I have been thinking about evangelism, wondering how that continues in our new stateside life as we make the transition to our next assignment. I came across this article from Christianity Today Magazine as I was working on catching up with several lost months of reading. The article is titled, Evangelism, Without the Weird Aftertaste, and I was challenged and educated by a several sections. But one part that touched me a little more was his answer to a question, and I have reposted it below.

Many of us think of evangelism as something individuals do. What role does the body of Christ, as the community of faith, have in evangelism?

If you read the Great Commission and think, This is all on my shoulders, that’s really scary. I by myself can’t disciple all the nations. It’s freeing to realize you’re part of the body of Christ, and the whole body is called to invite people in.

God gives different gifts to different people, so that the whole body becomes a movement able to reach out and transform the world. What brings people into the body is not just a one-on-one relationship, but a community that immerses you into life with Christ together.

I am glad that we are part of the body of Christ. We have seen and experienced the body and how it supports itself as we arrived home to the US. We have seen it from our friends we left behind in Curahuasi. It is good to know that we are all in this together. We see how much our own country needs to know the love of Christ, and our family has seen the desperation of the lack of knowledge in the poor parts of Peru. God works in us to be his joyful evangelists of the good news, but we get the advantage of doing it through the community and body of Christ. And that is a relief.