And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? (Romans 10:14)

I’ve borrowed the title of this Connect Devotional from a book by my friend, Dr. Erick Schenkel.  His book, Everyone, Everywhere recounts his work with The Jesus Film Project and their efforts to make sure that everyone, everywhere is invited to know Jesus personally, and that everyone, everywhere has access to Scripture in their “mother tongue” or “heart language.”

This is the final week of our Counter-Cultural for the Common Good series.  We’ll be looking at the counter-cultural work of evangelism, using Romans 10:8-15 as our focus passage.  

When it comes to “evangelism,” there are at least two currents that run through society that we have to discern how to counter.  One is universalism, the belief that “everyone will be okay in the end,” “all religions pretty much teach the same thing,” and “the only thing that really matters about whatever you believe is that you’re sincere,” and things along that line.  So any kind of evangelism is unnecessary and viewed as a power-play.  

The other current is what we might call “crusade-ism,” that is, the idea, shared by some Christians and secular people, that it’s “our job” to ensure, by coercion if necessary, that everyone conform to a particular set of spiritual and moral imperatives.  So we have all kinds of Christian and secular “Save the World from ___” campaigns.

Within our churches, we sometimes face other kinds of currents, which we also need to counter.  Things like “I am not an evangelist/don’t have ‘the gift of evangelism,’” and “I just witness to Jesus through my deeds/actions.”  While it is true that Jesus does call us to demonstrate the truth of the Good News by what we do, that’s only part of our task.  “Actions speak louder than words” describes something very real -- but it is not the case that people will see your good deeds and just naturally reach the conclusion that “Jesus is Lord!”  They may simply conclude that you’re a nice, community-minded person.  And while it is true that only a relatively few believers have the spiritual gift of evangelism, the whole community of Christ shares in the work of evangelism.  

Which brings us back to Romans 10.  The basic Gospel is “Jesus is Lord!” and so Paul writes, “… If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (verse 9).  Just a few verses later, Paul reminds his readers of a familiar Old Testament theme, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (verse 14, quoting Joel 2:32).

But then Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions: “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” (They can’t).  “How can they hear unless someone preaches to them?” (They can’t).

Everyone, everywhere deserves – might we even say, is entitled to? – to hear the Good News of Jesus in language they can understand.  The reality of this Good News must be demonstrated in deeds, and it also must be communicated in words.  And Chatham Community Church, and all of its members, is part of Christ’s communicating-and-demonstrating-to-everyone-everywhere work!

If you’re more of “I let my actions speak for me” (deeds!) kind of person, that’s great!  What is one way God might want you to grow as a communicator (words!)  And if you’re a pretty decent communicator, good on you, too!  How might God want to add some “doing” tools to your “everyone, everywhere” toolkit?