Friday 13 January 2017

Rebuilding Our Witness (Part 2): Developing an Understanding of the Connection of Love & Evangelism in Light of Our New Political Climate

A Christian worldview embraces two things: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission

In Part 1, I talked about why we are at a time when we need to step back and assess how we view the world and the lens we apply to all that we see and do. I talked about a Christian worldview that holds in one hand the Great Commandment and in the other the Great Commission. It’s a worldview that embraces a love of God and a love of others above even ourselves.

Recently, we have seen many ways in which these two elements have broken down. Many Evangelicals have acted and said things over the past months that have not conveyed a belief that God is in, over, and through all things (Eph. 4:6). Many have also not sought to place the needs of others above themselves. It has been a disheartening time for the Church in many respects.

And yet here we are. We have a witness problem.

As we consider the Christian worldview that holds the Great Commandment—to love God—and the Great Commission—to love others—together, it is imperative that we view evangelism—proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ—as a core component of our daily lives.

Six months ago, I came to Wheaton College and the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism due in no small part to my belief that the Church has dropped the ball when it comes to showing and sharing the love of Jesus in our broken world. As I like to say, evangelism has fallen on hard times.

John Stott once said, “The nations are not gathered in automatically. If God has promised to bless ‘all the families of the earth,’ He has promised to do so ‘through Abraham’s seed’ (Gen. 12:3; 22:18). Now we are Abraham’s seed by faith, and the earth’s families will be blessed only if we go to them with the gospel.”

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