United1

United Proclamation Evangelism:

The Indigenous Principle

by J. W. Jepson, D.Min.

Life In Christ Center, 3095 Cherry Heights Road, The Dalles, Oregon 97058

(541) 296-1136

The Author hereby grants permission to reproduce the text of this article, without changes or alterations*, as a ministry, but not for commercial or non-ministry purposes.

*Permission is given for publication of excerpts and condensed versions.

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THE CHURCH: OUR STARTING POINT

Many years ago G. Campbell Morgan made this axiomatic statement: "The doctrine of New Testament ministry lies wholly within that of the church."¹

This being true, the entire subject of Christian ministry, including all forms of evangelism, puts us right in the middle of Ecclesiology. The entire body of New Testament teaching regarding the Church becomes our theological and practical context, the matrix of our principles and procedures of ministry. Therefore, if our philosophy and methodology of ministry are to be Biblical, they must rest upon and be consistent with an ecclesiological base that is solidly Biblical. Hence, if we are to be Scriptural in evangelism, we must first be Scriptural in our concept of the Church. The study of evangelism must be prefaced by a study of the Church.

Of course, this raises the whole subject of the Church, indeed a timely inquiry that should be pursued in its own right. For our immediate purpose, however, we shall explore only those principles that apply to united proclamation evangelism.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.

Whatever our individual and denominational perspectives on the Church might be, most of us as Christians acknowledge that the following characteristics of the Church are found in the New Testament:

(1) the Church is a general or universal body that consists of all true believers in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:4-6). Its membership is made up of all whose names are written in heaven (Hebrews 12:23) and only of such.

(2) the Church exists and functions in local churches, bodies of believers in which God has set every member as it has pleased Him (1 Corinthians 12:18). Radmacher states the principle this way:

"...the New Testament assumes that every Christian will take the necessary steps to give outward evidence of his relationship to Christ and His body. The New Testament knows of no believer who does not submit himself for baptism and join the local church."²

(3) the local churches have Scriptural doctrine, order and discipline, and are governed by elders and deacons.

(4) the leadership of the Church is ordained of God, is charged with the oversight of the flock, and is to be recognized and honored in that charge.

Now, for all who recognize the authority of The Scriptures, these Biblical features of the Church must be regarded as normative, even determinative, in the development and conduct of any and all forms of ministry, including all methodologies and programs of evangelism. To be in Scriptural order, whatever is done in the name of Christ must be done with due regard to His Church and be accountable to its leadership.

The Church is the only base of ministry found in the New Testament (cf. Acts 13:1-14; Romans 10:14,15). The Scriptures clearly teach that the Church is God’s agency in this present age for carrying out the Great Commission. Para-church agencies are valid only if they are created under the auspices of the Church, act on behalf of the Church as agencies of the Church, and are directly accountable to the Church. Accordingly, they should also be supported through the Church. Again, G. Campbell Morgan writes:

"Unattached and unauthorized evangelism, even by individual members of the Church Of Christ, is to say the least, unwise, and not the most fruitful of permanent results. I do not desire to criticize unkindly any movement that acts independently of the churches, although I do not hesitate to say that I have grave suspicion of everything that boasts that it is undenominational. I have a very great love for everything that is inter-denominational, which is quite another matter. But all unattached, freelance work, unauthorized and ungoverned by the Church, is not the best work possible, and tends to disorder and confusion. We must hold to the very highest doctrine of the Church, or our evangelism will be weak and one-sided."³

Later he goes on to say:

"Evangelism demands a Church, and wherever the Church of Jesus Christ is, there is an instrument for evangelistic work, because there is a company of men and women in whom the evangel has won its victory, and through whom it is manifested as a life, and proclaimed as a message... This evangelism must begin in the churches. The churches themselves must be turned back to the work of evangelism. We are trusting too much to organizations outside the Church. It is in the Church that the work must be done. We shall have to travail in birth for the souls of our own people. When in our own church life all the forces of the Christ life are operative without hindrance, then men will be brought under the sound and power of the great and glorious evangel."⁴

THE LOCAL CHURCH.

While we are on the subject of the Church in relationship to evangelism, it is important that we take time to define what is meant by the local church.

"The local church" has become a familiar term. But a problem with familiar terms is that we tend to use them without defining them precisely. We assume that we know their meaning. I believe that this is true of "the local church."

Just what is the local church? "The local church is my congregation," a pastor replies, and correctly so. The term "church" (ecclesia) does apply in Scripture to the congregational unit (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15). But it is the conviction of this author that the congregational unit is the secondary, not the primary, concept of the local church in the New Testament.

The New Testament speaks of the local church in terms of the local community. How the community is defined is another matter, and is a subject for social science to address. The point here is that Scripture consistently considers the local church to consist of the sum total of all believers within a given community. So we read of the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1), the church of the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1), the church at Cenchrea (Romans 16:1), and so on. This appears to be the primary concept.

This is not a minor question. If we are to build on the Biblical concept of the local church, it is essential that we understand that concept.

Now, right here the status quo puts up its stiffest resistance, due to the entrenched interests of ultra-congregationalism and/or denominationalism. Congregations and denominations are important, of course. Every believer is obligated to be a faithful part of a congregation within the local Christian community, and to identify with others of like faith beyond their own community. The problem is in the "ism."

As an example to illustrate the issue, let us pose a very common situation. The Smiths are active at First Baptist Church and the Browns at the First Church Of The Nazarene. They are next-door neighbors and good friends.

Now, do the New Testament commands as to how believers are to relate to one another in the local church apply to the Smiths and the Browns in their relationship as believers and not merely as neighbors? Are they to love one another, bear one another’s burdens, and do the other things that believers are commanded to do for one another as inter-relating members of the Body of Christ? If so, why? They are not members of the same congregation or even of the same denomination. On what grounds, then, does the obligation exist? It must exist on the grounds that in the primary New Testament sense both families are part of the same local church. On Biblical grounds this conclusion seems inescapable.

THE NECESSITY OF UNITY.

Be it remembered that that which unites us is greater than that which divides us. Our essential unity in Christ is already an established, non-negotiable fact. This fact and its implications must be faced and acted upon as a matter of obedience to our Lord. We cannot plead our differences as a defence for our continued distance from each other. We cannot avoid the Scriptural imperatives by an appeal to "realism" over against "idealism." For believers the only option is obedience.

In a very fundamental sense all true ministers of Jesus Christ in a community are ministers of the same local church. We have our distinctives. We have our congregational and denominational identities and commitments. To these we are loyal. But our diversity must not dissipate our unity; neither should our unity inhibit our diversity. Diversity, yes; division, no.

The Lord Jesus prayed for His Church, "that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:21 KJV).

This prayer of our Lord carries two clear implications: (1) unless we are one, the world will not believe; and (2) when we are one, the world will start believing. A logical conclusion, therefore, is that the unity of believers is of top priority with God. Accordingly, it is a reasonable assumption that the Father is working to answer the prayer of the Son.

If so, then all true believers in Christ are under a moral obligation to co-operate with the Father as He brings about the answer to Christ’s prayer. It follows that we must seek to promote as much fellowship among ourselves as possible. To refuse or neglect to do so puts us at cross-purposes with God.

We must not settle for casual, surface relationships. We should explore opportunities to relate together. We must pray, work and evangelize together. Only a united Church can speak to a divided world. Only when the unity of the Godhead becomes conspicuous in the unity of the Church will the world believe that the Father sent the Son.

It is true, of course, that all believers cannot always work together in every Christian enterprise because of differences in doctrine and practice. Notwithstanding, we should purpose to do so whenever and wherever there is common ground for united action and united action is called for.

The vital unity of the Body of Christ consists of much more than the co-operative efforts exerted in city-wide crusades, of course. It functions and expresses itself in the continuing inter-believer, inter-pastor, inter-congregational life of the local church. United evangelism is only one of its expressions. Still, it can be a highly visible vehicle for fostering and demonstrating vital Christian unity, provided that it is solidly based. And so unity should produce united witness, and united witness should promote unity.

The unity of believers is in function, not merely in form. Yet the two inter-relate. Function expresses itself in form. As believers pray, worship and fellowship together, they will find themselves conferring, planning and doing together. Conversely, form should provide an occasion for function.

Doing together promotes being together. Wood asks,

"...may not God be pointing to the task of evangelism as His way to bring His own together as well as to bring salvation to the lost?"⁵

On this very point Cassidy issues this stinging indictment:

"This exacting demand is never more evident than when major evangelistic outreach is contemplated, because while creating an opportunity for demonstrated Christian unity, the situation also exposes the hitherto concealed disunity. It becomes apparent in the endless conscientious pretexts under which different churches cannot work with each other. Their professed seriousness about evangelism crumbles on the ethical prerequisite of love within the Body. However, this debilitating inversion of things can be challenged, arrested and changed within the preparatory phases of an evangelistic campaign... Renewal thus precedes mission and then further develops in mission."⁶

Love demands not only the recognition of the essential unity of all believers in Christ, but also the toleration of the non-essential distinctives and differences that abound among us.

Evangelism is the Church’s most common ground for united action. If the churches cannot unite in proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord, they cannot truly unite in anything. The challenge now rests with the Church to take the initiative in evangelism--all modes of evangelism. Let us rise to that challenge.

United Proclamation Evangelism--index page

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 REFERENCES