Wrong Thinking On Evangelism

"And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 ESV

"And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

Mark 16:15,16 ESV

Today, there are those who are professing Christians who would say that Jesus does not want you to go and tell others about Him. At first, I could not understand why these professing believers in Jesus would say such a thing. 

But, later on in the conversation with some college age professing believers, I began to understand what they were saying. 

They were all part of a church geared toward young adults, and that is probably what they were taught. One of them also said that 'when Scripture and culture do not agree, then Scripture must bow to the culture'. 

I think this is a serious, modern day problem in the church. There is a belief system which does not recognize the power of God and the authority of His word. What matters most is whatever the culture believes is right. 

The young adults I was dialoging with were especially critical of my using tracts. They assured me that Jesus wouldn't want me to be doing that, and one even made the comment saying that every time I gave out a tract, it was like putting a check mark in the box. The other young woman stated that she had unsaved parents and wouldn't want me to share the Gospel with them because it would turn them off. 

But the story gets even more interesting. At the end of our conversation, they had some book recommendations for me to read. One of them was 'Velvet Elvis' written by Rob Bell. When the young woman mentioned Rob Bell's name, I gave a grunt. She assured me that Mr. Bell was not a Universalist like everyone thinks he is. 

I read a critique that someone wrote on Rob Bell's 'Velvet Elvis'. How surprising it was to see the things he taught in his book were very similar to what the young adults were telling me. Rob Bell hates Christians who do evangelism. He says that whenever they pass out a tract, it's like they put a notch in their belt. 

Rob Bell also did a video called 'Bullhorn Guy' or something like that. It is a video made to make sure that Christians understand that evangelism is not a good thing. 

But this is not surprising either, for there was nothing in 'Velvet Elvis' that indicated Rob Bell's regard for the authority of Scripture. 

Anyway, what was I writing about when I started this article? Oh yeah, it was about evangelism. God's word tells us to evangelize. We are to evangelize those around us. We are not only to evangelize, but also to disciple others. 

Can evangelism be done incorrectly? Of course. It takes humility to represent the Lord well. Evangelism is not having correct head knowledge and trying to tell others what we know. Evangelism is an action that comes out because of our relationship with God. 

When we are abiding in Christ, and His word is abiding in us, we will bear fruit in our lives. That fruit will bring glory to God. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Nothing of eternal value, that is. 

We need the power of the Holy Spirit in us in order to do evangelism and to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. 

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 ESV