What is evangelism?

This is shaping up to be a great series of posts on evangelism in the local church from Ligon Duncan (see my post yesterday), so I will be shamelessly pasting and passing it on to you. You can go here to read the whole thing, but I'll give you the first half here below:

One of the things we did in our time together in The Gospel Course was wrestle with the question: what is evangelism? Our answer was drawn from reflection on a definition that J.I. Packer draws his reader's attention to in his chapter on evangelism in A Quest for Godliness (and elsewhere in his writings). Here's how it goes.

Evangelism is – To bear witness to Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that
[1] people may come to put their trust in God, through Christ;
[2] to acknowledge Him as their Savior; and
[3] to serve Him as their King,
[4] in the fellowship of His Church.

That definition of evangelism helps us in at least six ways.

First, it makes clear that evangelism is about pointing people to the objective reality of the person of Jesus Christ, his claims and his work. Evangelism is first and foremost about telling his story, not our story.

Second, it makes clear that we are utterly powerless to bring about the conversion, the transformed life, that we long to see in the lives of those with whom we share the truth of the marvelous grace of our loving Lord. No, for that result, we are entirely (and deliberately) dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit. Only he can raise the dead and give new life.

Third, this definition of evangelism expects the response of genuine faith, saving trust, receiving and resting on Christ alone for salvation as he is offered in the Gospel - in all who are awakened to new life.

Fourth, it reminds us of the uniqueness of Christ. He is the only savior, and so, for salvation, people must put their trust in him and in him alone.

Fifth, embracing Christ as Lord and King is a sine qua non for every true convert and disciple. Just as their is no such thing as justification without sanctification, so also there is no embracing Jesus as savior without embracing him as master. He is, after all, the Lord Jesus Messiah.

Sixth, to be a disciple of Jesus means to be a part of his people and to be nurtured and to serve in the midst of the assembly of the saints. When we are united to him, we are united to his people. We cannot be united to him and indifferent to his people, or deliberately detached from them.

I read that book by Packer a number of years ago, but I didn't remember that definition. I believe that it is outstanding, because, though we must defend the objective work of Christ apart from my works or response, we have not completed the work of calling people to Christ if there is no dimension(s) of discipleship-in-community.

Sometimes, in trying to be smarter and more careful than the Apostles, we separate out the message of the cross, forgiveness, and eternal life in such a way that no one would ever respond in the ways that those who heard the gospel proclaimed in the New Testament era did-- by repentance, faith, baptism, submission to Christ, and inclusion in a local body of believers.