Evangelism

Seeking to obey the Great Commission of our LORD, we are convicted that it is the privilege and duty of every Christian/disciple of Christ (these words are interchangeable - Acts 11:26) to call all people of every tribe, tongue and nation to repentance, belief in the gospel, and complete transformation of life (i.e., regeneration), and to complete obedience/submission to Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit in light of the judgment to come (Mt 28:16-20; Mk 16:15-16; Rom 2:5-16). In other words, every Christian is a missionary, one sent as Christ was sent (Jn 20:21), to embody and to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God for the glory of God and for the salvation of the lost.

As we know that evangelism/the work of regeneration is a work of divine power, and apart from Christ we can do nothing (Jn 15:5; Ps 127:1), we believe that the work of evangelism begins in a corporate life of serious prayer, intercession, and spiritual warfare for the breaking of spiritual strongholds, the opening of the eyes of the blind, and the resurrection of hearts and spirits dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 6:10-20; 2 Cor 10:3-5; 1 Thess 5:17; Col 4:3-4). Following the example of our brothers and sisters in many places in the majority world, we make corporate prayer/intercession the central work of our ministry – gathering daily for 1-2 hours for prayer (morning, noon, and evening), as well as for extended times at other points in the calendar (New Year, specific prayer retreats, etc.). We also participate in prayer walking at least weekly throughout various areas of our city, aiming to cover the entire city of Wheaton in prayer. Eventually we would love to see a 24/7/365 prayer ministry in Wheaton, in Chicago, and perhaps in other locales in our region as well. All we know is that apart from Him we can do nothing – and so we must devote ourselves to prayer if we are to experience spiritual breakthough and see the lost found.

Secondly, we believe (and the Scriptures teach clearly), that the public, corporate witness of the church is the critical foundation for personal witness/evangelism, sadly, a foundation often not taken seriously and/or completely lacking in the modern, Western church. Jesus is clear that the visible unity/sacrificial love of the church amongst its members authenticates her gospel preaching (Jn 17:20-23), and that through her good works, outsiders and even those hostile to the faith come to recognize the reality and glory of God, the source of all goodness (Mt 5:14-16; cf. 1 Pt 2:12). Additionally, the palpable presence and power of God evident in the church gathered as she prophecies the Word of God and ministers in the giftings of the Spirit bring conviction to the unbelievers present (1 Cor 14:25), opening the door of salvation in Christ to them, a pattern obvious in the ministry of Jesus, the apostles, and the early church, as their Spirit-empowered preaching and ministries of healing, deliverance, and mercy to the poor and afflicted bore witness to and authenticated the divine origin and truthfulness of their words (Lk 11:17-20; Mt 12:25-28). We are convinced that it ought to be so for us as well.

Relatedly, it is our conviction that the Western church has simply lost whatever cultural capital it once had that enabled it to prop up a form of "witness" and/or "evangelism" not grounded in the reality of transformed, holy lives, in embodied, supernatural love (defined by Scripture, not romanticism - 1 Jn 3:16), and in the palpable, manifest presence and power of God in the preaching and Spirit-empowered ministry of the church (yes, including miraculous, supernatural encounters of healing and deliverance). We believe that Scripture calls us and our current cultural moment demands an authentic, embodied, incarnated faith (i.e., word AND deed; preaching AND mercy; apologetics AND supernatural encounter; boldness AND compassion), one that looks a lot more like the book of Acts and the pages of the rest of the New Testament than we have embarrassingly settled for in our age. We must stop making excuses for our hypocrisy, lack of transformation, our complete lack of spiritual power, and for our propensities to settle for complete cognitive dissonance in the practice of our faith (i.e., that our lives, our churches, and our ministries look very little like the Bible, and a lot like modern, western, individualistic, therapeutic, consumerism = paganism). Our culture and our children are no longer buying it. If we fail to change course, we have no reason to believe that God will bless our evangelistic efforts, if/when unfortunately in many cases, like the Pharisees we end up making new converts twice the sons of hell that we are (Mt 23:15).

Finally, with regard to what is often understood as evangelism proper, while there may be a place for more programmatic types of evangelism through a variety of contextually appropriate corporate means (i.e., evangelistic meetings, Alpha gatherings, "seeker services," etc.), primarily our emphasis is on communal, relational evangelism, understanding ourselves/our families as apostolic, missionary bands, and together, in community, building relationships of gospel love and concern with all of our neighbors, seeking out persons of peace who evidence spiritual interest (Lk 10:6), sharing Christ with them, and inviting them into a journey of discipleship (i.e., one on one Bible reading, Discovery Bible Study, etc.). At the same time, we seek to instill in our people a courage, a boldness, and a sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading that would result in a readiness to share the gospel with whomever, whenever, with or without an established relationship in place. To this end we engage in regular prayer walking throughout our city, listening for the voice of the Spirit, and being prepared to proclaim the gospel and to call people to repentance anywhere and at any time. Additionally, inasmuch as we aim for gospel saturation in our area across every cultural space and medium, we encourage our people to think creatively as to how we can make visible and audible the truth of the gospel in every place and at every time across the public square (that Christ might fill everything in every way through the church - Eph 1:23), whether that be the way we decorate our homes/yards (Deut 6:9, 11:20), the way we start and market our businesses, the way they adorn our bodies (Deut 6:8, 11:18; Rom 12:1-2), the way we coach little league, etc. We aim to see every aspect and moment of our lives as avenues for authentic gospel proclamation, worship, and Kingdom embodiment, not least the bold, clear, compassionate communication of our words and our lives in the public square, when we sit at home, when we walk along the road, when we lie down, when we rise up, whether we live or whether we die (1 Cor 10:31; Col 3:17; Rom 12:1-2; Deut 6:6-7; Phil 1:20), that God's Kingdom would come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Maranatha! Come LORD Jesus!