Communication #1
What Actually is Evangelism?
Compiled by Gerhard Nehls
What a question! Every Christian knows that! Really?
The word ‘evangelism’ comes from the Greek word ‘euangelion’, which is made up of two parts: “eu” = “good” and “angelos” = “message” (think of angel = messenger). In the English Bible we find this important word some 78 times and it is usually translated as “gospel” or “good news”.
Sometimes it is also translated with “preaching”. But more often “to preach” is rendered by the Greek word “kerusso” (found 52 times in the NT) which could best be translated with “proclaim”.
The idea is this: A king sends his heralds with a message to his people. They are to go from place to place and proclaim it. They do not ask for an opinion, nor are they trying to persuade people to agree or discuss the matter. They just proclaim the message. The people are expected to listen and act accordingly. But they can only do this if the message has been clearly understood. Nobody can be blamed when disobeying the king’s demands if the messenger changes or shortens the message or uses a language that cannot be understood by the people.
And here we are right at the center of our topic. Every Christian is in some way or other an evangelist, a messenger of the Good News. Not only in a church or in the form of public preaching, but by sharing with people around us.
Important is that we learn to speak in a way that others can understand what we, or better, what God means with His message. The problem we often face today, is that Christians are more concerned with the methods of evangelism than the content of the Gospel. Rallies, crusades, Gospel and Healing campaigns are being conducted with ‘powerful preachers’, bands and singers. The shorter and easier the method, the “better”, seems to be the conviction of many. We are so used to reduce the Gospel to the one essential point of receiving Christ as Saviour that we very often neglect to explain why that is necessary.
But this is of utmost importance, especially when sharing with Muslim, who thinks and reasons quite differently from us. Our familiar slogans (“you must come to the foot of the cross”) and religious words (“saved by grace”, “born again”, “filled with the Spirit”) will rather form a barrier than a bridge to really communicate the Gospel to the Muslim mind in general.
We need to be aware that a Muslim perceives spiritual matters quite differently from us. He believes that man is basically good, surely good enough to earn salvation by performing the right religious duties in the right way. Consider these words by an Islamic scholar: “In the Islamic view, human beings are no more ‘fallen’ than they are ‘saved’. Because they are not ‘fallen’, they have no need for saviour’. But because they are not ‘saved’ either, they need to do good works… to ‘save’ themselves by deeds and works is their pride and glory.(1)”
Thus, a Muslim does not understand the seriousness of sin and therefore sees no need for the biblical truth that God in Christ reconciled us to Himself by suffering on the cross the punishment we deserve. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) – hence the “death penalty” was executed on Christ instead of ourselves.
So, we may assume that just about every Muslim has an unbiblical view of God, man, God’s law, sin and need for reconciliation to God by the sacrifice of Christ alone. Granted, Muslims use many biblical words like prayer, sin, forgiveness, sacrifice, grace, repentance, heaven and hell, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and many more; yet in a Muslim’s mind they are usually filled with a very different meaning.
Taken all these facts together, we do not face an easy task when “preaching the Gospel” to Muslims. We have to constantly define, explain and illustrate the points we wish to make. Before becoming a Christian, a Muslim man or woman must have access to the foundational truths about God, man, sin, God’s law and His grace. Sharing the Gospel means to provide this information:
Who is God? We can’t see or hear Him. Therefore, many people have drawn up in their minds a picture of what ‘their’ god should be like. But God has revealed Himself to us in His Word, so that we might know about Him as much as our limited mind can grasp. God is holy and righteous, and “lives in unapproachable light” (1Tim. 6:16). Because of His holiness he cannot associate with sinful man, as little as one cannot associate fire with water.
Who is Man? This we know much better, of course. We are people, so we should know, but do we? We compare ourselves with others and think we are good, or at least not worse than most other people. But God does not judge man this way. He compares us with Himself. And He came to this verdict: Man is wicked “and every inclination of the thought of his heart is evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5)! So, unless God does something to change us, we have no chance, for we cannot change ourselves, nor make our past undone.
The Law of God gives us God’s standard to compare ourselves with and to regulate our relationship with Him and among ourselves. And this law shows our total fallenness, but also the way out: a sacrifice to suffer and die in our stead.
The breaking of the law of God, in fact, all unrighteousness and lack of faith in God is sin: “Your sins have separated you from God” (Isa. 59:2). Our very way of thinking is evil and wrong. And by that every person becomes automatically separated from God. And the worst sin of all: Man thinks he can repair this by performing religious duties to please God. Only when a person is aware of this hopeless situation is he really in the position to appreciate the Good News.
God’s grace is demonstrated to us in that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7). “All this is from God… reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:18+19). Evangelism is the sharing of this truth in ways understandable to our neighbours.
1 Peter 3:15 provides us with an excellent guideline to evangelism: “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord! Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”.
Think about it!
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Reference:
(1) ISLAM” by Isma’