I suppose if you did one of those ‘man on the street’ type things and asked the question “What is evangelism?” you would get a wide variety of answers, even if you were outside Any Church, U.S.A. If you were outside a church you could ask a follow-up question after receiving a definition of evangelism something like “How are you contributing to the evangelism effort?” Here is a good definition of evangelism published in the Banner of Truth magazine over 30 years ago that still holds true today.
“Evangelism is not a making of proselytes; it is not persuading people to make a decision; it is not proving that God exists, or making a good case for the truth of Christianity; it is not inviting someone to a meeting; it is not exposing the contemporary dilemma, or arousing interest in Christianity; it is not wearing a badge saying “Jesus Saves!” Some of these things are right and good in their place, but none of them should be confused with evangelism. To evangelize is to declare on the authority of God what he has done to save sinners, to warn men of their lost condition, to direct them to repent, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” (John Cheesman, The Grace of God in the Gospel [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1972], 119)
Using the ‘contextualization/need to adapt to the culture’ excuse for leaving 3/4 of the ‘good news’ is NO excuse! The ‘believe in Jesus’ is about all that’s left in the modern evangelical gospel. Man’s lost condition without Christ has not changed, the effect of sin has not changed, the need to repent has not changed.
We need only declare/proclaim, in fact that is all that we are asked to do – tell it. When we tell it and God has opened ears to hear, eyes to see and awakened a dead heart, true salvation follows – a work of God, not man. Even faith to believe is a precious gift. Ephesians 2:8-9.
The Battle Cry 
This is a great post. It took me until just recently to understand what the whole thing was about…to glorify God by proclaiming his truths.
It really takes the pressure off to “close the deal” or to even think that way when evangelizing…ahh..I mean declaring what God has done to save sinners and to direct them to repent… 🙂
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The quote hits it on the head. So how can these seeker type churches justify what they do? They justify it on the exact reasons for what evangelism is not.
I will not doubt these churches on their sincerity of caring about the souls of men. Oprah and the Dalai Lama care too. The question for the seeker church is, do you care about how God cares about the human soul enough to obey what God says HE wants us to do in caring about them in our evangelism? Did God say draw them in or did He say go out? How hard is this to understand?
As I have stated elsewhere, when the individual that defends the tactics of the seeker churches in evangelism, evangelises everyone(acording to Scripture)that they come in contact with on the outside, then I will give ear and possible credence to what they are doing in these churches. But until then, it, for all intents and purposes, seems to be nothing more than church building for glory.
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Greetings, Fred!
I think it’s tied to a false concept of human ‘free will’ that ignores the fact the the unregenerate human will is in bondage to sin and DEAD to God (Eph 2); in such a sorry state that we cannot/do not seek after God (Rom 3:11). The Holy Spirit must awaken the heart of anyone who would choose Christ. If you trust the Holy Spirit to awaken hearts to the truth of the gospel, you don’t have to leave out ‘sin’ and ‘impending judgement’. Sure, everyone is seeking something, but if the Holy Spirit has not begun a work, it’s not God they seek!
So they think they are doing a good thing going after seekers but all they are doing is enticing dead people to come through the doors – then they must keep them entertained so they will hang around until they feel ‘comfortable’ and they can present HALF the gospel, leaving out the SIN question, which is the real issue!
What is so terribly tragic is that while they are really sincere about introducing the ‘seeker’ to Jesus, they miss the whole point!
How can I be part of the solution? When the opportunity arises, I can share Romans 3 and Ephesians 2 that present the truth about the unregenerate natural man. I can share John 6:44 and 65 that say that God draws and enables and it’s not our ‘job’ to persuade.
Thanks for your comment!
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