Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Evangelization is the mission of the Church. How is this expressed in your current parish/church community?
Evangelizing is the primary goal of the church: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19). “God’s salvific will is universal,” but it is also expressed through the Church (Galvin). The Church is the necessary human vehicle that transports and transmits the Word of God.
My current community is diverse but faithful. While there are differing opinions on the shape of evangelism, most believers would firmly agree that evangelism is one of the core functions of the Church. After all, we are entrusted with the duty of inspiring others to find Jesus, to retain their faith during times of spiritual crisis or doubt, and to deliver wayward souls to the peace they may find in Christ. If a person does not first hear of the word of God or perceive God’s work in the community, they are unlikely to locate their faith independently. The church provides the message and also the medium to broadcast that message.
I know church leaders who are more evangelical than others,...
For these leaders, evangelism is both a logical extension of their work with the Church and also an ethical imperative. If “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved,” then it makes sense that in order to help others, one must preach (Acts 4:12). Preachers and parishioners alike can be found or heard actively evangelizing.
It has been widely recognized that there are different types or styles of evangelizing. Galvin explicates how evangelizing has changed throughout the century, from early church history until now. Even now, multiple types or forms of evangelism are evident in my community.
There are those who, like Karl Rahner, take a more passive approach to evangelizing than most might. Even without having heard of Rahner’s views on the “anonymous Christian,” there are those in my community who believe that those who do not yet believe in Christ may find salvation in God’s own time, through God’s grace (Galvin). It is important to respect those whose faith may be different from our own, while at the…
Christian Church acknowledges its missionary function as truly the core of Christianity, the heart of the Church. Through Christ's teachings, mission is the foreground of His legacy to the Church, the instrument for redemption. The guiding principles at the basis of the Church's mission exist as transparently related by the Bible which in itself transcends all worldly knowledge and phenomena. God, as the Holy Trinity, reveals Himself through the
Such movements, however, had a way of becoming victims of their own success, as Niebuhr argued. Insofar as they spoke to popular aspirations and needs, they attracted large followings, necessitating new structures and hierarchies. The sharp critiques of social injustice became muffled as devotees percolated up into the respectable classes. Enthusiasm waned, leaving liturgy and ritual to provide what spontaneity and spirit no longer could. Sects became churches. (Campbell
J.W (1996) Reported that the Roman Catholics and Orthodox, continued to ban priestesses as they have for almost 2,000 years, the fate of many evangelical congregations continue to shift back and forth. "Scripture does not support the ordination of women, God created men and women [morally] equal but with different roles" (W, 1996). The practical argument for opening the priesthood to women and to married men is that there are not
Religion: How Universal is the Christian Church? Given all the variations of Christian denominations and different religions, how is it that the Church can still claim to be universal? "The name refers on one hand to the inclination towards uniformity (universus) existing in different things, in virtue of which different things may be represented by a single idea applicable to all in the same way and on the other hand
" It caused missionaries to deal with peoples of other cultures and even Christian traditions -- including the Orthodox -- as inferior. God's mission was understood to have depended upon human efforts, and this is why we came to hold unrealistic universalistic assumptions. Christians became so optimistic that they believed to be able to correct all the ills of the world." (Vassiliadis, 2010) Missiology has been undergoing changes in recent years
Travis Collins finds in his study of the Declaration of Ibadan that missions and national churches can partner effectively to establish a level of world evangelization that can fulfill the target objectives and aims of successful saturation evangelism. The study examines the relationship between the missions and the unions, which function together to establish the "role of the mission, joint decision making" and personnel deployment.[footnoteRef:1] This source is relevant to