EVANGELIZATION
Evangelization
“Mission”
“Evangelism”/“Evangelization”
Roman
Catholics
(RC)
To people who
have never been
Christian
To lapsed “Christians”
Evangelical
Christians
(avoid term as too
generic)
The core part of “mission,” i.e.,
preaching the gospel
1950-80,
widespread
Same as
evangelism
Same as mission
Roman
Catholics and
Ecumenicals
in 80’s
(avoid term as
colonialist)
Replace the term “mission” as the
label for everything the church
says or does in the world
Evangelization
Evangelization is best
seen as a subset of
mission. “Mission denotes
the total task God has set
the church… Mission is the
church sent into the world,
to love, to serve, to preach,
to teach, to heal, to
liberate.” (TM 412)
Evangelization
Evangelization is the
preaching-teaching
part of this. It is “our
opening up of the
mystery of God’s
love to all people
inside that mission.”
(TM 412, quoting Castro)
Evangelization is an announcement
Since evangelization is
basically an
announcement (a piece of
news) about God’s
activity, it is always
connected to missio Dei.
The newsy nature of the
gospel has at least four
implications:
Evangelization is an announcement
1. Words are required.
“This message [of the
arriving kingdom and
king] is indeed
necessary. It is unique. It
cannot be replaced [by
unexplained deeds]” (TM
413)
“Preach always!
When necessary
use words.”
(St. Francis of Assisi)
Evangelization is an announcement
2. Words must be backed up by lifestyle
and action. If the arriving king has no
impact on his followers, why should
anyone else pay attention to them? If
their lives are unchanged
(unconverted), how can they call others
to “conversion”?
“The Proclamation of
the Word of God has
Christian conversion
as its aim.”
(RM 46)
Evangelization is an announcement
3. Church membership cannot be the
primary aim of the announcement. At
its heart, the gospel is news about
God’s action and his reign, not his
institution. Evangelical leaders and
Roman Catholics have often taken the
mistaken view that the success of
mission correlates directly to church
membership growth.
Evangelization is an announcement
4. There is no perfect set of
words that captures the
gospel. “We may never limit
the gospel to our
understanding of God and of
salvation. We can only witness
in humble boldness and bold
humility to our understanding
of that gospel.” (TM 420)
The announcement calls for a personal
response
The gospel is “the
announcement of a personal
encounter, mediated by the
Holy Spirit, with the living
Christ, receiving his
forgiveness and making a
personal acceptance of the
call to discipleship” (TM 416)
The personal nature of the response has
several implications:
1. “Principalities and powers,
governments and nations
cannot come to faith – only
individuals can.” (TM 416)
Making prophetic statements
to governments may be mission
but it is not evangelization, for
evangelization is always
addressed to persons.
The announcement calls for a personal
response
2. The personal response cannot stay on
the religious surface of a person’s life. It
has to penetrate all the way down to the
core of a person’s being. It cannot be
motivated by social respectability or
cultural conformity. It cannot aim “at
satisfying rather than transforming
people.”
The announcement calls for a personal
response
3. The personal response is an
enlistment of service. “Jesus’
invitation to people to follow
him and become his disciples is
asking people whom they want
to serve. Evangelization is,
therefore, a call to service… (it)
is calling people to mission.”
(TM 418)
The personal response must be free and
authentic
“Evangelization is always
invitation.” (TM 413) It is not a
matter of coaxing people or
threatening them but, as a
matter of common courtesy,
joyfully letting them know
what is about to happen so
they can share in it.
The personal response must be free and
authentic
Those who decide to welcome
the king become part of the
church. To disregard the
church as some “Christians”
were doing in the 1960s is
“totally inappropriate.
Without the church there can
be no evangelism or mission.”
(TM 416)
The personal response must be free and
authentic
The king brings present salvation and the
assurance of eternal bliss; “however, if the offer
of all this gets center-stage attention in our
evangelization, the gospel is degraded to a
consumer product. It has to be emphasized that
the personal enjoyment of salvation never
becomes the central theme in biblical conversion
stories… It is not simply to receive life that
people are called to become Christians, but
rather to give life.”
Summary
Evangelization is “that
dimension and activity of the
church’s mission which, by
word and deed and in the light
of particular conditions and a
particular context, offers
every person and community,
everywhere, a valid
opportunity to be directly
challenged to a radical
reorientation of their lives.”
(TM 420)
Summary
The reorientation involves
such things as:
Deliverance from slavery to
the world and its powers
Embracing Christ as
Savior and Lord
Becoming a living member of
Christ’s community, the
church
Summary
The reorientation involves
such things as:
Being enlisted into his
service of reconciliation,
peace, and justice on earth
Being committed to God’s
purpose of placing all things
under the rule of Christ