Question about evangelism

[IHeartAquinas]

A friend of mine who is nondenominational was asking me about Catholic evangelical practice, and somewhere in the conversation we got into a discussion about my friend’s congregation’s emphasis on evangelism almost to the exclusion of anything else. I brought up a passage I remembered reading before that, in a nutshell, said “don’t worry about everyone else’s salvation at the expense of your own”. For the life of me I cannot remember what that passage was, and cannot find it. I vaguely remember it being in the Gospel of John, but, as I said, I haven’t found it.

If anyone knows this verse, it’d be a great help and I would be quite grateful. If I imagined it, then I am truly embarrassed. In which case, any help in refuting the “evangelism! evangelism! evangelism!” cry of my friend would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fidelis]

Doesn’t ring a bell at all. Are you sure it was Scripture, or perhaps rather a quotation from a saint?

 

[josephback]

A friend of mine who is nondenominational was asking me about Catholic evangelical practice, and somewhere in the conversation we got into a discussion about my friend’s congregation’s emphasis on evangelism almost to the exclusion of anything else. I brought up a passage I remembered reading before that, in a nutshell, said “don’t worry about everyone else’s salvation at the expense of your own”. For the life of me I cannot remember what that passage was, and cannot find it. I vaguely remember it being in the Gospel of John, but, as I said, I haven’t found it.

If anyone knows this verse, it’d be a great help and I would be quite grateful. If I imagined it, then I am truly embarrassed. In which case, any help in refuting the “evangelism! evangelism! evangelism!” cry of my friend would also be greatly appreciated.

I can’t identify the source of the quote but it sounds on target. We should be focused both on evangelism and then on discipleship.

On a separate and curious note, what’s the fall away rate of this “evangelism, evangelism, evangelism” model Telling others is important, but it’s missing half the equation. See above.

 

[grasscutter]

I’m down with St. Francis of Assisi.

(Paraphrase alert!)… Preach much and use words only when necessary.

 

[IHeartAquinas]

Are you sure it was Scripture, or perhaps rather a quotation from a saint?

I am 99% sure I saw this quote (I paraphrased) cited as being from the Bible. There is always the possibility that someone misread a passage and cited it, not realizing they were citing something NOT in the Bible. That’s really a downer though if it’s not a legit passage because I was trying to refute all the passages my friend throws around legitimizing an emphasis on evangelism, and this one (if it exists) would have been a serious hole in his approach. Even if it’s a quotation from a Saint, his response is usually “how does that harmonize with scripture?” and then dismisses it in his own surprisingly friendly way.

On a separate and curious note, what’s the fall away rate of this “evangelism, evangelism, evangelism” model Telling others is important, but it’s missing half the equation.

Surprisingly, this is one of the fastest-growing nondenominational groups in my area. I’ve actually gotten one of its members to admit that, given its size and organization, it cannot really be considered nondenominational anymore, especially given several of this group’s beliefs fall into conflict with mainline nondenominational congregations. I attended one of their “home churches” and was absolutely floored by the ratio of new members/old members. The emphasis in all the new kids was, unsurprisingly, how their newfound relationship with Jesus makes them want to convert everyone. Wisely, my friend explained that they don’t send these new converts out right away until they temper their enthusiasm with some actual foundation to understand what they are talking about. So in a way, they have a solid ethos when it comes to evangelism.

I’m down with St. Francis of Assisi.

(Paraphrase alert!)… Preach much and use words only when necessary.

Preach the gospel at all times and, when necessary, use words. I LOVE St. Francis.