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Evangelism + Development = Mission of the Church How to Make Christ Relevant to People, Especially in the Field of Evangelism, Development, and Mission of the Church F D. R c the current situation in some of them had brown skin, dark skin and Lour evangelistic endeavors with a story from some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club Tomorrow’s Church: Cosmopolitan Community by was considerably messed up. So the property William A. Holmes. committees immediately had a shower house built outside the club where the victims of ship- On a dangerous sea coast, where shipwrecks wreck could be cleaned up before coming inside. often occur, there was a crude little life-saving At the next meeting, there was a split in the station. The building was just a hut, and there club membership. Most of the members wanted was only one boat, but the few devoted workers to stop the club’s life-saving activities, because kept a constant watch over the sea. With no these were unpleasant and a hindrance to the thought for themselves they went out day or normal social life of the club. Some members night tirelessly searching for the lost. So many insisted upon life-saving as their primary pur- lives were saved by this wonderful little station pose and pointed out that they were still called a that it became famous. Some of those who had life-saving station. But they were finally voted been saved and others in the surrounding area down and told that if they wanted to save the wanted to become associated with the station lives of all the various kinds of people who were and give of their time, money, and effort for the shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin support of its work. New boats were bought and their own life-saving station down the coast, and new crews were trained. The little life-saving they did. station grew. As the years went by, the new station experi- Some of the new members of the life-saving enced the same changes that had occurred in the station were unhappy that the building was so old. It evolved into a club, and yet another life- crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a saving station was founded. History continued more comfortable place should be provided as the to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they today you will find a number of exclusive clubs replaced the emergency cots with beds and put along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in better furniture in an enlarged building. The life- those waters, but most of the people drown.1 station became a popular gathering place for its members; they used it as sort of a club. Fewer of This story, depicts what I think has been the tradi- the members were now interested in going out to tional evangelistic theology and methodology in our sea on life-saving missions, so they hired lifeboat evangelistic task. crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in the club decoration, however, and Traditional Theological Perspective there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where Spiritual above material values club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired The traditional theological perspective that has been the crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet, half- basis of the old evangelistic thinking was one that places drowned people. They were dirty and sick and the spiritual over the material. Many evangelistic mes- the e. word vol. 3 / no. 2 / 2004 / 1 sages gave importance to the spiritual life over and have been read into the Gospels, to the neglect of the above the material or physical. Life especially “eternal sense of community life. There must be a clarification life,” was of the spirit and not of the physical. Such was in what is preached: “accept Christ personally” in rela- the heritage from Greek philosophy that influenced the tion to the community. For the Christian faith is biblical concept of life—a dichotomy of spirit and mat- always seen within community life: the Church. ter: spirit was good; matter (flesh) was evil. The result Whoever “accepts” (I must admit that I have difficulty was a flight from the world. The apocalyptic trend with the word “accept,” for it is my understanding of reflected in the thoughts (technology) of St. Paul, was theology that one does not accept Christ, but is rather to “let the world pass by.” Ours is a home not on earth, accepted by Christ) Christ as his or her personal but somewhere “beyond the blue,” as a gospel song says. Savior is incorporated into the body of Christ, the This led to a concern for life only in the future, to the Church, the people of God, the community. Such neglect of the present. The present was seen merely as a emphasis in our preaching about the individual has preparation for heaven: “Heaven is my home” and “I led to confused thinking about the Church. It has led have a home in glory land that outshines the sun.” to many schisms and divisions in the body of Christ. What is important is not this earthly life but life after In the Hebraic mind, the individual is never apart death, which is the “beyond the grave” philosophy. This from the community of faith. theology of dichotomy, the spirit versus matter, need to There is no dichotomy of personal and social be reexamined and reevaluated in the light of the Christianity. A personal piety without a social con- Hebraic concept of life as a whole. Life is not divided. cern, or a social concern without a personal experience Life is not fragmented. Life is whole. Life is unity. of God in Christ, is unbiblical and anemic Divide life and you have death. Christianity. Moreover, in this complex world, turning This of spirit/matter dichotomy is also contrary to the a new Christian loose in the community with little or biblical records of Christ’s concern about the physical no preparation for that person’s participation in it as a and material needs in his healing ministry. In fact, the Christian, is to throw him or her either into frustra- first “miracle” was done at a marriage ceremony in Cana. tion or hypocrisy. The Christian must be involved in Here, Jesus turned water into wine, so as not to put the the community, with hands and feet and mind and host in an embarrassing situation. The Gospel of John heart, finding ways to participate in the power struc- says that Jesus came to give life and that it will be a life ture that controls lives and societies. more abundant. This was not said of the spirit only, but of the totality of life, including this physical body. “Jesus Salvation is free and cheap increased in wisdom and years, and in divine and human The emphasis on “free salvation” has neglected the favor,” says Luke :. theology of the cross. The costliness of God’s grace is Separate spirit and matter and have death. The forgotten. It has made “salvation” cheap and easy: “Just Spirit is known in the flesh (material). “And the Word believe and you are saved.” Yet, salvation cost God, the became flesh, and lived among us (made his tent), and death of his only Son on the cross to make humankind we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only free. Such freedom, because it is precious, becomes a son, full of grace and truth ( John :). costly responsibility. A theological perspective that People of today, more than at any other time, are calls for the “wholeness of life” must be the basis of more educated, scientific, and sophisticated. The old our evangelism or else we shall fall into the same emphasis of salvation as the glorious experience in the temptation of schisms and divisiveness. life hereafter no longer looks persuasive and attractive to modern-day people, who reason not only with their Traditional Evangelistic Methodology hearts, but with their minds. More and more, people have come to realize that salvation starts here and Elitism now. This means that the thrust of modern evangel- In the past, we have used a methodology of evangel- ism should be for both the material and spiritual well- ism that is dependent on elitism—the belief that being of humankind. evangelism must be done by a group of specialized The individual as over and against the evangelists. These evangelists are called upon for an community evangelistic meeting or rally. Many evangelists think that if others do not have the same theology, elo- Many sermons have placed the individual against and quence, and methodology as theirs, they are wrong, if above the community. Such rugged individualism, an not “un-Christian.” This has led to divisions in the emphasis particularly of European culture, seems to body of Christ. True, some may be called to be evan- 2 / the e. word vol. 3 / no. 2 / 2004 gelists, but the whole church, the whole people of The mission of Jesus Christ is humankind and their God, the body of Christ, does the evangelistic task, lives, agonies, and ecstasies. It is not formation of both in word and in deed. organizations and institutions, though these are Because of the idea that there must be a core of important. All must be instruments for people’s lives specialist evangelists, many congregations begin to in the development of human being.

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