Evangelism

e·van·ge·lism, noun

1. the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness.
2. zealous advocacy of a cause

Evangelism comes from the Greek word, εὐαγγέλιον, which is quite simply "Good News." When Christians evangelize, they're typically trying to spread the Good News, though some are better evangelists than others. That is, the ones who better at evangelizing are the ones who believe that the message that they are spreading is actually good news. I'm trying to remember this song that I did at VBS when I was 5 about some cowboy Western evangelist. I had a solo, so I should remember how it goes. Unfortunately, all I can remember from that year at VBS was the copious amounts of Carman music videos we watched. Oh, Christian 90's music. I miss you.

So what is the "Good News"? 

Some Christians feel like evangelism is like trying to win a debate. We'll use apologetics, arguments, and all these other tools which are all really awesome. I love apologetics. But I haven't met anyone that signed up for Christianity through apologetics. I think apologetics are a necessary part of interfaith and irreligious dialogues, but for evangelistic methods, they can only go so far.

Sometimes all it takes to tell someone about the Good News is to tell them that Jesus loves them.

In this world of hurt and pain, someone can be brought into relationship with God through the sheer realization that God loves them. 

One of the most theologically rich statements in the Bible is found in John's First Epistle: "God is love."

We are so hurt and broken, and we need to be reminded how much God loves us. 

Maybe that's why John 3:16 is used so often in evangelism. All Christians, and probably a good chunk of the world thanks to Tim Tebow, Stone Cold Steve Austin, etc. know that verse, but do we actually believe it? 

If you want to be a good evangelist, you have to believe that the news is actually good. We can't bring people to God if we don't even believe it. 

Now, most Christians would consider themselves evangelistic. That is, they would say that they seek to spread the Gospel. However, some are scared of the word evangelistic because it sounds similar to evangelical. Evangelistic is not the same as evangelical.

Some Christians shy away from the word "evangelical" because it's become attached to homophobic, self-righteous, Republican, bigoted...I could go on. The truth is that every Christian should be evangelistic. Every Christian should try to be a zealous advocate for Christ.  

In this country, American ideals are synonymous with Christianity. I love America, but it hasn't done anything but harm to the Good News. Where the American Dream, the sense that we can all accomplish whatever we want, is interchangeable with being in right-standing with God. If you don't have a nice car or house, or your health is failing, your relationship with God is probably not where it should be. 

What happened to the idea that we have to die to ourselves in order to be true followers of Christ? (Matt 16:25) 

Tertullian once said that the blood of the martyr is the seed of the church. Want to know why the American church is not where it could/should be? It's because we don't want to live or die for anything unless it's for ourselves.

All Christians should be evangelists and all Christians should be martyrs. That is, we should believe that the εὐαγγέλιον is worth living and dying for.

John Wimber once said, "Faith is spelled r-i-s-k."