Evangelism in the Early Church was a good book. I really learned a lot about evangelism that was done by the early Christians. It was in many ways, much like we do evangelism today. We were not the innovators, as we would like to think. Evangelism practice is a very old tradition. Green shows us the different elements of evangelism as practiced by the early church: pathways, obstacles, evangel, conversion, evangelists, methods, motives, and strategy.
Evangelism was quite a lengthy book - 280, not counting the notes section. It was a bit longer than it should have been. It was quite exhaustive and sometimes exhausting, for it had a lot of detail. Sometimes the detail seemed unnecessary. What is exceptional about this book is its many primary sources. The early Christian fathers and their direct biographers are quoted to add support. It also gives us a first-hand glimpse of their own experiences.
The purpose of this book is not really to encourage evangelism or missions, but rather is a good history book that tells us what our spiritual fathers went through. Although the ideals of evangelism remains the same, we are in far different situations and settings. God, in his providence, perfectly set the stage for the gospel to be spread rapidly in the first century. The Pax Romana, the influence of the Greek culture and lingua franca, and the inroads Judaism had already made, prepared the ground for the gospel to be planted. Of course, they also encountered obstacles like we have never experienced. It was a world-wide hatred towards Christianity. It is almost surprising how Christians ever survived the persecutions of the first two centuries. They were hated by Jews and Gentiles alike, but these are the people they sought after, and died evangelizing to.
Truly, the blood of the many martyrs watered the soil for the gospel. Being a Christian was not a "cool" thing. A person had to make a stand in the midst of persecution to proclaim his Christian faith. Green gives many such examples, ranging from apostles, to students, to children, to husbands, wives, to slaves and freedmen, officials, theologians, and wandering missionaries. Methods of evangelism was just as varied, from synagogue preaching to open air evangelism, prophecy, personal testimonies, home evangelism, one-on-one, visitations, and literature. However, large public gatherings was not a method they employed. That was difficult to do in the midst of persecution, and such gatherings were illegal in the Roman Empire. Yet, in view of today's result of "nominal Christiandom," perhaps such large public gatherings is not such a good idea.
I was quite surprised to read about the large role exorcisms, prophecy, and miracles played in the early church. I disagree with Green's definition of "prophecy ," and he seems to indicate that there was revelatory prophecy in the early church even after the canon is closed! Green also comments that such miracles and exorcisms were prevalent in early church evangelism much as they are practiced in the mission field today, where there is no scripture in the native language. Green seems to imply that where there is no inscripturated Word present, God continues to reveal himself by supernatural, revelatory means.
The greatest difference between early Christian evangelism and today is not of methods but in the quality of Christianity, not due to the gospel, but due to the Christians who bear the gospel. Today, we see evangelism as an optional activity of the Christian, a special program of the church or para-church. It is meant for those who are "called" to such evangelical ministry, or for those who are already positioned as ministers, pastors, missionaries, elders, deacons, or even Bible study teachers. However, in the early church, evangelism was correctly understood as the duty of every Christian. It was the everyday Christian who went out proclaiming the word of God. It was the everyday worker who died a martyrs' death. Every Christian recognized the seriousness of the issue - every soul without Christ would go to hell. Thus, they employed every strategy they could think of to persuade man. Perhaps today, we may criticize a few of their practices, and even rightly critique some of their views on the sacraments, yet let us bow our head in shame in light of the zeal they had in proclaiming the gospel of Christ.
It is through God's sovereign work through these early "fearless" Christians that the gospel has spread all over the world today. We are forever indebted to these early Christians, and Green shows us what they did to deserve such honor.
