Day 28 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

Social Gospel Balance

How do we find the right balance between the social issues and needs of our community and the proclamation of truth? Is it worth delivering stuff to people’s houses through Love INC even if we don’t share Jesus with them? Does having the name Jesus in the title make it evangelism? Do we run the risk of a bait and switch label if we do something good only when there is an opportunity to tell people what the bible says about Jesus? If we volunteer with Starbucks to paint a local elementary school and we show up as a church are we doing evangelism even if we never say the name of Jesus or hand anything out? Can we chalk some of that up to preparing the ground for future evangelism or does their always need to be a proclamation with the needs bases ministry?

It’s easy to ask the questions, but more difficult to answer them. The best answer is found in Jesus Christ. Why did He heal and serve? Was it sometimes just to bring relief? Was it for a future opportunity? Jesus always combined healing with proclaiming and so should we. Our love should be clear and the truth should be just as clear. There should be no strings attached but there should be a clear connection. We love others best when we love the way Christ loved us.

Day 27 - 40 Days of Focus: Evangelism

Abuses of the Social Gospel

So, what happens when you discover a way to help broken humanity with care and healing through faith in the bible? Imagine that on a massive scale a program could be created to first meet a very real need and then introduce the message of the gospel of Jesus substitutionary death and resurrection. What if countless thousands of people were introduced to biblical truth and set free from deep pain and helplessness? Can you imagine that? Wouldn’t it be worth praying for? Would it be sustainable?

What you have just imagined is reality…

The first YMCA was concerned with Bible study, although the organization has generally moved on to a more holistic approach to youth work. Around six years after its birth, an international YMCA conference in Paris decided that the objective of the organization should become "Christian discipleship developed through a program of religious, educational, social and physical activities"

The Salvation Army's main converts were at first alcoholics, morphine addicts, prostitutes and other "undesirables" unwelcomed into polite Christian society, which helped prompt the Booths to start their own church. Today the Salvation Army is the second largest charity in the United States, with private donations of almost $2 billion for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007.

AA founder Bill Wilson wrote the Twelve Steps one night while lying in bed, which he felt was the best place to think. He prayed for guidance prior to writing, and in reviewing what he had written and numbering the new steps, he found they added up to twelve. He then thought of the Twelve Apostles and became convinced that the program should have twelve steps.

How did the movements described above loose their zeal for biblical truth? While each of these still provide care and healing to millions of people around the world, they are no longer bringing people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.