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Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace

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Even though most of this book was written in the 70's and early 80's the message that Prof. Conn imbues in his 112 page text is still perfectly pertinent to Christians today. Addressing both a study of the misguided state of the modern Church and ministry and their inability to reach the sinful and the "sinned" against, Prof. Conn gracefully argues the pertinence and relevance for the kind of "mercy" ministry which Christ exemplified by His life on earth. Prof. Conn's approach calls each and every "Christian" to think of themselves as a missionary who's neither defined by home or foreign missions but simply a missionary to the world.

I had the honor and blessing of meeting Prof. Conn and he was as pleasantly humble, caring and kind in person as he comes across in this book. Sadly though Prof. Conn has since passed away. He was truly an individual who thought outside of the box and he will be greatly missed by many.

Dr. Conn presents a stirring and compelling call to holistic evangelism, the presentation of a gospel through "show and tell." His call to an evangelism that embraces the needs of individuals as sinners and as sinned-against is a much needed wake-up call for our church that has tended towards hoarding rather than spreading the good news of the gospel. Conn reminds us that the gospel saves, and saves completely. This book will hurt you.

I come to this book as part of a directed study on the topic of Ministries of Mercy in the conservative Presbyterian Church, which ought to result in a Sunday School class in about 8 months. This is probably the most recommended book to me via email or short bibliographies on the topic. Certainly H.Conn is held in high esteem in the Church for his body on work on the topic. Therefore this is simply one of the have-to-read books on my list.

Oftentimes such books are a disappointment and over hyped, this is not that way, but rather is a good introduction to the relationship of evangelism and justice. The author speaks not just from reading other books but from experience, plus incorporates as much 1st hand activism into the book as he can to prove his points. It is written to the level of interested laypeople and is suitable and probably addressed to an adult Church-based class working on these or similiar issues. It is a short quick read, with chapter 4-Prayer: Where Word and Deed come together being the climax of it and therefore the recommended chapter to read while sitting in a bookstore deciding whether to buy the book or not.

The theme of the book is on the first page: "this is an effort to look at the relation between evangelism and social questions as two sides fo the same coin." pg 9 He starts the discussion with an excellent example: "contextualization, the art of planting the gospel seed in a culture's diverse soils without also planting the flower pot". It is this type of writing and thinking that makes the book both enjoyable to read and a pleasure to follow his thinking. Another example in this same vein is pg 29 where he points out that the neighborhood bar is the secular substitute for an intimate experience with other people, what the Church ought to be and is not, all to often.

It is an important book, worthwhile the time to read and digest, rightfully high on the recommended book list for the topic.

In his preface, Conn defines the purpose of his book to be "... an effort to look at the relation between evangelism and social concerns as two sides of the same question." He presents the life of faith as the motivation and works as the result. This is well-expressed in the book's title. Thus, preaching the grace of God and modeling compassion and justice to the world are integrally related.

The author's thesis is that the church must not be seen (by believers or others) as merely reflecting what Christians believe, but what they do. He affirms that there is informational content in the actions of believers, and that this content can reveal God to the world in a complementary way to the preaching of gospel. The theological justification for this view is that believers are to display the concepts of the Kingdom of God in the ways that Jesus did.

Conn sees danger in the extremes of two types of spirituality: world-centered religion that only views works as worthwhile, and soul-centered that only values faith content. Only by a healthy recognition that both are equal parts of true religion can really effective evangelism occur. He offers the solution that biblical prayer will naturally bring these two poles together. The faith filled prayer, anchored in the real needs of the world around the believer, will be a mechanism that balances these extremes.

As for a methodology to change the status quo in the church, Conn views the selection of models appropriate to a holistic vision to be essential. If the church's current model is a passive laity, hierarchical structure, and intellectual meritocracy, different models must be selected if real change - resulting in visible and effective action - is to be possible.

Conn's argument that love is expressed in actions (p. 42) is entirely biblical. It is the heart of the Christian faith, and the lack of proper expression is the biggest failing of the church. The greatest commandments (love God, and love your neighbor) must be practiced in that order - absent a real love for God the believer cannot love others. Without a realistic idea of the grace he received, he cannot offer grace to others. Conn is less apt than many others to miss this point, but still seems to skip the step that submission to God and denial of self is the basis of Christian faith. Without this foundation, no right relationships among humans will exist, let alone social justice. He is absolutely correct in linking compassion ministry (to unbelievers) with evangelism.

Like many, the author grounds his argument about the church's expression of compassion in the world in a form of kingdom theology (e.g. pp. 78-87). Without disputing his conclusions about the mission of the church, this justification is rather weak theologically. Certainly the kingdom had arrived with the presence of the king, and the miracles Jesus performed were signs of His identity. The miracles performed by the apostles (p.79) were arguably of similar purpose - as signs of authority, not of kingdom arrival. If they were the latter they would have continued to this day. While Conn does seem to recognize that we are awaiting fulfillment (p. 81), he is explicit in saying, "...we're in the new day of the kingdom," while acknowledging that some delay may be involved. Much more could be said on this issue, but the fact is that the great commission calls the church to preach and teach what Jesus commanded. The making of disciples will have many results that are congruent with Conn's topic, but are actually fundamental to all relations, human and divine.

Regardless of whether the kingdom is actual or nascent on earth, a key point of agreement with Conn is how the church appears to the world (e.g. his discussion on p. 42 ff). The expressions of the love of God are pervasive throughout the Bible. It is important to note that His love is not simply affirmed, but is always implicitly or explicitly demonstrated in His actions toward animate creation (Dt 10:15; Jer 31:3; Hos 11:4; Rm 5:8; 1 John 4:9). This concrete expression is seen in perhaps the most familiar verse in scripture: "For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16 - NET Bible). The most beautiful definition of love occurs in 1 Cor 13:1-13, describing the practical nature of how love must be expressed in exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit - this is the essence of God's love.

There is no doubt that, at least in the western developed nations, the church is failing at developing real disciples who demonstrate the love of God. None of the results that Conn desires will occur unless the church begins to model true discipleship, which involves rejection of the "wisdom of the world" and a denial of self. Unfortunately, in America especially, the church is pervasively a child of the culture. As Conn says, our model is to say "come" rather than to follow Jesus' command to "go." There are some examples of urban churches that are beginning to look like the early church in Acts, but suburban churches remain in a comfortable vacuum outside any uncomfortable reality. The model seems to be program oriented rather than salvation oriented (not just regeneration but including sanctification and glorification). If we do not instill the love of God in true disciples, none of the outcomes that Conn desires or that are seen to be achieved in the early church will be realized.

I think this is a great book for people who are trying to think biblically about sharing their faith. I recently penned some reflections about this book on <a href="http://seelifedifferently.blogspot.com">See Life Differently</a>:
As some of you know, Ryan and I hope to plant a church in Missoula, MT after we finish seminary next year. Of course, that raises a very important question: What exactly is the church? What makes us any different from the Mormons, the JWs, or the local Elks Club?

What really makes a church, a church? If we intend to plant one, we better have a good answer.

Now we're not the first ones to ask this question. In his book, Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace, Harvie Conn lists 4 basic criteria:
<ul>
<li>proclamation - true churches should be proclaiming God's words (not man's), and that means calling people to repent and believe the gospel (cf. Mk 1:15)</li>
<li>fellowship - true churches should do more than just talk - they should be a community of believers who actually spend time doing stuff together: eating, praying, singing (cf. Acts 2:42)</li>
<li>service - true churches should also serve one another, meeting needs within the body (Acts 6:34)</li>
<li>worship - perhaps most importantly, the church is called to worship God together in unison, corporately (cf. 1 Cor 11)</li>
</ul>These are all important. But Conn goes one step further: for the church to really be the church, we must also be concerned with justice.

Now this may sound a little suspicious - especially for us evangelical types who are extremely wary of 'liberals' and 'social justice'. What's interesting, however, is that the OT prophets repeatedly slam Israel's leaders, not just for false worship, but for failing to seek justice for the poor, to care for the fatherless (cf. Is 1:17)!

Fast forward to the NT, and we find Jesus rooting his own messianic claims in the fact that he fulfills Isaiah's prophecy: "the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them" (Mt 11:5, quoting Is 61).

The point here is that Jesus links the preaching of the gospel with the healing and liberation of people who are weak, sick, oppressed (whether by sickness, or the powerful). Maybe this is why James says that "true religion is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep one unstained from the world." (Jms 1:27, cf. 2:14-17).

Conn's point is that the good news of the gospel actually entails 2 distinct realities: grace and justice. If we preach the one without practicing the other, unbelievers will sense the inconsistency and reject the message. And that's because God designed it that way - grace without justice is not the gospel; its religious rhetoric.

So what does justice look like?

<a href="http://seelifedifferently.blogspot.com/2005/03/doing-justice-and-preaching-grace.html">Click here to read the rest of my comments...</a>

Conclusion: definitely buy this book!