Evangelism

Recently, I was  reading a story from Christianity Today about teenagers who had raised a lot of money for AIDs adoptions in Africa.  This is a great story.  But it dawned on me that most of the stories you read about the world of both Churches and Christians have to do with social action.  My own denomination has become known for its disaster relief work.  These are great acts and there is certainly nothing wrong with these act of mercy both great and small. But there is supposed to be more to the Christian proclamation than social action.

While Scripture tells us to give to those in need, our primary action is supposed to be evangelism, telling the world about Christ and his redemption from sin.  Doing social action is a no brainer.  It brings with it praises from the world.  Or at least it does not bring condemnation.  And like all people ,Christians like to be liked.  But if we are convinced that most of the world is lost, then we should be motivated to share the Gospel.  Yet, there has not been a major national outreach program from any denomination or parachurch agency in over 30 years.  And very few churches are known for their outstanding evangelism programs.

It is very bad theology to think that the world does not need to be saved.  It is even worse theology to think that something about the nature of God has changed and that God will save all men. Has something changed, have we all become universalists?   You have to wonder what is going on with us as Christians when we do not share our faith for fear of criticism.

I found this following video on Ed Stetzer’s blog.  It is a video blog from Penn Fraser Jillette, one half of the Penn & Teller comedy team.  I had some reluctance posting the video because I don’t want to imply in any way that Penn is promoting evangelism.  In reality he claims to be an atheist and says so in the video.  But, what he expresses about a man who gave him a Bible and told him about Christ is profound.  The world expects Christians to tell them about Christ even if they have no intention of believing in Him.  What happens in a world where Christians don’t, as Penn says, proselytize?

The video is thought provoking.  I think the video is worth watching. May it cause us all to think about our calling as Ambassadors for Christ.