Worldview Evangelism
By: Shafer Parker
It appears that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been forced to reevaluate his original plan for attacking Ukraine. Why? Because even though it is difficult to know exactly what’s been happening there, it seems evident the conflict has not gone the way he originally thought it would. He never expected the enduring and effective resistance his forces have faced.
Something analogous happens with many modern attempts to proclaim the Christian gospel. We go out bearing seed that is precious to us, only to find nobody cares. Good news about Jesus and eternal life can hardly even stop people long enough to listen to a single sentence. They turn away with no discernible fear that they are, for the moment at least, literally choosing hell over heaven. Like the Russians, perhaps it is time to reevaluate everything. Perhaps its time to think about engaging in Worldview Evangelism.
To explain, let’s start at the very beginning, which reliable sources tell me is a very good place to start. And by beginning, I mean the first century and the earliest disciples. Why go so far back? Well, for one thing that would be the period when Christians had the fewest advantages, but also the period in which they had some of their most amazing successes. From the mouths of their enemies we get the report they had “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). What was their secret? They engaged in worldview evangelism.
To understand what worldview evangelism means, let’s go for a moment to Acts 17:22-34, where we find Paul engaged in it while presenting the gospel to the Athenian philosophers. He begins with the announcement that he will reveal to them a Being formerly worshipped as “The Unknown God.” Turns out He is the Sovereign Creator God who “made the world and everything in it,” and who “gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” This God is involved in mankind’s daily affairs because “we are his offspring,” thus made in his image. This is the God whose Son came to earth to become a human being in order to die for our sins and then rise from the dead. Thus, it should come as no surprise to learn that it will be God’s Son who will someday “judge the world in righteousness.”
This is worldview evangelism. In Paul’s case it was a recitation of God’s identity and work in the world that swept from creation to judgment in one single movement. Notice what Paul did. He focused his audience’s attention on who God is and what God has done and will do. His entire message was about God. Notice also what Paul did not do. He made no attempt at “selling” God as the source of prosperity, healing, or any other grab bag of goodies that humans might desire. What Paul did that day, and pretty much every day (see Acts 14:15-18), was the exact opposite of so much modern evangelism that I need not take the time to describe it.
Our day is very much like the first century. Once again as Christians we find ourselves in a minority, a despised minority, actually, and therefore I think it is time to go back to the first century for our methodology and approach. It might just work. But to do so it will require a paradigm shift in our thinking. We must rethink our commitment to truth. We must regain the confidence that in the Bible and in Jesus we have the truth, the whole truth as much as finite humans can know it. And we must regain the belief that God’s Holy Spirit stands ready to aid our evangelism, but only when it is the evangelism He cares about.
Interestingly enough, that kind of worldview evangelism must include, as Paul’s so evidently did, a reminder that judgment day is coming. Do you doubt the Spirit’s interest in reminding the world of judgment? Then what did Jesus mean when he told his disciples:
John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged.
Do you see it? Jesus is saying that he would send “the Helper” to “convict the world concerning … judgement to come.” That’s why I say worldview evangelism requires a paradigm shift in the Christian world. Hardly any Christian really believes in judgement anymore. But according to Scripture, our apologetics must unapologetically proclaim and explain every difficult doctrine from creation at the beginning to judgement at the end, and it must all come from a context of thoroughgoing faith in all that we are saying. To repeat, we must rethink our commitment to truth, what it is, and where it comes from, because only when we are defending the whole of God’s truth can we expect divine aid.
Worldview Evangelism is more than mere apologetics. It includes apologetics (we are, after all, defending reality), but our evangelism must also be done with the confidence that God’s truth is universal and can therefore be applied to every life. “Christianity is not a series of truths in the plural,” Francis Schaeffer states, “but rather truth spelled with a capital “T.” Truth about total reality, not just about religious things.” Thus, we must never shrink from answering objections to the faith, as though that were a distraction from our gospel presentation. Declaring the truth and explaining the believability of Biblical truth—about life, the universe, and everything—must become an essential part of how we present the gospel.
“The artificial separation of evangelism from apologetics must end,” states Douglas Groothuis in his famous Apologetics Manifesto. “Many evangelistic methods die when those evangelized ask questions related to apologetics. Therefore, all evangelistic training should include basic apologetic training as well.”
Groothuis also suggests that it is time Christians learn how to argue for the faith. “The commonly heard canard, ‘No one comes to Christ through arguments’ is patently false.” And I agree. In fact, Scripture presents our evangelistic forefather Paul as consistently using argument to present the gospel. “Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord,” Paul writes to Corinth, “we seek to persuade people” (II Cor. 5:11, HCSB). “But,” someone might think, “Paul said ‘persuade’ not argue.” But they will stop saying this when they know the Greek word for persuade is peitho, with the first meaning “to convince by argument.”
Here's Paul two more times, consistently presenting arguments proving the Christian faith. “He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade (to convince by argument) both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4, HCSB). And, by the way, Paul was successful in arguing people into the kingdom. In Corinth, the worst thing his Jewish opponents could say about him was that he was successful. “This man,” they said, “persuades (convinces by argument) people to worship God contrary to the law!” (Acts 18:13, HCSB)
Dear friends, I said earlier that we face a world much like the first-century world, that is, one that is fundamentally ignorant of Bible truth, and therefore, unable to grasp the significance of the gospel. But there is one big difference between then and now that makes worldview evangelism more necessary than ever. The modern world is astoundingly ignorant of the faith, but it nevertheless thinks it has reasons to reject it. Thus, Worldview evangelism is more important than ever.