At Mission Christ we have been speaking about spiritual disciplines. These are basically ways we can serve and seek God in our daily lives. So far we have been talking about Singing, Giving, and reading Scripture in a more contemplative way called Lectio Divina Today we are going to be talking about Evangelism. I thought I might post a few of my heroes over the course of this week. There are a lot of people who I consider to be great evangelists.
So many times we consider an evangelist to be only someone who proclaims the message of the Kingdom of God, and the victory of Jesus the Christ to people with words. The image that comes most readily to my mind is the man on the Soap box screaming “REPENT” at all that go by. Jesus gives us a fuller view of what it means to proclaim the Gospel.
When Jesus talks about his mission he quotes Isaiah 61. We see this in Luke 4:16-21
[Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus says he is anointed to preach, but what else is he anointed to do? Read it again.
There is so much more to bringing the kingdom of God then simply speaking.
Remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi
“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
This week I will be writing mini biographies of a few people I would consider Great Evangelists… Stay tuned!
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In