Ethics In Evangelism

9 Pages 2218 Words

A number of years ago, I enrolled in a "preacher-boys" class at a fundamentalist university in the South. The only requirement of the course was to witness to seven people every week and write a brief report on each contact. The teacher of the course—and the founder of the university—was an old-time Southern evangelist who wanted his preacher-boys to be evangelists.

The teacher’s method of evangelism had three steps: tell people they are sinners, tell them about Christ, and lead them to salvation. This approach may have converted some people, but statistics would probably show that many of those conversions didn’t stick—which is one of the reasons mainline churches are not attracted to hit-and-run evangelism. Mainline churches are, however, becoming increasingly interested in practicing evangelism. The recurring question for such churches is, What kind of evangelism? In response, I would recommend a liturgical approach to evangelism, one that is based on the evangelical practices of the church in the third century. Liturgical evangelism, which is being revived in the Catholic Church, is also an evangelism that emphasizes the ethical side of the gospel. It is this kind of evangelism that will, I believe, take hold in many mainline Protestant churches.

Third-century liturgical evangelism consisted of seven steps—four stages and three rites of passage. This process was designed to bring the converting person to Christ and into the church through a series of seven successively deeper commitments. These stages can be described under the headings of inquiry; rite of entrance; catechumenate; rite of election; purification and enlightenment; rites of initiation; and mystagogy. The ethical content of evangelism appeared in all seven stages.

Here is how it worked: A person who evidenced interest in the gospel was brought to the pastor and elders of the church. An inquiry into or a formal presentation of the gospel took place ...