Mission and Evangelism
At the recent All Night Prayer and Praise event held in Heslington church, I had the incomparable pleasure of leading an hour on Mission and Evangelism. It would (I trust) be fair to say that a good time was had by all: it would also be fair to say that my links between choruses were about as corny as this article so far.
Now the Good News…
Well, the good news, as far as I’m concerned is summed up by Biblical passages such as Isaiah 35:1–10, something so good as should make us want to go out and share it. This is the heart of mission, telling other people about Jesus Christ not because we want to notch up another “conversion” to impress the folks on a Sunday morning, but because we love them as people and want to let them into our secret.
But does this invalidate the whole idea of planning evangelism? If it does, then millions of pounds have been wasted in the past on missions and evangelistic rallies. If it does, then the Christian Union is going to be wasting a fair few pennies on the University Mission of February next year, when it has the renowned university evangelist J.John on campus for a three day series of events.
What is this business of mission and evangelism all about then? This is where the Prayer and Praise event returns. When we finished the praising part and got round to the prayer, I placed a large sheet of paper and a pen on the floor, and invited any who felt inspired to jot their thoughts on the subject down… and here is a selection of the resulting illuminations:
- Evangelism is something for the evangelised rather than the
evangeliser. It can only be done through love for the people you are reaching
out to.
- Reaching out to everyone. God is spreading His Word through people
who love him.
- Evangelism should be for everyone, though there are countries in which it is illegal to openly evangelise. Mission is an opportunity to evangelise, to tell people about the love of God.
What are your thoughts on the subject? We hope to have one or two articles in the next few issues on the topic, maybe even written by eminent people. Do you fancy being thought an eminent person? Come to think of it, do you fancy being an eminent person…?