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All month long, we’ve been talking about evangelism, the act of sharing the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection with the people around you. We’ve given, hopefully, some helpful tools and perspectives to aid you in reaching out to your family, friends and everyone else with the hope of salvation through Jesus. Today, we are going to conclude this months series with a look into the future; what can evangelism look like 1 year, 10 years, 20 years from now?!? Well, before we look ahead, let’s briefly take a look back at some of the ways that Christians have been sharing the gospel throughout history.
In scripture, the methodology was pretty straightforward- led by the disciples, the followers of Christ, who hadn’t even started to be called Christians yet, began going out into the city and preaching the gospel in the marketplaces, at synagogues, on the road and to just about anyone who would listen. The early Church soon began ministering to the widows and orphans within the community by distributing food to the needy. This led to the appointment of men to oversee the outreach ministry so that the disciples could focus on preaching and prayer. One of these men was named Stephen, a young man recognized as being filled with the Spirit whom, in that same chapter was seized by the religious leaders in Jerusalem and in the next stoned to death, becoming the first Christian martyr. The account of Stephen’s appointment, seizure and martyrdom can be found in Acts chapters 6 and 7. This event set a precedent for the Church which would continue as the norm for centuries and to the persecuted Church today as even in 2023, Christianity is still the most persecuted people group in the world.
Throughout history and around the world today, Christianity has faced intense persecution and martyrdom and yet, in spite of this persecution the Church thrives. It was the daily reality of intense persecution under Jewish and Roman leaders which forced the early Church to flee Jerusalem, thereby spreading the gospel throughout the ancient world as Christians brought their faith with them. Today, in the harsh landscape of Chinese dictatorial oppression of the faith, Christianity is growing faster there than anywhere else in the world. The history of Christian evangelism, while methodologically diverse, has the persistent throughline of suffering for the sake of the gospel. As far back as 197 AD, early Christian apologist, Tertullian penned the famous quote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” or a more direct translation, “We multiply when you reap us. The blood of Christians is seed.” These are gripping words, but it’s now 2023 and, for many of us, we are far removed from spilling our blood for our Christian witness. So, what is the future of Christian evangelism?
In the western world, we experience luxuries and privileges the the vast majory of the modern and historical world could never even dream of. Many of the common psychological issues we face are not the products of extreme lack but of excess. We have too much time on our hands. We have too much information, true and untrue, at our fingertips. We have so many options when it comes to food, clothing, transportation, and shelter that we have trouble making decisions, less satisfaction once we’ve decided and even decision paralysis – all symptoms associated with a phenomenon called choice bias overload. These luxuries and excesses have even made their way into the western church. No longer do we have to be worried about being found out by the government and hauled off to prison when we gather, we can post church selfies all over social media. The lived experiences of countless Christians around the world of having little to no access to a Bible in their language is completely foreign to us as we have multiple translations of the Bible gathering dust on our shelves at home. Sharing the gospel has never been easier, all we have to do is where a t-shirt with a cool or, if we’re being honest, not cool at all slogan or bible verse, post out of context verses on our pages which basically amount to “Jesus is going to take care of my problems,” or invite our friends to a church service on easter sunday where we have an awesome band, a professional grade fog and lights show, and we’re giving out game systems, TV’s and a new car during the church egg hunt. And, before I am accused of being hypocritical or unfair, of course you could launch a podcast, youtube channel or social media page sharing your particular brand of Christianity to the masses without ever having to leave your own home. Spreading the gospel has never been easier than it is in the United States right now but looking around at the social trajectory, you wouldn’t think so.
For many of us, there are so many opportunities to share the gospel that we end up paralyzed in indecision. For others, we simply take for granted that there is always going to be another opportunity down the road. Still, I'm afraid that for many of us, we are so consumed with all of the comforts and cares of the world that we have created for ourselves that the urgency of Jesus’ command to spread the gospel gets completely crowded out of our lives and offloaded onto our pastors, our bible study leaders or some other more religious person who can spend their whole day dealing with the spiritual stuff while the rest of us a living in the real world. We are living at a point in the history of the Church where it now costs so little for us to share the gospel that we don’t truly value doing it at all. We have just enough Jesus in our lives to convince us that we and our loved ones are saved, but not enough of His Spirit in us to be greatly concerned with the salvation of others. Last month we talked about Jesus praying for us that we would have the same love for one another that He has for us. His love drove Him to leave His throne in heaven and suffer an unimaginably brutal death by crucifixion on our behalf. How can we confidently say that the Holy Spirit resides in us if we can’t even be driven from the comfort of our homes to tell someone about it? Salvation is the free gift of God which we receive by grace through faith in Christ, but “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!” - Romans 10:14-15
So, again, what is the future of evangelism? Based on the history of the Church, from the lives of the apostles, from the testimonies of the martyrs, and the example of Jesus, Himself, the spreading of the gospel is going to cost us. Sure, we – Allie and I – can sit here in this video and freely share the gospel with you online, but both of us have sacrificed careers, financial stability, our reputations in the eyes of some of our peers and many other things like that to sit here today. Honestly, compared to the sacrifices of our brothers and sisters around the world, we haven’t sacrificed anything. Compared to the one whom our faith is founded, no one can ever say that they have sacrificed next to Jesus. But, while we have this platform, we will use it to spread the gospel as far as we possibly can. Maybe for you it will start with a podcast or youtube channel. Maybe it will begin with you sharing Christ with your unsaved family or friends. Maybe it could be risking a little bit more, but sharing Jesus with the people you work or go to school with. Maybe the Holy Spirit is calling you to the unreached people in closed countries around the world or maybe He is calling you to your neighbor across the street. I can’t say specifically where He is calling you to or what method that calling will manifest itself in, but what I can say for certain is that if you are a follower of Jesus you, personally, are called to preach the gospel of Christ to the world. There’s no way around it. The torch for the future of evangelism will be carried by you.
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