Too often I hear people say, \u201cThe Church is dying.\u201d I suppose what they mean to say is, \u201cThe number of active members in mainline churches in the United States is steadily declining.\u201d In fact, the Church –\u00a0even the Presbyterian Church – is growing rapidly elsewhere in the world. While traveling on a World Mission Initiative Spring Break trip this year, I had the privilege of meeting leaders of the exploding Presbyterian Church in Brazil. The Church in the United States has a great deal to learn from these brothers and sisters, who are passionately engaged in evangelism throughout their communities.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d hate to insolently generalize Presbyterians, so I\u2019ll speak for myself: my efforts toward evangelism are timid, minimal, and ambivalent. I fear questions I cannot answer instead of embracing tension. I\u2019m slow to inquire about others\u2019 faith, and almost never invite people to church. While I believe all people need Jesus, my courage to \u201cmake disciples\u201d has been co-opted by the individualist principle that warns me not to \u201cforce my beliefs\u201d on others. I\u2019d venture a guess that other Presbyterians may be in the same boat.<\/p>\n
Brazilian Presbyterians make evangelism a huge priority. As a result, hundreds of new believers are \u201cadded to their number\u201d each year. I initially begrudged the glamorizing numerical statistics the pastors shared with us. \u201cWell, there\u2019s no way to know if these crowds are \u2018serious\u2019 Christians,\u201d I thought. \u201cIt\u2019s a \u2018narrow way\u2019 after all.\u201d \u201cThe numbers game is a dangerous enterprise.\u201d Yet I soon realized that my skepticism about what the Spirit is doing in Brazil was little more than jealousy<\/i>. No cleaver contention could alter the source of my incredulity: I simply wish God would bring new believers to my communities as well!<\/p>\n
Presbyterian evangelism in Brazil doesn\u2019t resemble the in-your-face, turn-or-burn Bible thumping street corner preacher. It doesn\u2019t even look like an American evangelical crusade \u00e0 la George Whitfield or Billy Graham. In fact, I saw many similarities with the evangelism methods I\u2019ve seen American Presbyterians employ. The primary \u201cstrategy\u201d is to engage relationships: If I get to know someone, I will have an opportunity to share the Gospel with him or her through friendship. Insofar as I have engaged in evangelism in my life, this has been the approach I\u2019ve adopted.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the key difference I discovered: While I am quick to find an excuse not to share the Gospel \u201cjust yet,\u201d the Brazilians I met actually talk about Jesus<\/i>. I tend to worry about making a relationship awkward or causing people to feel as though I\u2019ve only befriended them in order to \u201cconvert\u201d them rather than telling them \u201chow much the Lord has done for me.\u201d I share with the Brazilian pastors the desire to share Christ through relationships, but while they are quick to follow through, I am slow to do so.<\/p>\n
Our Presbyterian tradition affirms that it is the Spirit, not the disciple, who transforms those at enmity with Christ. With this theological foundation, I need not evangelize others as if their salvation depended on me, yet I can – I must! -intentionally and eagerly bear witness to the work of the Spirit in my life. Though it would be wrong to befriend others with the goal of making them Christians, I see nothing wrong with befriending others with the hope <\/i>that Christ might break into their lives; surely this is the hope of evangelism! My time in Brazil brought this derelict hope to the surface of my heart, and I\u2019m giving evangelism new consideration.<\/p>\n
Perhaps our Presbyterian Church as a whole can come together and consider how we can approach evangelism with more passion and dynamism, not because we think the Church is dying, but because, as one Brazilian pastor put it, \u201cYou cannot do ministry if you do not love the souls of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
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