Feb 22, 2018
By Rev. Nicholas J. Kersten
Director of Education and History
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
— The Apostle Paul in Romans 11:14-15
“I need a sign to let me know you’re here
‘Cause my TV set just keeps it all from being clear
I want a reason for the way things have to be
I need a hand to help build up some kind of hope inside of me
And I’m calling all angels
I’m calling all you angels.”
—from the Train song “Calling All Angels.”
Evangelism.
How does that word look on the page to you? What honestly happened in your heart when you read it? What pictures spring to mind? What people in your story have that title in the script of your life? Are they heroes, villains, or something in between?
If you’re like me, that word “evangelism” has a bit of a mixed history in your life story. I feel a vague sense of guilt and shame when I see the word if I am being honest. The reason is because I was always told that it was my responsibility and I never felt like I was doing it right. My definition of evangelism was built around those impervious souls who took a bullhorn and tracts to the streets and got spat on for telling “heathen unbelievers” that they were going to hell.
If that description fits for you, my purpose today is to shatter that view in less than two pages.
The definition we have given the word is part of the problem. Because of our associations with people who have used that title or bad experiences we had, we have made evangelism a thing we view negatively — like taking terrible tasting medicine. The reality is that the word evangelism has its root a Greek word with two parts — one of which is “eu” (pronounced like “you”) which means “good,” and the other is “aggelion” (pronounced “ang-GEL-ion”) which refers to a “proclamation” or “news.” The word evangelism refers, at least in its roots, to sharing a message of good news.
We have permitted one (possibly inappropriate) expression of preaching the Gospel to broken people to become our default image, and then used the default image to justify our lack of activity. Who wants to stand with a bullhorn and yell at complete strangers?
When I was in college, I was routinely sent scrambling for the hills the few days each year the “evangelist” with the bullhorn would show up. He would stand in the
center of campus and accost people as they walked by. No one was immune from his harangues. The young women received condemnation for their clothes, for their make-up, for the way they walked. Young men were abused for their baseball hats, their cigarettes, and their angry words directed towards him. Everyone was going to hell. One year, I decided to try and engage the disgusted people, who had tried to argue with him, to tell them that Jesus wasn’t like this man. When he realized I was doing it, he opened the verbal cannons on me to say I was hell-bound.
What the “evangelist” didn’t know was that I carried Gospel tracts in my backpack and sat with acquaintances and classmates to talk with them about Jesus at meals and in my spare time. I was holding Bible studies for friends with questions about Jesus. I prayed regularly for my unsaved friends and relatives. I followed up with these people when I got the chance. But this wasn’t evangelism, right? Evangelism required the bullhorn.
I was in seminary before I considered the possibility that these things I had regularly done, that I believed everyone around me was doing, might be God calling me to the work of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with a broken world. My negative definition of evangelism had blinded me to the fact that I was already doing it! It took my wife being very direct with me to help me to see the truth. (My wife is exceedingly good at that job, thank the Lord!)
It’s the definitions that cause the trouble. No two people seem to have the same definition for what evangelism is. The people who shared the faith with me as a child certainly wouldn’t have called themselves evangelists, but in terms of function, they certainly were. They didn’t need a bullhorn. They had their life — and they had opportunity to talk to me.
It is my mission to raise the profile of our evangelism effort as we go forward as a General Conference. My suspicion, as I begin, is that we are much better at this than we think. But our definitions and some of our phobias as Seventh Day Baptists are holding us back from properly
labeling what we do when we share our life and faith with the people around us. I believe we are better at evangelism than we think, and God is calling us and equipping us to be better still.
We are going to be identifying and training evangelists in a variety of ways and methods so that we have a wide variety of ways that you and your church can be successful in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. All these methods have both an incarnational (living it out) component and a proclamational (speaking) component. There are lots of ways to be a successful evangelist, and we want to train in all of them, and at the same time. There is a world of lost people waiting for us to engage them with the Good News, and we want you to be ready to go!
I wrote a column a few months ago in which I described Seventh Day Baptists as a people who needed to reframe some of their core beliefs so that they could be understood by the people around them. In evangelism, I believe that it isn’t what we tell other people about Jesus that needs to be reframed — it’s our own lack of awareness of what we’re already doing. I believe that we have people who are passionate about sharing their faith with the people around them, both in example and in word. I believe that these people are having success by the Holy Spirit to serve as escorts for new believers into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. If you are one of those people, congratulations, you’re an evangelist! To go back to that word “euaggelion,” for a moment to bring this column around to its ending: it refers the message that heralds or proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ. But the second half of the word has another related word in the Scriptures: “aggelos,” which the Bible uses to refer to angels — the ones who serve as God’s messengers. Stretching the language beyond the breaking point for emphasis, we might say that those of us who share the good news of Jesus Christ are “Eu-Angels:” messengers of the good news.
If you’re reading this column and you have found your passion for lost people sparked, I would love it if you would call (608-752-5055 ext. 1006) or email (nkersten@seventhdaybaptist.org) me. I am gathering a list of Seventh Day Baptists who have passion in this area so that we can try to find opportunities to give you tools, so you can be equipped for the ministry of sharing the Good News with lost people. That’s right: I’m calling “eu-angels.” Eternity is at stake for the lost, so please don’t skip contacting me. I look forward to hearing from you!
