Wasted Evangelism

Book excerpt: What is the relationship between the gospel and the church's responsibility toward the poor? Can social action be evangelism? Wasted Evangelism is an exploration in the Gospel of Mark on the subject of evangelism and social action. A proclamation-centered definition of "evangelism" based on the etymology of the word "evangelize" and a few isolated proof-texts is devoid of much of the biblical content that Mark offers to us through his Gospel, detaching the concept of evangelism from the narrative meaning that Mark gives to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Wasted Evangelism Chip Anderson develops an exegetically based, narrative understanding of biblical evangelism, which, according to Mark's Gospel, includes God's care for the economically vulnerable and his concern for the issues of poverty. The studies gathered in this volume propose that social action should not be considered a separate, distinct responsibility for the church, but is rather a vital component of evangelism. A close examination of Mark's Gospel and the biblical texts associated with idolatry, poverty, and justice provides an opportunity for church leadership to rethink the evangelistic activities of their churches and to reconsider what it means to engage their surrounding communities as agents of God's kingdom.