EVANGELISM: TOWARDS AN INCARNATIONAL CHURCH

1.What the Creeds Miss Out

2.Redefining Evangelism

3.The Ephesus Story

1. What the Creeds Miss Out

      The Gospel narrative begins with the birth of Jesus, the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity. One of the strengths of Jesus’ ministry was in his incarnation, that he lived a human life in the midst of humanity. In the letter to the Philippians, this strength is talked about in terms of sacrifice.

“Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,… he humbled himself and became obedient to death: even death on a cross!” Philippians 2v6-8

      Within in the traditional proclamation of the Gospel, emphasis is always given to the death of Jesus. If the purpose of incarnation was to facilitate the death of a sinless man for the redemption of the world, why didn’t Jesus just turn up on Good Friday and return to heaven on Sunday morning, job done? Well, if this was the case we would lose the whole poetry of the nativity, and the joy of decades of school children dressing up as shepherds, innkeepers and kings!

      On a more serious note, if we examine the creeds of the early church, still in use today in many liturgical acts of worship, in reference to incarnation, we find few details, beyond birth and death. The church throughout the land for centuries have recited statements of belief such as: we believe in Jesus, born of the virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was killed, rose again, ascended into heaven and will return to judge the living and the dead. Is that all? Where’s the thirty years of living, the three years of public ministry? Where’s the Kingdom of God, miracles, parables and the relationships he made with friends? Surely incarnation is about the reality of the life that Jesus led on earth leading up to the sacrifice (with a true sense of understanding and integrity) to die for the sake of humanity.

       If evangelism is reduced to the retelling of the Easter Story without reference to the Kingdom narratives, we will be guilty of a ‘hit and run’ approach to the ‘lost’ resulting in further alienation between the church and the community she is seeking to reach.

       In the final paragraphs of Mark’s gospel we find Jesus’ words, “Go into the world…” These words were spoken to his disciples, to encourage them to continue his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis is on going ‘into’ the world. As Jesus incarnated himself from heaven, believers too need to incarnate themselves from the isolations of religious community life (i.e. church attendance and only having Christian friends). When Paul begins 1Corinthians, he addresses the church ‘in’ Corinth. The first chapter of this letter reveals a divided and messed up church, but Paul is determined to see them and make them see themselves as the one church ‘in’ Corinth for the good of Corinth.

      As we rise to the challenge of developing an incarnational approach to our community, we will need to know not only about the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, but details of the culture and values of his Kingdom lifestyle. 

2. Redefining Evangelism

       Evangelism has either be defined with an emphasis on the act of proclamation or on the results of proclamation. A purist proclamation approach, places the duty of the evangelist to announce the message of Good News concerning Christ Jesus. How the ‘hearer’ respond is almost irrelevant to the fulfilling of the call to evangelise. As long as the message is proclaimed, the task is done, the rest is up to God and the ‘hearers’.

        In 1Corinthians 9, Paul puts forward the theory that he is ‘compelled to preach’. Verse 16 to 18, could possibly be used as a proof text for the purist proclamation approach. But further reading from verses 16 to 22, reveal that Paul’s real desire, in becoming all things to all people, is that he can ‘save some’. Paul is indeed compelled to evangelise, but will adapt that evangelism by whatever means so that it results in salvation.

       Evangelism must be measured by its results, less it becomes an empty act of Christian legalism. Some hold to the belief that evangelism should not only lead to ‘conversion’, but discipleship. The fruit of evangelism is a believer, walking with God and rooted in the fellowship of a local church. 

       William Abraham in his book, The Logic of Evangelism (Eerdmans 1989, reprinted 1999), takes these traditional views of evangelism one step further. He argues that evangelism is not found to be complete in the act proclamation, a church growth initiative or even when it results in ‘conversion’ and discipleship. Abraham believes from the Gospels and Acts that evangelism such include all these things and more, summed up in his phrase, ‘initiation into the Kingdom of God’. This is an exciting concept, as it forces a re-examination of the incarnational Jesus, to look beyond the ‘creedal’ recorded events and into the Gospel recorded events of Kingdom orientated narratives.

       I over heard a friend say recently, “I don’t want to tell people about Jesus, I want to introduce them to Jesus.” The Psalmist invites us, “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34v8). For our help the apostle Paul adds, “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1Corinthians 4v20). In both chapters 2 and 3 of Acts, Peter’s message (or proclamation) began as an explanation of Holy Spirit God activity. In chapter 2 are the extraordinary events that accompanied the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then in chapter 3, is an explanation of the miracle healing of the lame man at the Gate Beautiful. On Paul’s first missionary journey, the evidence is clear that the majority of openings for the gospel message to be received came through an initial sign of God’s Kingdom.

      Ideas of ‘initiation into the Kingdom of God’ should not be pre-occupied with the miraculous, but with a lifestyle that includes the intervention of God. Thus, a redefinition of evangelism, takes the focus away from the project orientated formulas of ‘doing evangelism’ and presents the life long challenge of ‘being evangelistic’.

3. The Ephesus Story

       Another example of evangelism as ‘initiation into the Kingdom of God’ can be found throughout the New Testament in the example of Ephesus. The story begins in Acts 19, with Paul introducing twelve followers of John the Baptist to the person of the Holy Spirit. Miracles follow and a church is established.  After a Kingdom of God incident, involving the stark reality of demons, the church in Ephesus entered a fresh level of repentance, leading to both an increase in the church and a city riot. Christianity was having such an impact on Ephesus that the business of idol retailers were suffering. Accounts of the Welsh Revival of 1904-6, tell a similar story, of public houses closing due to lack of custom and even public houses being turned into church buildings for the increase demand for corporate prayer and opportunity to ‘see and hear’ the gospel.

       When Paul writes Ephesians, he produces a powerful letter setting out the work of Christ in salvation, the role of the Heavenly Father and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit to anoint individuals to equip the entire church for ministry. There is teaching on ‘grace’, ‘unity’ and ‘holiness’, concluding with three very down to earth, if not, almost dull paragraphs in comparison to all that had gone before. These three sections contain instructions to married couples, families, and behaviour in the workplace. In actual fact, culturally, Paul in three sections covers all the spheres of influence for a first century Ephesian. Paul is not overly concerned on how the church is organised, but writes rather to the church ‘in’ Ephesus and concluding how every individual can model an alternative lifestyle, within marriage, family and work to reveal aspects of the Kingdom of God.

In Genesis 1, after God had created Man and made them, male and female, he gave them this command,

“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1v28)

       God in Genesis created physical and visible things: land, birds, fish, etc. The call upon Man was to take possession of the ‘uncreated spheres’ (a term used by James Thwaits, The Church Beyond the Congregation, Paternoster Press 1999). These ‘uncreated spheres’ from Genesis 1v28, imply: marriage, family and work (‘be fruitful’, ‘increase’ and ‘subdue’). Thwaites parallels the first call of God upon humanity in Genesis 1v28 with Paul’s threefold call upon the Ephesian believers, on how they should live out their faith. The result is an incarnational church (Ephesians 5v22-6v9) with a Kingdom initiation (and conflict) agenda (Ephesians 6v10-18).

       The Ephesus Story continues in 1&2Timothy. Although labelled traditionally the Pastoral Epistles, Paul’s advice to Timothy (the newly appointed church leader in Ephesus) carries some church management tips, within the clear context of evangelism. “This is a trustworthy saying… Christ Jesus cam into the world to save sinners” (1Timothy 1v15) and from 2Timothy 4, “Do the work of an evangelist”. In 1Timothy 2v1-4, Paul’s message to Timothy and his priority is clear: “Pray for everyone… this pleases God, who desires that all men will be saved.” (Paraphrase).

       The Ephesus Story concludes with the words of Jesus in his letter to the church in Revelation 2v4-5, “You have forsaken your first love… Repent and do the things you did at first.” The church in Ephesus was established by twelve Spirited filled believers and experienced its first revival when that young church was brought to a fresh level of repentance. The New Testament comes to a close, with Jesus calling the Ephesians (and most probably us) again to repentance. The church can so easily lose its original calling - its focus, purpose, passion, heart for Jesus, heart for the ‘lost’ and its desire to see the Kingdom come!

The Ephesus Story could be summed up as:

Invasion - the gospel’s arrival leading to a riot, Acts 19

Occupation  to influence the ‘uncreated spheres’ of life, Ephesians 5-6

Transformation  praying for everyone’s salvation, 1Timothy 2

And finally, in Revelation 2, we find the challenge to do it all over again.       

By Simon Rennie