Itsara

In a guest post over at Stones Cry Out, Mark Sides brings up a current debate about whether workers of Christian aid organizations ought to be evangelizing to those they are helping. I’ve got thoughts of my own on that as well, especially just coming from our trip to San Quintín, so I’m going to comment.

First of all, this should not be a new debate. It is in the public eye now only because the results of the tsunamis are in the public eye. But aid (both Christian and non-Christian) is going on all the time, as is Christian evangelism. These things do not stop and start based on disasters noticed by the media, but they stop and start based on the real needs of people. Which is another way of saying that they started thousands of years ago and they won’t stop until Everything Is Renewed. As God said, “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” So to ask if Christian aid organizations should be evangelizing during the current crisis is the same as asking whether they should ever be evangelizing in their relief efforts.

Secondly, we need to be specific about what we mean by “evangelism”. There are some definitions for which I completely agree with what Mark says in his post, and other definitions for which I cannot agree with him (for the record, I’m guessing that we mostly agree). The dictionary definition is “Zealous preaching and dissemination of the gospel, as through missionary work.” When I read this, I think of a large man in a white suit thumping his Bible and screaming, “Save your soul lest ye burn in hellfire for all eternity!” This is the picture of evangelism that has made me afraid of the word and confident that I did not “have the gift” of evangelism. I didn’t want it!

But I’ve learned a new kind of evangelism in the last few years that I can accept: relational evangelism. We are called to speak the truth, certainly, but without love we are only “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” In relational evangelism, loving the person is of the utmost priority. This means meeting their needs, first of all, and genuinely caring for them throughout their lives whether or not they ever accept Jesus as their Lord.

Take, for example, our recent trip to San Quintín. We didn’t know the people we were helping, but we loved them - first by providing them with food, clothes, and shelter, and second by sharing with them the most important thing in our lives, the thing that makes us lavish love on people we don’t know and that is Jesus. If we had come down with only the truth, and had said “You need to love Jesus” it is unlikely they would have listened. Likewise, if we had come down with only love - if we had simply built a house and left - it is unlikely that anything would have changed in their lives except perhaps to think that maybe all Americans aren’t bad. But we came with both truth and love, and in this way when we say, “We love you and Jesus does too,” it actually means something to them.

To apply this to the tsunami situation, providing aid is the first priority. It is, as Mark said in his post, a form of witness - and a powerful one. Any preaching done without aid would be wasted effort. But I still think that the message must be provided. It should be done without condition or condemnation, but provided nonetheless. Sharing the gospel is what we do, and we need not be afraid of what the world (or even other religious organizations) thinks of us when we do it. Jesus pointed out, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Besides, what are they going to do? Tell us to stop feeding and clothing people? Are they going to invest time and money to keep Christians and their relief efforts out? Maybe earning their disapproval in this way could hurt us in other areas, but we have to be very careful when we begin doing things for the approval of others. Having the approval of the secular world can be a good thing and can certainly help to spread the good news, but under no circumstances are we to cease sharing the good news for the sake of that approval.

Persecution isn’t easy, especially for those of us who have never really faced it. But consider the growth of the early church when it was persecuted in Acts 8 or the current growth of the underground church in China amidst the persecution it faces. This is not say that we should welcome persecution or seek after it, but we have no reason to be afraid of it. We can be wise, cautious, and even sneaky in order to share the gospel, but we must always, always share it.