Evangelism and Education

Evangelism and education do not function separately. They go hand in hand to present everyone mature in Christ. Those who are called to share the gospel often have no concept of education behind their proclamation. Those who are called to teach don’t want to proclaim the gospel to non-believers. In Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), Robert E. Webber laments the superficiality of the church in today’s world, saying:

This loss of evangelism in education as well as the loss of education in evangelism is one of the root causes of superficiality in evangelism today. The message of Christianity is a historical message with content.

Whenever Christianity is preached without its history or content, it is reduced to a social or psychological panacea, or worse, a manipulation of feelings…On the other hand, whenever the content of Christianity is presented as factual or intellectual data without an accompanying call to commitment and change of life, Christian education loses its power to form character in the convert. Clearly, evangelism and education must stand together. There must be content in preaching and proclamation in teaching (p. 153).

“Go… and teaching them what I have commanded you…” (Matt. 28:19-20) is a biblical command that we often obey partially. I am not denying the fact that some are called to be evangelists, and some are called to be educators. But what is unacceptable is that we over-emphasize the one over the other in our beliefs. Such imbalance of understanding the Great Commission in Matthew’s gospel leads to what we now call the situation of the church: growth without depth. Converted Christians are born again. But they have no root. It sounds good to tell the church that Mr. B believed in Jesus and has decided to follow him. It is good news. However, unless we continue to help Mr. B to grow with the Good News, Mr. B would end up swimming on the surface and miss the depth of the sea. In Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010), J. I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett write:

As we contemplate today’s complex concerns, hopes, dreams, and ventures of Christian renewal, discipleship impresses us as the key present-day issue, and catechesis as the key present-day element of discipleship, all the world over. The Christian faith must be both well and wisely taught and well and truly learned! A far-reaching change of mindset about this is called for, without which such well-worn dictums as “American Christianity is three thousand miles wide and half an inch deep” will continue, sadly, to be verified. Recovery of the educational-devotional discipline that we are advocating cannot, to our mind, come a moment too soon (p. 17).