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Permalink Reply by Christine Murray on October 27, 2009 at 12:48pm

I do think a lot of organizations are leaning too far into social justice at the expense of evangelism. I also think you can focus on evangelism to the extent of failing to care for people's physical needs as well as their spiritual ones. A healthy balance is the best way to go. Compassion ministries that share the gospel or church planters that enable micro finance in the community they're planting in are good examples. Actions (social) may speak louder than words, but words (evangelism) speak more clearly. They work best pair together.

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Permalink Reply by Nate Pache on October 22, 2010 at 3:12pm

TGC Asks Mike Wittmer: How Do We Work for Justice and Not Undermine Evangelism?

Note from TGC’s editorial director, Collin Hansen: The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization opened on Saturday, October 16, and will conclude on Monday, October 25. The event, convening 4,000 evangelical leaders from 200 countries, will address issues including poverty, HIV/AIDS, consumerism, and child sex trafficking. No doubt these and many other issues crying for justice in a broken world affect evangelistic efforts. But already, some observers wonder whether the evangelical bird (to borrow John Stott’s analogy popularized through Lausanne) is tilting toward the justice wing and away from the evangelism wing. So TGC turned to four leaders and asked: How do Christians work for justice in the world and not undermine the centrality of evangelism? Mike Wittmer responds today. He was preceded on Monday by Don Carson, on Tuesday by Ray Ortlund, and on Wednesday by Russell Moore.

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Everything hinges on how we answer the question, “Why justice?” or “Who is justice for?”

We fight for justice in part because we want to stop the perpetrators of evil and violence. This is why the most satisfying part of a Chuck Norris movie is the last ten minutes, when the smirking gangster takes a boot to the face.

A better answer, especially for pacifists, is that we seek justice to help the victims of oppression. We care about the widow being scammed by a conniving contractor and we grieve for children who are forced into prostitution or maimed to enhance their begging.

But the best—and only Christian—answer is that we seek justice not only to pay back the perpetrators and to rescue the oppressed but because we love Jesus Christ. No one weeps over injustice like Jesus (nor has anyone been treated so unjustly), and he has been taking names for a very long time. Unlike Chuck Norris, who returned each week to battle new bad guys, Jesus will return to settle things once and for all. He will “set the world to rights” (see N.T. Wright), for his words will become swords that “strike down” evildoers and he “will wipe every tear” from the eyes of his suffering children (Rev. 19:15; 21:4).

We are committed to justice because it matters to Jesus. But if we fight for justice for Jesus’ sake, we will never be satisfied with justice alone. We will not rest until every perpetrator and victim bows before his name, the returning King who gave his life so every unjust person who repents and believes in him may live forever.

This requires evangelism, and it flows naturally from the Christian passion for justice. If justice is primarily about Jesus, we will eagerly tell others about their need for him. If we forget Jesus, it won’t be long until we also lose our passion for justice. For without the promise of his glorious return, really, what’s the point?

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Permalink Reply by Nate Pache on October 22, 2010 at 4:05pm

What is World Evangelization?
October 22, 2010, 11:36 am » Mark Russell

Travel is one of my favorite activities and experiencing other cultures is one my greatest passions. But with kids and a wife I actually enjoy, long haul flights to Africa and beyond have become something of a burden. After taking six such trips in 2009, I decided it was time to slow down, well actually just quit.

When the opportunity to participate in the third congress of Lausanne, what Christianity Today called the most diverse gathering ever in Cape Town, South Africa, I wasn’t sure if I should go. Normally, I would be ecstatic to go a place I’ve long heard about and experience a multitude of cultures at one time, but the sixty hours on airplanes and 12 days away from home, gave me some pause.

But there was something else that gave me hesitation. Lausanne calls this gathering, the third congress on world evangelization. While I definitely believe in sharing my faith and in people’s rights to convert to other faiths, and, furthermore, I’ve recently co-authored a book on evangelicalism identifying myself as a part of the movement, I am still nervous tossing around terms like “world evangelization.”
There are really two reasons why: First, the phrase can carry a sort of “conquering” implication that is, frankly, creepy at best and horrifying at worst. As if we, Christian people, are out to make everyone like us.

Second and perhaps, even more serious for me, as a person of faith and a follower of Christ, is that evangelization has been frequently defined quite poorly to mean simply a cognitive assent to some doctrinal beliefs in order to seal a deal to obtain a get out of hell free card.

This type of evangelization reveals a reductionistic view of the gospel that I believe is far from what is intended when one reads the words of Christ.

Despite my hesitations, I opted to kiss my wife and kids good bye and make the long track to other side of the world. Now that I am here, I am definitely glad that I have made the trip.

What I see and hear is a fresh awareness of the complexities of life and the reality that our faith is a way of life that we are to live with genuine love for our neighbor, not merely something we are somehow obligated to impose on people who don’t really care.

In recent years through active missions the evangelical church has done a tremendous job in spreading the gospel message geographically around the world. Now, I think the time has come to integrate the gospel of love into the various spheres of society, because we take it seriously that Jesus prayed, “Father, may your will be done on earth as it is heaven” (Matthew 6:10) We take it seriously that Jesus said, “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you'” (Luke 10:9).

Evangelization does not simply mean spreading the message of salvation, but of love as well. A love that drives us into slums, ghettos, and bordellos, to seek and save those that are lost and in need of healing. A love that drives us to be kind to people on the street, embracing of those that are different, compassionate to those with questions, and gracious with those who disagree.

Right now in Cape Town, South Africa, there are nearly 4000 people that get that and that’s why I’m glad I came.

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Permalink Reply by Nate Pache on October 22, 2010 at 4:07pm

These are some articles I found recently on the web. While I do not feel that they entirely represent how I feel about your timely question, they are interesting in helping see what the current view is on it.

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