C4 - EVANGELISM IN THE CHURCH TODAY
All Christians are, or should be, aware of the Great Commission of Jesus in St. Matthew and Acts of the Apostles to “go into all world Baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching all things that I have taught you” and “you are to be my witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and all the four corners of the earth.”
In this commissioning of the Body of Christ Jesus is directing His
disciples to bring the Good News of Salvation in Him to all people. There is no
sense of an option in these words. There is no sense of a limited range or a
limited type of people to whom the Gospel is to be taken. It is, in Jesus
words, to be to the four corners of the earth.
While the concept is difficult for so many in the world today, a world
that is ramped with the theories of relativism and multicultural, it is
essential for Christians to see what is that Jesus is calling them into.
So many today are simply concerned about who Jesus is for them and what
He has done for them. They see Jesus as having died on a cross and as being
raised form the dead so that they can have Eternal Salvation in the Heavenly
Kingdom. They may be even able to see that the Salvation applies to life here
on earth as well as in Eternity. God’s Divine Love has been poured out on the
individual so that the individual can freely receive the Gift of Eternal Life
by coming to the Father through the Son and committing to live by the power of
the Holy Spirit here on earth. Following his/her conversion, the individual may
even understand the need for participation in the worship and the community of
the Body of Christi.
However, many people do not get beyond the concept of “you and me Lord!”
The idea that all Christians are called into using the unique Gifts of God for
the maintenance and extension of the Gospel throughout the whole of the world
is lost. It can be conceded that many will contribute funds to Missionary
Causes. But most Christians see the missionary work of the Church as belonging
to someone else.
Yet the Great Commission of Jesus is anything but an internalizing and
introverting of faith. It calls the Body of Christ into a coordinated effort to
spread the Good News of Salvation in Jesus Christ Who is The Way, The Truth,
and The Life to all people both in the immediate personal environment and to
the ends of the world. Since it is only through Christ, by Jesus’ own words,
that one can receive the Free Gift of Eternal Life, the Christian cannot let race,
creed, or culture bar the spreading of the Gospel. It must be revealed in a
manner that is extending the Loving Call of God in Jesus to all people.
Christians have received the greatest gift in the world through Jesus
the Christ. This gift must not be simply held to oneself, internalized, or
introverted. It must, as the greatest gift in the world, be made available to
all humankind.
Secular society has gradually built many barriers to the fulfilling of the great Commission of Jesus. The whole concept of multiculturalism being a barrier is one that is constantly being placed before Christians. And yet, the world in which Jesus and the Early Church functioned was one that was even more multicultural in orientation than the one in which we work today.
Further, the world was ruled by an Emperor who thought he was god, or at the very least a god. Subjects were at various times required to state their loyalty by undertaking an act of worship toward this “living deity” through the practice of burning incense at his altar. And yet the Christians, while suffering the consequences of refusing such worship, were also able to achieve enormous successes in bringing the Gospel to such a pagan society.
Today the world is ruled very much by the relativistic morality of sociology. Absolute rights and wrongs are anathema in all walks of life. Each individual can have his/her own set of values as long as that set of values does not work against something that is called the “common good.” This term is elusive, as it tends to float according to the will of ruling groups who purport to speak for society. And it changes when power groups change. Further, being based upon the language of sociology which has a valueless base, it is impossible to find a foundational set of values.
So to come into this world with the claims of Jesus is very difficult. Not only does it fly in the face of the basic precepts of demonic power it also goes against everything the modern young person is exposed to in the educational, social, business, or political environment. Joseph Fletcher in his “Situation Ethics” concludes one of his examples by having a father tell his son, “Son you have become so obsessed with what is right that you have lost sight of what is good.” Hence, the message that has grasped “modern society” is that “righteousness” is not always equated to “goodness.” The extrapolation of this would say that God’s Loving Creative Will is not always best for the world.