What Ever Happened to Evangelism?

The other day I was speaking with a friend who lives on the other side of the country. We were talking about his experience witnessing to co-workers. He was excited—still coming off the high of participating in the privilege of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and wondering aloud why we Christians don’t do this all the time. Suddenly his jubilation ceased, and his voice took on a serious tone. He asked me, “What ever happened to evangelism?” Without him needing to explain, I knew exactly what he meant. Churches do not emphasize evangelism like they once did.

Together we reminisced about how in our youth our churches frequently called us to “share our faith,” witness to our neighbors, and be about the work of the Great Commission. But today that kind of talk has fallen out of favor in many churches. The single-pointed, Great Commission focus of evangelicalism, in most quarters of the movement, seems to have surreptitiously forked into a grab-bag of various causes.

Certainly, much attention is given to being “gospel-centered,” but the hard work of doing and encouraging lifestyles of explicit verbal gospel proclamation has taken a back seat. But if “evangelical” means anything, it means the gospel always rides shotgun. The church has undergone a change in its relationship to evangelism, and I think something has been lost there. But in many ways these changes have been for the better. Read More