It's a simple premise: How did Jesus view & do evangelism? This is important because, "He always knew what was right, & as the perfect Man, he lived as God would live among humans." That's an amazing thought: Jesus lived as God would live among humans. What's more is Jesus didn't "do" life in a certain way because he was perfect & therefore had a super-human means of doing evangelism; he was perfect & demonstrated how God would do evangelism not only because it was "right," but for his church to see. (What's amazing is how many read about his life without seeing his life as an example to follow.)
This is both challenging & inspirational. On the one hand challenging because we don't generally follow Jesus' life as something to be replicated, especially in the realm of evangelism. So many have reduced Jesus to being the means of our salvation & little more. As N.T. Wright has said, "Many people would be fine had Jesus been born, left to grow in seclusion into a 33 year old man, & then taken to the cross to die." However, God intentioned for Jesus to demonstrate how God would act within humanity. We should take notice. On the other hand his methods are inspirational because anyone can do what Jesus did. His plan is accessible; we can all what Jesus did, however, very few can copy Billy Graham. Evidently easily replicable is a natural outworking of perfect!
Reading the preface I was struck by several thoughts. One was this: "Do we see an ever-expanding company of dedicated people reaching the world with the gospel as a result of our ministry?" Many definitions & examples of church discourage me. However, this is not one of them. If this is what we're called to be, I see hope.
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