Welcome to a four-part series about what evangelism is and isn’t. In the first three pieces, I’ll look at why justice, ecumenism, and love are all components of evangelism. In the fourth piece, I’ll look at what’s missing–why none of those things are sufficient–and why speaking the good news is the essential component of evangelism.
It’s a hard thing to read when Jesus says his coming will inevitably divide people (Luke 12:51). Father against son. Sister against brother. Wives against husband.
The gospel is good news—and divisive. It is something about which we must make a fundamental decision one way or another.
The gospel divides, but we should not then believe there is no unity in Christ, despite our denominational schisms. In fact, the unity of believers in Christ, if done right, is one of the most beautiful, powerful evangelistic qualities of the church.
The work of and for unity (not uniformity) among believers is called ecumenism.
At the end of John, Jesus prays for his church, specifically that they would be one.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Why does Jesus desire his church to be “one”?
As good as unity is, we’re not united for unity’s sake. He wants it so that we can be reflections of Jesus and the Father, and also “in” them. But the other (super)natural outcome of Christian unity is “that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Through unity among Christians comes belief among pre-Christians.
Division in the church is not unwarranted. There are real and important distinctions in what we understand to be orthodoxy and orthopraxy. But we mustn’t forget division detracts from the gospel, while unity advances it.
Unity spreads the good news by giving credibility to the faith in the eyes of the world.
Unity spreads the good news by efficiency via shared vision, mission, and resources.
Unity spreads the good news as a picture of the gospel come to life.
In the Evangelism Series:
Part 2: Ecumenism Is Evangelism
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