Evangelism (the "E" word)

The "E" Word

(Part 1)

What is the "E" word?  Simply put, the "E" word is evangelism.  And I title this article as I do because for many of us in the Orthodox church, it's a word we don't like (a "bad" word).

But, evangelism shouldn't be a bad word.  In this first article on the "E" word, we will look at the first reason why evangelism is something that we should honor and practice in our lives - which is that evanglism is biblical.

The Bible has many examples of evangelism - too many for a brief article like this one to cover - but for the sake of brevity we can look at two examples of evangelism in the Bible that represent pretty much all the rest.

St. Peter speaks to the masses on Pentecost

In the book of Acts, chapter 2, we read about the day of Pentecost.  50 days after Jesus had risen from the dead, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples and they were empowered to spread the gospel to all nations.

Beginning from Acts 2:14, St. Peter addresses all who had gathered around this very noisy scene of Pentecost (both believers and non-believers) concerning who this Jesus was and God's plan for the salvation of the human race. At the end of this chapter we learn that it was a very fruitful evangelistic day - So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls (2:41).

This example represents one way of approaching evangelism that I will call mass evangelism.  St. Peter doesn't have a one-on-one conversation with any one person in the crowd that day, but rather speaks to a large group.  And, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we see that his seeds fall on fertile ground and bear fruit.

St. Philip the deacon and the Ethiopian eunuch

The second example is from Acts 8.  In this scene we read about St. Philip the deacon and an Ethiopian eunuch.  At the start of this story we read that …an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (8:26).

On this road he comes across an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading a prophecy concerning Jesus from the book of Isaiah, but doesn't understand what the prophet is about.  St. Philip explains the meaning of the passage and goes on to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ and in the end we read:

And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?”  And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him (36-38).

Here, rather than a mass presentation, we see a one-on-one interaction, where the soil is fertile and the gospel is presented and received with joy.

The point being that evangelism - both in it's mass-presentation form and in it's one-on-one form - are clearly a part of the church.  These are things that Christians have done, and are still called to do (you and me) today.  And, indeed, both a healthy Christian and a healthy church can't exist without evangelism - which will be the topic of next week's reflection.

- Offered by Fr. Panteleimon Dalianis