Evangelism is the genius of Christianity. The original Christian church was a missionary movement. Its members were constantly drawing into their fellowship those who were "outsiders." They did not believe that salvation comes by birth into a Christian family, community, or so-called "Christian nation." Neither does New Testament Christianity lend support to the idea that salvation can be obtained by sacramental manipulation.
The early Christians were convinced that salvation comes by a believing response to the preached Word. This is why triumphant Christianity has ever moved onward to victory on the feet of evangelism. A church that is no longer missionary and evangelistic in outlook and practice will slowly wither away. Churches that lose the motive power of Christian witness sooner or later topple over like spinning tops which have run down.
In the ecumenical climate of the sixties, some church leaders seem to be proud of the fact that their ecclesiastical communities do not engage in "proselytism," in conversion from another theological belief to their own faith. They dare not speak out openly against conversion or evangelistic outreach, but they emphasize a different type of evangelism—less controversial, more innocuous and passive, far less dynamic and militant than apostolic mission. This newest and latest approach to evangelism is not so much interested in individual conversion, as in, concern; not so much in bringing sinful men and women into the genuine safety of the fold, as in bringing to men a feeling of comfortable safety wherever they are.
Without forgetting some of the positive aspects of the ecumenical movement, which have brought about more brotherly relations between individual Christians and churches, and have been conducive to increased religious liberty in some areas, it is equally clear that ecumenism has had a soporific effect in the field of evangelistic witness and individual conversion.
Catholic conversions in the United States dropped by almost 15 per cent in 1964 as compared with 1959. The trend toward reduced conversions is to be expected as the attention of more and more church members is focused on appreciation for other faiths and corporate church unions rather than upon individual conversion. The emphasis is on group dialogue rather than on personal decision with resulting commitment to God's will. In this connection it is perhaps not surprising to note that Protestant churches in the United States that are not members of the World Council of Churches supply almost two and a half times more foreign missionaries per member than do those affiliated with the WCC.
Is it possible for one who professes to follow Jesus Christ not to dedicate himself unreservedly to Christian witness and evangelism? No indeed! Theologians talk about "heresy" as if it related only to creed and dogma and not to the evangelistic program of Christian witnessing. Did Jesus of Nazareth make only doctrinal pronouncements such as, "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30); or did He not also say, "Go ye, . . . teaching . . . to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28: 19, 20)? Were not His very last words and marching orders to the church, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me" (Acts 1:8)? It is certainly just as "heretical" to deny one statement—in belief or in practice—as the other.
There may be noble cathedrals, close-knit theology, impressive liturgical pageantry, beautiful vestments, and inspiring music; but if the Christian imperative to carry the good news of salvation and the commandments of Jesus to all men and into all the world is not actively heeded, the church is not that of Christ, for "witness is the essential mission and responsibility of every Christian and of every church."—WCC statement on Christian Witness, Proselytism and Religious Liberty, page 4.
The undistorted gospel of Christ knows no confessional reserves or geographical boundaries. This is increasingly obvious in an age of intercontinental travel, international organizations, and coalescing humanity. Jesus did not simply say, "Ye are the light of Middletown," or "Ye are the salt of the county"; the cosmopolitan nature of Christianity led Him to affirm, "Ye are the light of the world." Evangelical Christians must not only accept but endeavor to fulfill the all-embracing implications of His global commission.
New Testament Christianity can never become reconciled to the creation of comfortable churches composed of Christiansby-happenstance. The volkskirche concept, prevalent in certain areas of Christendom, according to which the "church" consists of the total population of a given territorial area or ethnic grouping, is little more than a pre-Christian pagan hangover. The Christian church must endeavor to put before all men the challenging invitation, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." This invitation operates on a universal scale, both in time and space. Non-Christians, nominal Christians, active church members, in short, all men, are to be made acquainted with this choice and brought face to face with the decision to accept or to reject it. Thus the true Christian church is composed of Christians-by-personal-choice who have experienced spiritual rebirth, not of Christians-by-parental-choice or by geographic birth. Secondhand religion has little, if any, place in the Christian context.
Constrained by the love of Christ to be His witnesses, Christians cannot limit or willingly permit others to limit their preaching in time or space. They cannot be parties to territorial divisions and restrict their witness to certain areas or places. The medieval church, with its totalitarian frame of mind supporting the union of church and state, took suppressive measures against Rottengeister, Leufer, Gyrovagi, Gartenbriider—against all unofficial "wandering ones," itinerant preachers, and faction makers. Clerics were limited in their witness by being bound to a parish. It was then easy to see who was authorized and who not. The New Testament knows nothing of such parishes and limitations whereby a man is told where he may witness and, as a necessary corollary, where he may not. See Verduin's penetrating study The Stepchildren of the Reformers, page 266, et cetera.
Those whose ecumenical presuppositions militate against evangelization and individual conversions (especially from one church to another) are often influenced by pre-Christian or post-Constantinian sacral-ism which envisions a common religious affiliation as the required basis for national as well as church unity. Anyone disturbing the serenity of the religious status quo is considered guilty of the newly defined crime of "proselytism."
One immediately perceives the comforting "protection" such a doctrine gives to state churches and other ecclesiastical bodies whose "future seems to lie in the past," whose power of witness has progressively evaporated, and whose membership consists essentially of nominal Christians coextensive with the population of a given geographical area.
The idea underlying this line of reasoning is, of course, that there is no need of witness by individual Christians or other more missionary-minded churches, since all men already belong. John Wesley gives a ringing answer: "You ask how it is that I assemble Christians who are none of my charge to sing psalms and hear the Scriptures expounded? And you think it hard to justify this in other men's parishes upon catholic [today he would quite likely use the other more timely synonym—ecumenical] principles. . . . I think it not hard to justify. . . . God in Scripture commands me, according to my powers, to instruct the ignorant, reform the wicked, confirm the virtuous. . . . A dispensation is committed to me, and woe is me if I preach not the gospel."—Signs of the Times, May 23, 1966.
