Care to evangelise?

Michael Green is the author of over fifty books and has traveled all five continents to teach about Jesus Christ. He has been Principle of St John’s College Nottingham, Rector of St Aldate’s Church Oxford, Professor of Evangelism and New Testament at Regent College Vancouver, and is now Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe, Oxford University. Here’s what he writes in a book that features evangelism in the early church:

Their (the first Christians) dedication and willingness to obey, whatever the cost, is another of the notable marks of their changed lives. God gives his Holy Spirit to those who obey him (Acts 5:32), and they proved the truth of that. That is very near the heart of biblical ‘holiness’, and without it nobody reflects much of the Lord or attracts others to him. The Holy Spirit and holy obedience of life are integrally connected... We have all these examples (in the book of Acts) before us of the link between obedience and the power of the Spirit in evangelism, but we do not heed them... God says that we must care for the poor and needy and not give preference to the rich: we choose to disobey... We then wonder why we are powerless!

... But something else marked those early Christians. If it does not mark us, nobody is going to be very interested in what we say. It was their transparent love. There were great inequalities of wealth and opportunity among most people in antiquity, but it was not allowed to remain so among the Christians. Acts 4:32 tells us that the company of believers were of one heart and one soul. So much so that nobody laid personal claim to his possessions. They had everything in common. And with great power, we read, the apostles bore witness to Jesus. Could it be otherwise when there was not a needy person among them? When those who had houses sold them and pooled the proceeds? Their loving fellowship broke down the natural barriers between blacks and whites, between masters and slaves, between rich and poor, between those from Jewish and Greek backgrounds. They shared their goods, their meals, their worship - everything, as Justin put it, except their wives (the very area where the pagans were most willing to share, as he unkindly reminded them!)... This love for the brethren is crucial. Without it there can be no effective evangelism. The world has to see in Christian circles a warmer, more accepting and caring fellowship than they can find anywhere else - and until they see that they are not going to be all that interested or impressed with God-talk.

... Verse 28 (of Acts chapter 11) shows a remarkable man with prophetic gifts, Agabus, coming into their assembly and telling of a famine that would hit the Christians in Jerusalem. It so happens that we have independent testimony to this event, which took place in the late 40s. But to me the reaction of Antioch is more interesting than the problem at Jerusalem, which was probably due to an agricultural sabbatical year (one in seven was left fallow by Old Testament law) accentuated by the pooling and sharing of capital as practised by the early Christians at Jerusalem. Antioch could have said, ‘We are not too keen on the theology and Judaistic emphases of these Christians at Jerusalem.’ They could have said, ‘That will teach them some economics: those who live off capital rather than income always run into trouble.’ They said neither, but showed their love and care for their brethren by raising a handsome subscription and sending it to them in their hour of need.

It is this sort of practical caring which makes such an impact for the gospel. Until fairly recently I gather that there has been little or no response to the gospel among the Masai, a fierce Kenyan tribe of warrior nomads. But now there is a lively Christian church there. And much of the breakthrough has been due to the loving practical assistance in times of drought and danger afforded by their traditional enemies, the Kikuyu. Unless a deep, loving, practical care for the poor in their predicament is shown, the mere proclaiming of good news will be useless. I have just met an American pastor who spent some years working among the hundreds of prostitutes in Seoul in the latter stage of the Vietnam war. Scores of them were led to Christ, but not before he had identified with them in their felt needs for finding new employment, support their illegitimate children and so forth. There can be no possible split between a social and spiritual gospel. They belong together, and without both elements the good news of Jesus will not get across.

(Michael Green, ‘Evangelism – now and then’ [Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1979], pp. 22-25, 38-39.)