It seems like a “no-brainer.” If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves we will obviously care about peoples’ wholistic development; their coming to Christ, being transformed into his image while addressing physical and social needs. But is it really a “no-brainer?”
Last semester a student came into my office to report on how he and his fellow classmates were promoting social justice among the poor in a nearby community. I enthusiastically complemented him for his ministry. Then I asked if his team talked to anybody about Jesus. The student sat there for a second, almost stunned, and then mumbled, “we forgot.” Another student reported that her goals were to do wholistic ministry in Africa. I asked if she intended to do evangelism. She answered, “No, we will do wholistic ministry.”
Robert Wuthnow observes in his recent book Boundless Faith that for the church in America “humanitarianism does not so much replace evangelism as evangelism becomes defined as showing Christian love through humanitarian work” (p. 135) and “service is redefined as evangelism” (p. 242). Is this an emerging secular gospel?
I wonder if Bible-believing Christians are unreflectively drifting into a neo-social gospel or a gospel without Jesus? Could it be that evangelical Christians are subtly slipping into an incipient universalism?
Seldom has the missionary problem been evangelism without concern for human need. The whole history of missions overflows with descriptions of a solid emphasis on health, hospitals, schools, agricultural projects, rights of women, literacy, famine relief and dozens more. On the other hand, there are many examples of missionaries showing compassion for human need with no concern for the spiritual dimension. With few exceptions evangelical missionaries have always been truly wholistic, caring for the temporal as well as the eternal needs of people. In the middle ages, missionary religious orders started hospitals and introduced improved agriculture and fought for the dignity of the downtrodden. William Carey established businesses and Hudson Taylor studied medicine. It is almost impossible to find a corner of the world where evangelistic missionaries didn’t also establish medical clinics, hospitals, schools and agricultural programs.
It is admirable that Christians are catching a renewed passion to fight the ills of human trafficking, injustice, hunger, disease, pollution and abandoned children. May these ministries ever increase. But it is a false gospel that seeks to build the kingdom of God while ignoring the King. Jesus challenged Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again” (John 3:3). While I admire secular organizations the merely meet physical and material needs, we shouldn't call their service, Christian missions.
Concern for human need without concern for the proclaimed gospel is “halfistic.” May we be faithful to truly wholistic ministry that combined compassionate evangelism with care for human need.
