Picturing Theology, Revised Edition

350 | Picturing Theology, Revised Edition

• They retain a degree of independence from each other. Evangelism and church-planting can sometimes be done without any immediate focus on development work. Conversely, development work can be sometimes be done without accompanying church-planting activity. Because both are authentic responses to God’s activity in the world, they can, when appropriate, operate independently from each other. While each is a legitimate activity in its own right, it will obviously be healthier and more normal to find them occurring together. • They need each other for lasting effectiveness. Without evangelism, there are no changed lives, no reconcilers who understand God’s plan for man and society, and who undertake change in the power of the Spirit. Without development, the churches established by mission become withdrawn, and do not function as “salt and light” within their local and national communities. Missionary efforts are undermined when the existing church does not make visible in its life the effects of God’s kingdom rule. The integration of the two is aptly expressed in Ephesians 2:8-10 which states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” These facets may be summarized as “a threefold relationship between evangelism and social activity. First, Christian social activity [development] is a consequence of evangelism, since it is the evangelized who engage in it. Second, it is a bridge to evangelism, since it expresses God’s love and so both overcomes prejudice and opens closed doors. Third, it is a partner of evangelism, so that they are ‘like two blades of a pair of scissors or the two wings of a bird’” (Stott 1995, 52). The Need for Specialization Modern missions have seen the rise of both mission and development agencies. This occurs as organizations specialize in one component of the overall task God has given. This recognition of the need for specialization arose early on in the life of the Church. J. Chongham Cho comments: In Acts 6 . . . a distinction between evangelism and social action was made. This was not a division in essence but for the sake of practical efficacy of the church’s mission and as the solution to a problem which arose in the church. This is a necessary deduction from the nature of the church as Christ’s 3.3