148 - To Be and To Do

To Be and To Do
By Douglas Webster*

THE love that conquers the convert is the love that inspires him to evangelize. It was the compulsion to "come in" that made him a Christian; it is the compulsion to "go out" that makes him an evangelist. He in his turn must go back into the world of outsiders. He cannot compel them to come in, for that is the work of the Holy Ghost. He must not sink to any techniques of compulsion or manipulation. But he will always feel the compulsion to preach the Gospel. "Necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel" (I Cor. 9: 16).

Every Christian, in his own vocation and ministry, is called to have some share in this, the central and perennial task of the Church on earth. As the Lambeth Conference, 1958, reminded us: "Evangelism is not to be thought of as the task of a select few. Baptism and confirmation. constitute 'the ordination of the laity' for the task of evangelism. It is for every Christian to do what Andrew did for his brother-to say, 'We have found the Messiah, and to bring him to Jesus. This is the Church's prime objective." Its aim is the conversion of men to Jesus Christ and their entry into new life in him. its media are the words of the preacher, the fellowship of the congregation, the witness of each and the service of all.

Evangelism of this order means getting inside situations and entering into real, as distinct from superficial, personal relationships. For the truth of the Gospel is embodied and demonstrated in relationships rather than propositions or formulas. But the Christian must cast off every feeling of superiority or his evangelism will be ineffective. We can give only as we are prepared to receive. Every time we give Christ to men we receive him back again and perceive him to be yet greater than we knew before. That is the momentum of the evangelist and the wonder of the missionary enterprise.

Jesus describes this task in picture terms: it is like a fisher of men,

* These paragraphs are taken from Douglas Webster's book, What is Evangelism? (1959), and are published with permission granted by the publishers, The Highway Press, 6 Salisbury Sq., London, E.C.4.

149 - To Be and To Do

like a farmer sowing seed, like a shepherd seeking a lost sheep. Patience, skill, and persistence are required in all these occupations; they are essential also in the evangelistic mission of the Church. For the shepherd goes on seeking the lost sheep until he finds it.

The evangelist therefore is filled both with expectancy and despair. His despair arises from a full assessment of the situation he confronts: a gang of wayward juveniles, a factory canteen, a theater line-up, a vast Muslim city. How impossible it is for a mere man to convey the Gospel in words which will make sense! Only God himself can communicate it effectively. But the expectancy of the true evangelist arises out of this certainty-that God does this and that he deigns to use men as his instruments. To have seen God at work once is to expect him to work always, whether or not we see the results.

It was not an American evangelist but St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople at the end of the fourth century, who wrote: "Nothing is more useless than a Christian who does not try to save others. . . . I cannot believe in the salvation of anyone who does not work for his neighbour's salvation."