Evangelism and Social Action
Posted on November 28, 2009 by Pastor Tom
Check out this comment by John Stott about the necessity of both Evangelism and Social Action in the church.
Evangelism and Social Action (cont’d.)
829. Polarization and specialization
I suggest the need for a threefold recognition about
evangelism and social action:
(a) A recognition that the two are partners in the
Christian mission… ‘distinct yet equal’ partners.
Neither is an excuse for the other, a cloak for the other,
or a means to the other. Each exists in its own right as
an expression of Christian love. Both should be included
to some degree in every local church’s programme.
(b) A recognition that both are also every individual
Christian’s responsibility. Every Christian is a witness,
and must take whatever opportunities he is given. Every
Christian is also a servant, and must respond to challenges
to service, without regarding them as merely occasions for
evangelism. Yet the existential situation will often
assign priority to one or the other of the two
responsibilities. For example, the good Samaritan’s
ministry to the brigand’s victim was not to stuff tracts
into his pockets but to pour oil into his wounds. For this
was what the situation demanded.
(c) A recognition that, although both are part of the
church’s and the Christian’s duties, yet God calls
different people to different ministries and endows them
with appropriate gifts. This is a necessary deduction from
the nature of the church as Christ’s body. Although we
should resist polarization between evangelism and social
action, we should not resist specialization. Everybody
cannot do everything. Some are called to be evangelists,
others to be social workers, others to be political
activists. Within each local church, which as the body of
Christ in the locality is committed to both evangelism and
social action, there is a proper place for individual
specialists and for specialist groups.
—From “Evangelism, Salvation and Social Justice”, by R. J.
Sider with a response by John Stott (2nd edn. Nottingham:
Grove Books, 1979), p. 22.
——————————————————————————
—Excerpted from “Authentic Christianity”, pp. 343–344, by
permission of InterVarsity Press.
Add the first comment...