Recovering the Primacy of Evangelism
Billy Graham's challenge for the third millennium.
Billy Graham | posted 12/08/1997 12:00AM
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Even in countries like the United States there has been an upsurge in religious
interest. Not all of this religious interest, however, has been in historic
Christianity; cults and non-Western religious traditions have also experienced
growth.
Shifting frontiers and emerging fields. Years from now the last decade
of the twentieth century will still be remembered by historians as one of
the watershed periods of the modern era. The collapse of Marxism in Eastern
Europe and the old Soviet Union has brought about staggering changes, the
full impact of which we cannot fully assess as yet.
From the standpoint of Christian evangelism, however, it marks one of the
greatest openings for the gospel in the history of the church. Never before
has such a vast area, encompassing hundreds of millions of people, opened
so suddenly and thoroughly to evangelistic activity. In most of these areas
a remnant of the church has survived the fierce onslaughts of atheism, but
the task of evangelizing their lands cannot be done by them alone. Those
from outside, however, must learn to temper their enthusiasm with prayer,
strategic thinking, cultural sensitivity, and willingness to work as partners
with those who are already there. It remains to be seen, however, how the
new law restricting religion in Russia will affect evangelism efforts, especially
by outside groups.
What other new fields will emerge in coming decades? Will changes in the
Middle East or Asia mean the door will open to Christian evangelism from
other parts of the world?
The twenty-first century may also be a time of closing doors and increasing
religious polarization in some parts of the world. It may be a time when
nations that have historically been Christian not only abandon their Christian
roots completely (as has already happened in some parts of Europe), but
increasingly become the targets of aggressive proselytizing by non-Christian
cults and religions.
THOSE THINGS THAT
DO NOT CHANGE
In the midst of so many changes in the world, it is the unique function of
the church to declare by word and deed that there are some things that never
change. It is the message that God—the supreme, unchanging, omnipotent Creator
of the universe—loves humanity and wants us to know him in a personal way.
It is the message that humankind has strayed from God—rebelled against his
revealed will, and as a result of sin is alienated from God and from others.
It is the message that God has taken the initiative to bridge the gap between
God and sinful humanity, and he did this by coming down to earth in the person
of Jesus Christ. It is the message that there is hope for the future, because
Christ rose from the dead and will reign victorious over all the forces of
evil and death and hell.
No, God has not changed, nor has the nature of the human heart changed. And
that is why the gospel is relevant to every individual in every culture:
beneath all the cultural, ethnic, social, economic, and political differences
that separate us, the deepest needs and hurts and fears of the human heart
are still the same. The gospel is still "the power of God for the salvation
of everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16, NIV).
But there is one other thing that has not changed—and that is the commission
of Christ to the church to "Go into all the world and preach the good news
to all creation" (Mark 16:15).
That command—thoroughly undergirded by a deep love for Christ and for
others—impelled the early Christians to go from one end of the Roman Empire
to the other, often paying the price for their commitment with their lives.
In obedience to that same command, a host of missionaries and evangelists
across the centuries have brought the message of God's love in Christ to
the farthest corners of human civilization.
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