Evangelism as Process

We live in an instant society. We want something now, or not at all.

As Christians, we have been more heavily influenced by the "separate-all-things" world-view of the Greeks than the "holistic" world-view of the Hebrews. According to the Greek world-view, the world is a collection of component parts. If one is creative, these parts can be roughly assembled alongside one another. But this is not necessarily ideal.

The Hebraic world-view is all about unity- things organically connected. One can make distinctions but never fully separate.

These two world-views have grand implications for soteriology (the doctrine of salvation applied) and evangelism.

Soteriology

Modern American Christianity is obsessed with the theological concept of conversion or new birth (when an individual turns away from a lifestyle of disobedience to God and moves forward by faith to a lifestyle of obedience to God).

There is nothing inherently wrong with valuing conversion. In fact, conversion is an integral part of what it means to be an authentic Christian.

However, we run into problems when we overemphasize conversion at the expense of valuing any other aspect of salvation. Not all American Christians do this, but many have.

The Hebraic world-view helps us to see that although conversion is a necessary component of the Christian life, it can never be divorced from sanctification (the process where a Christian dies more and more to sin and becomes more and more like Jesus Christ).

In this world-view, the experience of conversion is a turning point (not an end in itself) where an individual begins to serve the Lord for the rest of their life.

Evangelism

If we overvalue conversion, we may interpret evangelism as an instant event. Under this assumption, we'll communicate the gospel in such a way that the person listening to us "accepts Jesus in his heart". After this, we may never see the person again. He/she may or may not ever commit themselves to a local church.

But if we see salvation as a process, we will also see evangelism as a process. Seeing evangelism as a process helps us to understand that evangelism is not the bridge toward conversion, but the gateway to discipleship/spiritual formation and worship.

We may be in a relationship with a non-believer for many years before we feel there is an adequate level of trust to winsomely present the gospel. But even this can lead to a misunderstanding of evangelism. At the end of the day, evangelism is not the moments when we tell people about their sin and the salvation offered to them in Christ (although this is a part of evangelism). Instead, evangelism is a lifestyle of continual gospel-communication (both in word and in deed). From the time one spends building trust in a relationship to the moments where we apply the gospel to a friend's desperate need - these are all evangelism.