Thought for the Week
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more a child of hell than yourselves" (Matthew 23:15 KJV)
There is a difference, then, between evangelism and proselytism; for Jesus told us to go into all the world to make disciples of all people - yet he condemned the religious leaders of his time for their hellish activities.
Let's get the difference clear for Christians are often told that in their witness and preaching they are "proselytising", when it is nothing of the sort! Even on the broadest front the churches are firm on this. For example, the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches produced a useful study document in 1970, Common Witness and Proselytism. It identified "proselytism" as unworthy witness, in particular with regard to our Motives (our own glory and power-seeking), our Methods (psychological or financial pressure etc) and indeed the Message itself (for example deliberately misrepresenting our own or other people's beliefs). Hold those three M's!
In contrast, to evangelize is to make an open and honest statement of the Gospel, which leaves the hearers entirely free to make up their own minds. (The Manila Manifesto of the 1989 Billy Graham congress).
Let's arm ourselves with this distinction, meanwhile ourselves never falling into the ways of the power-seeking scribes and Pharisees.
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