The Evangelistic Love of God and Neighbor

There are it seems as many definitions of the term evangelism as there are people doing the defining. For some it means proclaiming the gospel to those who have not heard it. To others it means making disciples of Jesus Christ. To others it means working for the transformation of the world into the kingdom of God. For still others it has principally to do with building vibrant healthy congregations. Underlying this confusion is a fundamental inability to locate the practice of evangelism within one''s overall theological convictions. We will never understand the part that proclamation disciple making kingdom building and church growth play in evangelism until we first ask a more important question: What does evangelism have to do with who God is? What is it we know about God that makes evangelism a central part of what it means to be Christian? In this comprehensive theology of evangelism Scott J. Jones proposes to ground the practice of evangelism in an understanding of God''s love for the world specifically as seen in the incarnation of God in Christ. In Jesus God took on all of what it means to be human. Because of this evangelism must be a ministry to the whole person. The typical distinctions between soul-winning social action and church growth evaporate; individual conversion and acts of mercy are part of the same ministry of bringing persons more fully into the reign of a loving God.