember, he was a Jew, a member of perhaps the most separated group of people in the then-known world.  Jews were to have absolutely nothing to do with anyone not a Jew.  Everything Jewish was right and good.  Everything not Jewish was to be avoided.  Also, Paul had been educated as a Pharisee, a member of the strictest subgroup within Judaism.  Pharisees were the most isolationist of the isolationists.  This is why he felt such a determination to persecute Christians.  They were, in his sight, enemies of Judaism, even if they were Jews.

            So when we read about his visit to the city of Athens (Acts 17:16-34), we should be surprised—shocked, really—to find him speaking of Jesus Christ in language that seems conciliatory—perhaps even downright pandering—to the pagans he was addressing.  How could he do that?  Why didn’t he just say, “Look!  You’ve got it all wrong.  There aren’t many gods.  There is only one God, and Jesus Christ is God’s son.  Stop what you’re doing and change the way you worship or you’re going to hell!”

            Sound familiar?  That’s what too many of our missionaries have done in the past.  Some of our American preachers still do it.  When this way of approaching indigenous peoples was coupled with an attitude of white superiority it gave Christianity a bad name.  No wonder large parts of the world have been slow to accept Jesus Christ as Savior. 

            You can’t browbeat someone into salvation.  In most cases you can’t scare them into it either.  You have to speak in words and images that listeners will understand, respecting their traditions and culture, and allowing them to see how the Christian message fits with what they already believe.  That’s what Father Jean de Brebouf did with the Hurons in North America.  In his Christmas carol, ‘Twas In the Moon of Wintertime he used images that Native Americans could understand and relate to, speaking to them in their language of the love and power of Jesus Christ.

            After all, Jesus told his disciples to teach people to observe all that he had commanded them, not harangue them into submission.  And Jesus’ message begins with love.