Conversion and Proselytism in the Light of “Christian Witness in a Multi-religious World”

Abstract

Pope Francis, celebrating World Mission Sunday on Sunday, 20 October, remarked that mission of church is spread throughout world flame of faith that Jesus has lighted in world ... The method of mission is not proselytism, but that sharing of flame that heats up soul. (1) And blessed Pope John Paul II affirmed that missionary activity belongs to very nature of life, and is also inspiration behind ecumenism: 'that they may all be one ... so that world may believe that you have sent me' (John 17:21). (2) Emil Brunner in 1931 noted that the Church exists by mission, just as fire exists by burning. (3) The church's universal mission is thus found in faith of Jesus Christ, who is definitive self-revelation of God. Christians go out on mission with conviction that they are saved to save, reconciled in order to reconcile. The church ought to make known to all people in all walks of life that Jesus Christ is Saviour, true God and true man. Nevertheless, church, while being faithful to her entrusted mission, needs to fight against two temptations. The first is mere humanization of mission, through abandoning missionary proclamation, conversion, and in favour of dialogue and social justice. The second involves triumphalism and exclusivism, which tend to deny or ignore presence of Logos and Holy Spirit in all cultures and God's relationship with all peoples throughout ages. Accordingly, awesome responsibility of Great Commission--Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in name of Father and of Son and of Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you (Matt. 28:19-10)--cannot be divorced from great commandment of love of God and neighbour (Matt. 22:34-40). If evangelism as invitation for authentic discipleship is at heart of missio Dei, (4) A then all Christians, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are called upon to be agents and co-operators in God's outreach to all of humanity. The missio ecclesiae, mission of church, thus, ought to be grounded on trinitarian life as a communion-in-mission. Divisions and hostilities among Christians not only set a counter-witness, but also weaken the promotion of healing and reconciling message of Gospel (5) as well as ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue. In my short input, I would like to address following three issues: first, conflicting understanding of evangelism, conversion, and proselytism; second, conversion debate and religious liberty; and third, document Christian Witness in a Multi-religious World: Recommendations for Conduct. Conflicting understanding of evangelism, conversion and proselytism Three sets of empirical population data contribute to increase and decrease in world religions: (i) births and deaths; (ii) converts to and converts from; and (iii) immigrants and emigrants. It is a social phenomenon that is shifting to global South with changing demographics of Christians. Christianity is expected to grow as a proportion of Africa's population, from 143 million in 1970 (38.7% of continent's population), to 630 million by 2020 (49.3%). In Asia, is growing more than twice as fast as general population, mostly through conversions, though it is still a minority religion there (only 8.2% in 2010). (6) The growth of shows obedience of disciples of Christ to Great Commission. Yet spread of in southern hemisphere raises potential political difficulties, and on occasion leads to violence. Proselytism can be defined as an illicit form of or an unethical activity. (7) Evangelism of some Christians includes also members of Catholic as well as other churches. …