Social Involvement : Evangelism :: Godliness : Evangelism

March 18, 2010 – 1:24 pm

In a pair of 2005 articles in The Briefing, Tim Chester and Tony Payne provide an interesting and helpful evaluation of the role of social involvement with evangelism. In the first article, Chester considers the biblical case for social involvement and evangelizing the poor. His conclusion:

“The Bible does compel us to show concern for the poor and seek justice in society. It gives us a mandate for cultural and social involvement. But we have seen, too, that…we must be committed to the reconciliation of the poor to God through the gospel. This means that proclaiming the gospel must be at the heart of all that we do as Christians and churches.”

In the second article, Chester and Payne consider the relationship between social involvement and evangelism.  The begin by explaining three assertions:

1. Evangelism and social action are distinct activities;
2. Proclamation is central; and
3. Evangelism and social action are inseparable.

They then clarify further by replacing “social involvement” with the word “godliness” and discuss its relationship to evangelism. This comparison provides the following points:

1. “Godliness is not the same thing as evangelism.”
2. “Godliness and evangelism aren’t alternatives to be prioritized.”
3. “Godliness should always accompany our evangelism, and indeed reinforce it-both in the honest, straightforward way we preach (see 2 Cor 4:1-2), and in the godly behaviour that we exhibit in our daily lives.”
4. “While godly behaviour adorns the gospel, and may even play a role in ‘winning’ people-as the godly wife in 1 Peter 3 may win over her husband through the purity and godliness of her conduct-godliness is not an evangelistic tactic.”
5. “Similarly, although godliness serves to commend and adorn the gospel, it doesn’t ‘earn us the right’ to preach the gospel.”
6. “Likewise, we wouldn’t ever say that the godliness of Christians was the key that unlocked people’s minds so that they understood the gospel and responded to it-as if people were willing and ready to respond to Christianity, if only they saw it being lived properly.”

I found this analogy to be helpful. In particular  their elaboration of the second point, “godliness and evangelism aren’t alternatives to be prioritized,” is insightful:

“We don’t say, ‘I don’t think I’m going to have time to be godly this week because I’m too busy with evangelism’. Taking the time, for example, to comfort a friend who’s grieving, or to read the Bible with your children, or to pray each day to our heavenly Father-these aren’t activities we would see as competitors to evangelism, but as activities of godliness that we would find time for in the scheme of things. (In the same way, we shouldn’t think that by making proclamation central, social involvement is therefore an entirely optional ‘bottom of the agenda’ activity only to be fitted in when everything else has been done. We should be godly in our context, and use the resources of our congregations, and the gifts of different members, to offer loving practical help to those around us.)”

In our concern to maintain the primacy of gospel proclamation over social involvement, it is easy to act as if evangelism was our sole and all-consuming task. However, Christ did not merely commission us to preach the gospel, but to make disciples (with the ultimate goal of bringing glory God.) Since social involvement is part of a disciple-making process that brings glory to God, it cannot be ignored under the guise of promoting evangelism. As the second article concludes:

“Jesus sends us out into the world to ‘make disciples’. With this in mind, the two key questions are:

1. How do we make disciples? We make disciples through the prayerful proclamation of the gospel of Christ, in dependence on the Holy Spirit to make the message effective.
2. What does it mean to be a disciple? We teach disciples to obey all that Christ has commanded, including the command to live in kindness, generosity, love and active concern for those around us”

To see the explanation for the other points, read the full articles here and here.

- Ben Edwards