Evangelism, still the Enduring Test of our Ecumenical – and Missionary Calling*

Abstract

Evangelism allows us to check genuineness of our ecumenical calling, according to well-known words of Philip Potter, former general secretary of World Council of Churches (WCC). (1) By evangelism I mean proclamation of good news accompanied by an invitation to turn away from false absolutes (whether religious or not) and to turn to living God, to follow Jesus Christ as one's only Saviour and Lord, to join community of his church and to live a under prompting of Holy Spirit and taking ethics of kingdom of God as one's guide. In any act of sharing gospel, issues arise concerning content of faith, person and place of Christ in trinitarian theology, sacraments, ecclesiology, one's understanding of salvation, relation between Christianity and other religions or worldviews, and personal and social morality. In other words, evangelism provides, as it were, a condensed version of main issues that churches might meet on their journey towards unity. Depending on extent to which churches recognize one another, they will respond in varying ways to a question that is inspired by famous dictum of third World Conference on Faith and Order meeting in Lund, Sweden, in 1952, that became known as Lund principle, and which suggests churches should act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately. The question that arises is, 'Is evangelism part of what churches can and should do together by allowing each individual to become a member of that church community where their faith can grow within their context and culture, and their God-given gifts can be used, or, is evangelism one of those things that churches cannot in conscience do together?' You need to take time to think before replying. In same way, evangelism also enables us to check genuineness of our missionary calling. I think it important to make this addition to well-known words so that we can break out of a certain missiological impasse. The tendency to reduce mission to involvement in field of social work, accompanied by acts of worship and programmes of Christian education, is still dominant in many traditional churches. Evangelism as the mission of Church to those outside her life (2) is not yet sufficiently at centre of their concerns, even though some progress is to be observed. (3) For myself, I do not see how it is possible to claim that church is participating in God's mission if sharing good news with those outside walls of church is ruled out. I am thus inclined to regard what a church or a theologian says about evangelism as test of whether they have a genuinely holistic attitude towards mission of church. As a missiologist, I am compelled to make a distinction between evangelism and proselytism (4). Within wee, we define proselytism as the encouragement of Christians who belong to a church to change their denominational allegiance, through ways and means that 'contradict spirit of Christian love, violate freedom of human person and diminish trust in Christian witness of church'. (5) Why should we attempt to make this distinction? Firstly, because ecumenical movement has arisen out of an awareness of counter-testimony that is given by divisions in mission, and out of quest for a common witness. (6) Secondly, issue of proselytism has also been with ecumenical movement from beginning, and more particularly since 1920 Encyclical of Ecumenical Patriarchate. (7) Finally, New Testament itself encourages us to make this distinction. Immediately after he had received power of Spirit, Jesus was subjected to temptation to conceive his mission in terms suggested by Satan. He refused. We are thus driven by history and by scripture to make this distinction, however difficult it may be. …