How Do You Define Evangelism?

Evangelism at its simplest is the telling of the gospel. But evangelism includes not just the telling.

“The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.”

Whether Socrates actually said this or it is a conflation of his thought, the point is made: we won’t get far in discussing a subject without clearly defining the terms.

First, let’s see what evangelism isn’t. Evangelism is not the same as mission.

Mission refers to God’s larger plan of redemption and our role as a sent people, and as such includes not only the verbal proclamation of Christ, but also such things as learning the culture and language of an area, caring for physical and emotional needs, and being salt in an area even as we shine the light of the gospel message.

As his followers join him on his mission, we both show and share his love with others.

Part of the problem comes when people confuse the overarching mission with the task of evangelism. The mission involves both gospel demonstration and gospel proclamation. A vital part of the mission is gospel proclamation, which is what evangelism is.

When I do good deeds so that the world might be more like Jesus would want it to be, I'm aligned with Jesus’ commission in John 20:21, where he says, “As the father has sent me, so send I you.”

I'm also aligned with what Jesus had in mind from Luke 4:18-20, where he says, “The Spirit of Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the good news”; he then goes on to talk about marginalized people and serving the hurting. In his public ministry Jesus loved and served the broken.

Serving the hurting is part of Jesus’ mission, but it’s not evangelism.

That’s important to note because of what happens historically. About every 50 years or so in the church—in the early part of the 1900s, ...