{"id":1146,"date":"2009-10-05T01:39:28","date_gmt":"2009-10-04T14:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2009-10-05T22:22:45","modified_gmt":"2009-10-05T11:22:45","slug":"evangelism-is-not-proselytism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2009\/10\/05\/evangelism-is-not-proselytism\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelism is not proselytism"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Mission’, ‘evangelism'(and ‘evangelization’)\u00a0and ‘proselytism’ are often\u00a0muddled by speakers and this\u00a0results in confusion and conjecture. Thus David Virtue mentions the Bishop of Los Angeles apologizing to Hindu leaders for the Christian Church’s\u00a0proselytism of Hindus<\/a>. Is this apology for ‘proselytism’ a\u00a0confusion of terms or a denial of God’s calling of\u00a0Hindu people to become followers of Jesus Christ?<\/p>\n

“By declaring that there will be no more proselytizing, the bishop has opened a new door of understanding,” (Hindu leader Swami) Sarvadevananda said. “The modern religious man must expand his understanding and love of religions and their practices.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here are some definitions:<\/p>\n

‘Mission’<\/strong> is the Church’s participation in God’s work in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Evangelism’<\/strong> is the proclamation that God is\u00a0involved in history and has come into history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Lord of all history, long expected Messiah and Saviour. Evangelism tells of Jesus’ life, crucifixion, resurrection, ascencion and return. Evangelism\u00a0is an\u00a0invitation and seeks a\u00a0response. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Proselytism’<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0the practice of trying to change\u00a0a person’s religious adherence to one’s own\u00a0(see The Macquarie Dictionary). In common usuage today, however,\u00a0it\u00a0is generally seen as a negative activity because\u00a0proselytism has come to refer to\u00a0the winning of\u00a0Christians of another denomination to one’s own Christian group. In this regard see an Orthodox Church explanation of the important distinction between Evangelism and Proselytism<\/a>.\u00a0Also proselytism can sometimes refer\u00a0to the offering of an inducement to a person to\u00a0join a religious group.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0the Bishop of Los Angeles\u00a0is\u00a0apologizing to the Hindu community for the Christian practice of trying to change the allegiance of their\u00a0people from Hinduism to\u00a0Christ, he either: a. does not believe that Hindus need to become Christians, b. sees Hindu allegiance as sufficient a religious allegiance as allegiance to Christ, or c. he is referring to a situation where Hindu people were offered inducements or perhaps threatened if they did not change their religion to following Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is confusing. Let’s be clear\u00a0in the use of\u00a0‘mission’, ‘evangelism’ and ‘proselytism’. Thus we will\u00a0understand one another, whether in agreement or disagreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking of clarity about mission and evangelism<\/strong>, I long remember John Stott teaching in South America and encouraging\u00a0leaders with words such as these:<\/a><\/p>\n

As the Father sent the Son into the world, so the Lord Jesus Christ sends his church<\/strong> to participate in God\u2019s mission by words and works. In this mission the church is called: to make Christ known; to proclaim God\u2019s truth and the gospel of God\u2019s grace; to make disciples among all nations; to exhibit God\u2019s character through compassionate care for the needy; to demonstrate the reality of God\u2019s kingdom through creative and sacrificial living, the community of love, the quest for righteousness, justice and peace, and the care of God\u2019s creation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Mission’, ‘evangelism'(and ‘evangelization’)\u00a0and ‘proselytism’ are often\u00a0muddled by speakers and this\u00a0results in confusion and conjecture. Thus David Virtue mentions the Bishop of Los Angeles apologizing to Hindu leaders for the Christian Church’s\u00a0proselytism of Hindus. Is this apology for ‘proselytism’ a\u00a0confusion of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1146"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1186,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions\/1186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}