While the Church’s ongoing mission includes its life of prayer and worship and the nurture and pastoral support of all its members, the most crucial aspect of mission is oriented towards those who are not yet faith-full members of the body of Christ and have not so far found their way to participating fully in that life of praise and prayer. This is the task of evangelism or evangelisation, which may be seen as the cutting edge of mission, because it is always moving forward into unclaimed territory, breaking new ground and opening up new possibilities for the gospel. While mission tends to be regarded as a broader term than evangelism, evangelism is clearly an essential part of mission. It is impossible to envisage a concept of mission that does not include evangelism, although evangelism undertaken without reference to the Church is in danger of being detached, superficial and ephemeral.
Evangelism has often been seen in terms of personal, one-to-one witness by individual Christians, or in terms of huge rallies led by famous international evangelists such as Billy Graham. Given their characteristic emphasis on personal conversion and active public witness, Evangelicals have led the way in such forms of outreach. However, in today’s conditions probably a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of lifestyle evangelism is called for. The personal ministry of leading other individuals to Christ of course remains indispensable, but also overall strategies for bringing the transforming power of the gospel to bear on the life of the nation, backed by vision involving the possibility of societal transformation across the widest possible front is necessary. To fulfil this level of strategy will necessarily involve the raising up, equipping and training of evangelists, of those who have the God-given skills to win others for Christ and who can model this vocation for clergy, ministers and Christians everywhere. In addition, it will be crucial to encourage and train Christians to be skilled and effective in all areas of Christian apologetics who can engage at all relevant levels society, including with the academy, government, media, education and the arts. Ordinary Christians should also be encouraged to take their place in every area of structural society, in the form of teachers, doctors, lawyers, MPs, etc, where they can live out holistic gospel-driven lives, ideally effectively resourced and supported by the Church. In the present climate of general decline, retrenchment and lack of confidence in the churches, whole-life evangelism should be among the most sought-after, prized and honoured of all Christian ministries, because on it the future of the Church depends.
