Lausanne World Pulse – Evangelism as a Whole: A Passion for Souls with Compassion for People

By Jon Jeffrey (Jeff) Palmer

“One of them, an expert in the Law, tested him with this question, ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.’” (Matthew 22:36-40)

Introduction
The Church today lives with a dualistic outlook on life. Mainly through Western culture and the influence of modernism brought about by the Age of Reason and Enlightenment, we have all but accepted the separation of the physical and spiritual.

Subconsciously or consciously, science governs our natural world—the things we can see, hear, taste, and smell. Conversely, God and religion are relegated and best understood in relationship to the supernatural world, the cosmos, and heaven. We are living in a time of the “Great Divorce,” where we have logically separated the spiritual and physical realms.¹ This idea, although mainly Western in its origins, has spread throughout the Christian world, as well as world cultures, largely on the coattails of modernity.

This “Great Divorce” has profoundly impacted how the Church views and participates in evangelism. Evangelism is seen as a spiritual discipline and is thus relegated to the spiritual world. Moreover, evangelism is reduced to the core of proclamation and more pointedly what we call the “evangel” or the “good news,” which is God becoming flesh in Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, living a sinless life, taking our place in the death-price of sin, becoming a sacrifice on the cross, resurrected on the third day by the power of the Father God, and offering salvation to those who believe and receive.

While this evangel message is precious and central to the core of who we are as followers of Jesus Christ, we have done great injustice to the Kingdom of God by seeing it affecting only the spiritual standing of a person or community.

Consequently, the Church develops tools and methods for evangelism which focus solely on telling the story, but not on the rest of the story. We are keen on people hearing and responding to the gospel, but less interested in the impact that the gospel has on their lives, families, and communities. Furthermore, our evangelistic approaches become focused on a “once and done” strategy of proclaiming and quickly moving on to our next targets.

Our passion for seeing people come to Jesus is inseparable with our compassion for them.

I propose that a better way is evangelism to the whole person. It is the biblical way. We best make Jesus known by word and by deed. Our proclamation is the evangel story. However, our demonstration of God’s love and concern for people and their struggles in life is a validation of our proclamation.

Consequently, our passion for seeing people come to a saving faith in Christ Jesus is entwined and inseparable with our compassion for them as people and their situations. In taking this view, God’s redemptive work through Christ on the cross then has something to say and impacts all areas of our lives.

The Social Gospel
There may be a rising fear that I am advocating a social gospel. However, let me put that to rest by stating the gospel is social and we have nothing to fear. Jesus came “preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23). He also “went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:38).

Jon Jeffrey (Jeff) Palmer worked for over twenty years in relief and development in Asia. He has a heart for holistic “kingdom” development work. Palmer has written three books on the subject and can be contacted at: [email protected].