I've been thinking about a working definition of 'evangelism,' recognizing that it's a word with lots of baggage. Christians exhibit a wide spectrum of thought about what evangelism is, and many prefer to avoid the term altogether.
For me, a working definition of evangelism needs to be comprehensive enough to encompass the multi-faceted means by which disciples seek to live out their own discipleship and to help make other disciples as the Great Commission requires, yet also be clearly and succinctly stated. In essence, the call of evangelism is to witness to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior among those who do not yet know him. This witness takes many forms, crossing boundaries of culture, nation, language, race, gender, philosophy, economic and political status. There is in this witness a Christ-inspired compassion, commitment to justice and peace, concern for the whole person, for communities and nations, and for the natural world. It requires the individual Christian, the congregation, the denomination, and the church universal to faithfully represent in word and deed the mission of God made known in Christ.
Evangelism is living, showing, and telling the Good News of Jesus Christ in witness to those who do not consider themselves Christians.
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