Archive: Why I Must Evangelize

by Bishop Woodie White

It is sad that the issue of evangelism has become a point of contention in the Church. So often the topic has served more to divide than unite us. We have made it more complicated than it ought to be.

Perhaps part of the problem has arisen because of our tendency to compartmentalize the Gospel. Evangelism belongs to the whole Church, all the people of God. Yet, we have for too long permitted it to become the responsibility of certain segments within the Church. We have functioned in such a way as to say, “Evangelism is what conservatives or evangelicals do, and social ministries are what liberals and social activists do.” This is an unnecessary and unfaithful dichotomy.

All of the Body of Christ must recover its responsibility to be evangelists. Christ’s command is to all. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Evangelism is the heart of the Church. It is not optional but obligatory. It is not secondary but primary. It is not an action of the few but a ministry of the faithful. Evangelism does not belong to a group with a particular theological persuasion, but rather is a command of Christ to all. Indeed, evangelism is not what preachers do on behalf of the laity, it is what we all are to do in the name of Christ.

To evangelize is to announce the Good News: Jesus is Lord! To evangelize is to invite others to know Him and follow Him. To evangelize is to denounce all that is contrary to the wilt of God. To evangelize is to announce the kingdom of God as present and as coming!

The Christian evangelist always begins with the Story—the Good News that Jesus is Lord. But the evangelist must always end with his or her story—what this reality means in a single life: I was once blind but now I see. I was once selfish but now I share. I was once prejudiced but now I embrace all of God’s children. I was once closed but now I’m opened. I was once captive but now I’m liberated. I was once concerned about my own little community, but now I am concerned about God’s world. The evangelist can authenticate the Story because it has made a difference in his or her own life.

Perhaps we are failing at the task of evangelism because we don’t or can’t tell our stories. If people around us cannot see any evidence that the Good News has made a difference in us, they are not likely to be convinced that we are convinced that the Good News is either true or good. I believe that until the laity of the Church, as well as the clergy, begin to assume their rightful responsibility as evangelists, we will simply be talking about evangelism and not doing it.

Why do we evangelize? We evangelize because it is the nature of the Church to evangelize. It was our Lord’s final command. We evangelize because the Story in our lives is so full, so compelling, that we dare not keep it to ourselves. We evangelize because we believe this Good News will make a difference in a person’s life and will make a difference in its impact on society as well. For the Good News not only changes lives, it changes structures.

I look at my world and I know why I must evangelize, for I see too much brokenness, enmity, aloneness, greed, selfishness, racism, sexism, classism, oppression, social disintegration, family decay, violence, and war—in a word, sin. What the Christian says to all of this is, “Come, let me show you a better way!”

Catching up with the Baptists

We do not evangelize to catch up with the Baptists. We do not evangelize to get more people to pay conference apportionments. We do not evangelize to gain “our” population-percentage share. These are all self-serving, institutional concerns which suggest that we care more for the Church than for people. It was for people that Christ died.

In our evangelism we ought not give the impression that we are more interested in saving our Church than in saving souls. We must be careful about the language we use. We should not sound like corporate America. We are pointing to a Savior, not a slogan.

The church that seeks to take evangelism seriously must not be afraid to use Biblical and theological language. Often we sound like sociologists, not theologians. People don’t want more analysis, they want answers! And while we don’t have all the answers, we do have some. Dare we speak in confidence that which we confidently know, and yet remain open to the leading of the Spirit as we acknowledge that we know only in part?

Relevant evangelism is always contextual. That is, it speaks to people where they are, in their context. Relevant evangelism makes the Gospel understandable in the environment where it is announced and shared.

Evangelism is holistic, like the Good News we announce. It is a word for the whole person—physical, social, spiritual. It is not the task of evangelism to remove people from the world but to help them know how to live in it. “For God so loved the world. … ” Evangelism with integrity is never escapism but engagement, a wrestling with the realities of life utilizing the resources of the Spirit.

I believe the Good News announced and lived out will make a difference. But it is not our task to assure success. It is our task to believe the Good News, announce it, and live it. We can’t guarantee how many numbers will be added to a congregation or a denominational role. But as evangelists, we must keep telling the Story, and pray that men and women and boys and girls will hear it, see it, and respond.

Soda fountain story

In the fall of 1953 I met a young woman at a soda fountain. At the time I was having severe difficulty with organized religion. She was an articulate and dedicated Christian. She knew how to talk about her faith. The more I railed against the Church, the more she talked about Jesus. The more I talked about the hypocrites in the Church, the more she talked about Jesus. The more I pointed to the failure of the Church, the more she talked about Jesus. She won. Praise God!

Maybe we are using our evangelistic witness to talk about the wrong things. Perhaps we are giving answers to questions no one is asking. It may well be that people are looking for bread and we are giving a stone. The Good News is: Jesus is Lord! Whatever else may follow, and there is much, this is where the Story begins.

Every local congregation, every lay person, every clergy person is an evangelist. The Church will not and cannot survive without evangelism. Millions who live in a torn and fractured world need to be made new and whole. The world of strife and demonic forces needs to be reshaped into a place of reconciliation, justice, and compassion. People need to hear the Story, the Good News. But they will not and cannot if those who know it best are too complacent, too timid, or too busy to tell it.

Bishop Woodie W. White was elected to the church’s highest office in 1984. He serves as resident bishop of the Central and Southern Illinois Annual Conferences of the United Methodist Church. Before his election, he was general secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race, based in Washington, D.C.