Though I’ve long been a proponent of personal evangelism, I’ve also long been concerned about the language of “sharing” the gospel. I find that language far too weak and somewhat misleading when attached to the good news. The tone is all wrong. It makes the gospel sound like advice. Or a recipe. It’ says, “I’ve found this useful. Let me share it with you.” The first generation of Christians didn’t get accused of sedition by declaring that there is “another king named Jesus” (Acts 17:7) because they were sharing their faith. You share a ride. Or perhaps a dessert. You don’t share Jesus. You proclaim Jesus.
So, when I read “Proclaim” by Tim Nichols and Joe Anderson, I read with interest and appreciation. Nichols and Anderson call on believers to declare the gospel unapologetically and unabashedly. Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified for our sin and raised bodily from the dead, reigns now over all things and requires from all people the obedience that comes from faith. Nichols and Anderson argue that when we tell this story about Jesus, we shouldn’t think of it as “sharing the gospel.” Instead, we should see ourselves as heralds with a message about King Jesus. Evangelism shouldn’t be construed as sharing our subjective experience of faith but as declaring the objective reality of the reign of the crucified and risen Christ.
The essay by Nichols and Anderson did leave me with some questions, though. Will objecting to the language of “sharing the gospel” be misconstrued as objecting to evangelism? What are the dangers of “share your faith” language? How do we recover evangelism as proclamation? How do we equip Christians to embrace such language and the posture that goes with it?
Personal Benefit as Hook
When we think of evangelism as “sharing the gospel”, we tend to think in terms of persuasion over proclamation. Nichols and Anderson highlight this point well. That’s not to say proclaiming the gospel doesn’t involve some elements of persuasion. It does. The point is that we can’t take a persuasion-at-all-cost attitude. We can become so focused on persuading our hearer that we misrepresent the heart of the gospel.
One way to diagnose whether our evangelism is focused on sharing and persuading in contrast to declaring and proclaiming is to look at the hook. How do we get our hearer’s attention? A “sharing” approach to evangelism often attempts to hook the hearer by drawing attention to the potential personal benefits. When this happens, you can be sure the focus is on persuasion over proclamation.
Consider how one widely used approach to evangelism attempts to hook the hearer with two questions that are focused on their personal benefit: (1) Do you know for sure that you are going to be with God in heaven? (2) If God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” what would you say? These two questions are intended to diagnose whether the hearer has a personal relationship with Jesus. If they answer the wrong way, then you proceed to share the gospel with them. But notice what’s implied. These questions try to hook the listener by appealing to their desire for personal gain. They invite no reflection on the beauty of the glory of the risen and reigning Christ. The focus is on the person and their reward, not the Lord and his work. Now you might respond that the questions are simply a tool – an instrument – that helps move the conversation toward the objective claims of Jesus. But what we win them with is what we win them to. And I fear we’ve won a lot of people to heaven without winning them to Jesus.
Evangelism and the Person and Work of Christ
This raises the question of how we teach evangelism in such a way that prioritizes the truth about Jesus over any potential reward or benefit. I’ve wrestled with that question through most of my ministry. Here’s where I’ve landed and how I teach evangelism.
I still ask two questions. But they’re two different questions. These questions aren’t focused on the hearer or the potential benefit that might come to the hearer. These two questions are focused singly on Jesus – his person and his work. When I find myself in an evangelistic conversation, this is what I ask: (1) What do you know about Jesus? (2) What do you know about the cross? You wouldn’t believe the answers I’ve heard in response to these questions. But before we get to that, let’s talk about the rationale behind the questions.
If you are familiar with classic Christology, you know that it typically divides into two categories: the person of Christ and the work of Christ. Our doctrine of the person of Christ aims to speak faithfully about how the divine and human natures are united but not mixed or diminished in the one person of Jesus. Our doctrine of the work of Christ aims to speak faithfully about what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection. The two questions I’m suggesting we ask prompt our hearers to begin thinking along those lines: who is Jesus and what has he done? I’m not suggesting we turn evangelism into a technical and jargon-laden theology lecture. I’m suggesting we ask questions about Jesus instead of questions about heaven.
These two questions still have a diagnostic function. You’ll quickly discern whether your conversation partner has any acquaintance with rigorous Christianity. In my experience, most people have some answer for the first question, though the adequacy of those answers has varied. Things really get interesting when the second question is asked. What do you know about the cross? People often stare blankly. They struggle to articulate a single sentence. Many respond this way, “You know, I’ve heard about the cross, but no one’s ever asked me what it means.”
On one occasion, in a small community deep in Alabama’s Bible belt, where there are nearly as many churches as there are people, I put the question of the cross to a man in his mid-thirties. He responded with honesty, “I’ve heard about the cross all my life. I have no idea what it means.” I asked if he’d like to know. He responded affirmatively. And in that moment, he basically asked me to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to him. Have you ever had someone invite you to evangelize them?
What about the benefits?
Let me be clear. I’m not saying the benefits of believing the gospel are unimportant. They certainly are. The glory of Christ and human flourishing are not mutually exclusive. To the contrary, Christ offers his brothers and sisters the richness of fully human life. What I’m saying is that we should be hesitant to frame the gospel as a pragmatic means of gaining something for ourselves. If we do that, we risk distracting people from Jesus himself. If we give them Jesus first, they still get the benefits of forgiveness of sin, union with Christ, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and hope for resurrected life in the new creation. And they’ve been won to our Lord Jesus, not a vague disembodied notion of the afterlife.
What about the response?
You might have another question. If we focus on proclamation over persuasion, do we not increase the risk of a negative response? To that I say, the response is not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to declare the truth about Jesus, not foolhardily or arrogantly, but wisely and winsomely. If we declare the truth about Jesus, we can be confident that the Spirit of God will use it as a means of grace. But grace is resistible, and we must not soften the hard edges of the gospel in order to gain a favorable hearing. It may seem counterintuitive to some, but the Spirit of God will use the inherent beauty of the faithfully spoken gospel to draw people to faith in Christ. Not every conversation ends favorably. I once asked a man what he knew about Jesus. He got up and walked away without a word. Our faithfulness doesn’t depend on their response but on how faithfully we speak of Jesus.
From Conversion to Obedience
As a closing reflection, allow me to draw your attention to two passages of scripture – one is the Great Commission and the other is the prescript of Romans. Jesus does not commission his apostles to make mere converts. The end of evangelism is the obedience of the nations. The goal is not to share our faith until everyone gets a chance to believe in Jesus as their personal savior. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. And it is the church’s task to teach the nations to render loving and faithful obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. This reading of the Great Commission resonates deeply with the apostle Paul’s sense of vocation as he articulates it at the beginning of Romans. His apostleship is aimed at nothing less than bringing about “the obedience of the nations for the sake of his name” (1:5). Paul did not go around attempting to win people to heaven. That’s no way to obtain the obedience of the Gentiles. He went around declaring that Jesus of Nazareth, having been crucified and raised, is both Messiah and Lord. If we are to continue the mission Paul launched, our evangelism must also center on the proclamation of that good news.
Dr. Matt O’Reilly is Lead Pastor of Hope Hull United Methodist Church and Director of Research at Wesley Biblical Seminary. He is the author of Paul and the Resurrected Body: Social Identity and Ethical Practice (SBL Press) and The Letters to the Thessalonians (Seedbed).
Though I’ve long been a proponent of personal evangelism, I’ve also long been concerned about the language of “sharing” the gospel. I find that language far too weak and somewhat misleading when attached to the good news. The tone is all wrong. It makes the gospel sound like advice. Or a recipe. It’ says, “I’ve found this useful. Let me share it with you.” The first generation of Christians didn’t get accused of sedition by declaring that there is “another king named Jesus” (Acts 17:7) because they were sharing their faith. You share a ride. Or perhaps a dessert. You don’t share Jesus. You proclaim Jesus.
So, when I read “Proclaim” by Tim Nichols and Joe Anderson, I read with interest and appreciation. Nichols and Anderson call on believers to declare the gospel unapologetically and unabashedly. Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified for our sin and raised bodily from the dead, reigns now over all things and requires from all people the obedience that comes from faith. Nichols and Anderson argue that when we tell this story about Jesus, we shouldn’t think of it as “sharing the gospel.” Instead, we should see ourselves as heralds with a message about King Jesus. Evangelism shouldn’t be construed as sharing our subjective experience of faith but as declaring the objective reality of the reign of the crucified and risen Christ.
The essay by Nichols and Anderson did leave me with some questions, though. Will objecting to the language of “sharing the gospel” be misconstrued as objecting to evangelism? What are the dangers of “share your faith” language? How do we recover evangelism as proclamation? How do we equip Christians to embrace such language and the posture that goes with it?
Personal Benefit as Hook
When we think of evangelism as “sharing the gospel”, we tend to think in terms of persuasion over proclamation. Nichols and Anderson highlight this point well. That’s not to say proclaiming the gospel doesn’t involve some elements of persuasion. It does. The point is that we can’t take a persuasion-at-all-cost attitude. We can become so focused on persuading our hearer that we misrepresent the heart of the gospel.
One way to diagnose whether our evangelism is focused on sharing and persuading in contrast to declaring and proclaiming is to look at the hook. How do we get our hearer’s attention? A “sharing” approach to evangelism often attempts to hook the hearer by drawing attention to the potential personal benefits. When this happens, you can be sure the focus is on persuasion over proclamation.
Consider how one widely used approach to evangelism attempts to hook the hearer with two questions that are focused on their personal benefit: (1) Do you know for sure that you are going to be with God in heaven? (2) If God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” what would you say? These two questions are intended to diagnose whether the hearer has a personal relationship with Jesus. If they answer the wrong way, then you proceed to share the gospel with them. But notice what’s implied. These questions try to hook the listener by appealing to their desire for personal gain. They invite no reflection on the beauty of the glory of the risen and reigning Christ. The focus is on the person and their reward, not the Lord and his work. Now you might respond that the questions are simply a tool – an instrument – that helps move the conversation toward the objective claims of Jesus. But what we win them with is what we win them to. And I fear we’ve won a lot of people to heaven without winning them to Jesus.
Evangelism and the Person and Work of Christ
This raises the question of how we teach evangelism in such a way that prioritizes the truth about Jesus over any potential reward or benefit. I’ve wrestled with that question through most of my ministry. Here’s where I’ve landed and how I teach evangelism.
I still ask two questions. But they’re two different questions. These questions aren’t focused on the hearer or the potential benefit that might come to the hearer. These two questions are focused singly on Jesus – his person and his work. When I find myself in an evangelistic conversation, this is what I ask: (1) What do you know about Jesus? (2) What do you know about the cross? You wouldn’t believe the answers I’ve heard in response to these questions. But before we get to that, let’s talk about the rationale behind the questions.
If you are familiar with classic Christology, you know that it typically divides into two categories: the person of Christ and the work of Christ. Our doctrine of the person of Christ aims to speak faithfully about how the divine and human natures are united but not mixed or diminished in the one person of Jesus. Our doctrine of the work of Christ aims to speak faithfully about what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection. The two questions I’m suggesting we ask prompt our hearers to begin thinking along those lines: who is Jesus and what has he done? I’m not suggesting we turn evangelism into a technical and jargon-laden theology lecture. I’m suggesting we ask questions about Jesus instead of questions about heaven.
These two questions still have a diagnostic function. You’ll quickly discern whether your conversation partner has any acquaintance with rigorous Christianity. In my experience, most people have some answer for the first question, though the adequacy of those answers has varied. Things really get interesting when the second question is asked. What do you know about the cross? People often stare blankly. They struggle to articulate a single sentence. Many respond this way, “You know, I’ve heard about the cross, but no one’s ever asked me what it means.”
On one occasion, in a small community deep in Alabama’s Bible belt, where there are nearly as many churches as there are people, I put the question of the cross to a man in his mid-thirties. He responded with honesty, “I’ve heard about the cross all my life. I have no idea what it means.” I asked if he’d like to know. He responded affirmatively. And in that moment, he basically asked me to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to him. Have you ever had someone invite you to evangelize them?
What about the benefits?
Let me be clear. I’m not saying the benefits of believing the gospel are unimportant. They certainly are. The glory of Christ and human flourishing are not mutually exclusive. To the contrary, Christ offers his brothers and sisters the richness of fully human life. What I’m saying is that we should be hesitant to frame the gospel as a pragmatic means of gaining something for ourselves. If we do that, we risk distracting people from Jesus himself. If we give them Jesus first, they still get the benefits of forgiveness of sin, union with Christ, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and hope for resurrected life in the new creation. And they’ve been won to our Lord Jesus, not a vague disembodied notion of the afterlife.
What about the response?
You might have another question. If we focus on proclamation over persuasion, do we not increase the risk of a negative response? To that I say, the response is not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to declare the truth about Jesus, not foolhardily or arrogantly, but wisely and winsomely. If we declare the truth about Jesus, we can be confident that the Spirit of God will use it as a means of grace. But grace is resistible, and we must not soften the hard edges of the gospel in order to gain a favorable hearing. It may seem counterintuitive to some, but the Spirit of God will use the inherent beauty of the faithfully spoken gospel to draw people to faith in Christ. Not every conversation ends favorably. I once asked a man what he knew about Jesus. He got up and walked away without a word. Our faithfulness doesn’t depend on their response but on how faithfully we speak of Jesus.
From Conversion to Obedience
As a closing reflection, allow me to draw your attention to two passages of scripture – one is the Great Commission and the other is the prescript of Romans. Jesus does not commission his apostles to make mere converts. The end of evangelism is the obedience of the nations. The goal is not to share our faith until everyone gets a chance to believe in Jesus as their personal savior. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. And it is the church’s task to teach the nations to render loving and faithful obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. This reading of the Great Commission resonates deeply with the apostle Paul’s sense of vocation as he articulates it at the beginning of Romans. His apostleship is aimed at nothing less than bringing about “the obedience of the nations for the sake of his name” (1:5). Paul did not go around attempting to win people to heaven. That’s no way to obtain the obedience of the Gentiles. He went around declaring that Jesus of Nazareth, having been crucified and raised, is both Messiah and Lord. If we are to continue the mission Paul launched, our evangelism must also center on the proclamation of that good news.
Dr. Matt O’Reilly is Lead Pastor of Hope Hull United Methodist Church and Director of Research at Wesley Biblical Seminary. He is the author of Paul and the Resurrected Body: Social Identity and Ethical Practice (SBL Press) and The Letters to the Thessalonians (Seedbed).
-->