Can Evangelism Become an Idol?

Instead of seeing our initial meeting with Christ as a start to a long race, we began to see it as a finish line.

On your mark, get set, done, congratulations, enjoy the celebration and good luck with whatever comes your way tomorrow.

Perhaps one cause of our dwindling church numbers that we keep hearing so much about is a consumer church culture focused disproportionately on attracting new converts and having nothing for them once they are initiated. It’s a sure fire way to gather a group of people who are excited and energized for a time, only to be disenchanted and burned out over time.

3. Evangelism is equated with “the gospel.”

Perhaps this entire phenomenon is a product of having a distorted view of the gospel.

Many times, we equate sharing the plan of salvation with sharing “the gospel.” However, they are not synonymous.

As Scot McKnight says in his eye-opening book The King Jesus Gospel,  “ … the gospel is, first of all, framed by Israel’s Story: the narration of the saving Story of Jesus—his life, his death, his resurrection, his exaltation and his coming again—as the completion of the Story of Israel.”

Is justification, the fact that through Jesus we can be forgiven and saved from our sin, a part of this gospel? Absolutely!

Is it the entirety of it? By no means.

The errant view of the gospel says, “Get ‘saved,’ and then hang on until you die.”

The gospel of the Bible says, “You’re invited into a new kingdom, to be a part of the saving work that Jesus ushered in through the cross and resurrection, EVERY DAY!”