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Christianity Today, January, 2008 |

Foolish Things

A Hole in Our Holism

Why evangelicals might be shy about sharing their faith.

Stan Guthrie | posted 1/21/2008 09:21AM

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This isn't surprising. Evangelism—calling sinful people to repent and follow Jesus—is always a tougher sell than giving a cup of cold water in Jesus' name. As the apostle Paul said, "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing."

Does our heightened social consciousness—from the Left and the Right—actually drain our evangelistic zeal? It shouldn't, because we are called to do both.

But maybe our preference for social activism reveals a more basic problem: that we don't really believe our neighbor's deepest need is to be forgiven by and reconciled to God. We seem to think that if only he or she is fed, or lives in a society brimming with Christian principles, or sees our battles against the world's many injustices, then we will have discharged our responsibility to Christ.

I'm not sure Jesus would agree. "For what does it profit a man," the Lord asks, "if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?" May our concern to make a difference in this world not blind us to our neighbors' eternal destiny in the next.

Related Elsewhere:

Previous articles on evangelism include "Excerpt: What Evangelism Isn't" and more from D. James Kennedy.

Guthrie's previous columns are available on our site.

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January 2008, Vol. 52, No. 1

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Steve Fleet

Posted: January 28, 2008 8:58 PM

I do hope the author of this article was writing tongue-in-cheek. For the first thirty-one years of my life I had people trying to jam Jesus down my throat under the guise of "evangelism". It wasn't until certain people started to serve me and reach out to me in unselfish gentleness and love that my hard heart became softened and I truly saw my Lord Jesus Christ and allowed Him into my life. Talk is cheap...a person's lifestyle can speak volumes. Praise God for those faithful servants!

CBob	Posted: January 27, 2008 1:31 PM


"The Religious Right is Neither" - I love that. The modern day 'religous right' so called should take a cue from Jesus who fled immediately whenever there was talk of 'making him king by force'; the Kingdom of God is not, nor ever has been, nor will be, a 'geopolitical entity'.

Billy Reed

Posted: January 26, 2008 7:16 PM

I was not planning on making a comment but after reading the other comments I feel compelled to add my 2 cents. I am reminded of the movie "Amazing Grace" which I saw at the theater and on DVD at home. Fantastic movie! If you have not seen it, get it. The story is of William Wilburforce who worked tirelessly until his last days on earth to end the slave trade and slavery itself in England. Sounds like a guy who really loved the "social" gospel. But he wrote a book about the sorry state of christianity in England at the time and in his book he spoke of the foolishness of trying to change your culture without the very important idea of knowing what Christ had done for you as savior. With out the understanding of Christ as your savior who died to pay the penalty for our sins you will lack the true inner passion to change the cultural landscape around you. It is our knowledge of the Gospel (Christ died for our sins) that provides the fuel to power any social change.

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