to who we are and what we do, as well as to Christ’s mission.
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B. Seminar II: Ethical Evangelism with Vulnerable Peoples
This seminar was built around the text of Luke 5:1-11, often called The Miraculous Catch of Fish. As part of the narrative we find Jesus in a boat that is full to sinking of slippery, flapping fish and Peter saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Jesus, however, does not leave but tells Peter that “from now on you will be catching people”. And it was Peter (and his colleagues) who “left everything and followed him”.
Luke uses the word zogreo, translated as “catching people”. It is not the normal word for fishing – aleeis , which is used by Matthew (4:19) and Mark (1:17), is the more common term. Zogreo is a compound word from zoos meaning “alive” (from which we get the English word, “zoo”) and agreuo, “to hunt or catch.”
“Thus, there is a subtle but significant difference: Peter has been fishing and the fish are gutted and eaten: they die. Luke, however, is saying that Peter’s future purpose is to catch in order to give life. This places a different emphasis upon the concept of ‘catching people’ which is a metaphor for evangelism in this passage.”2
Such a concept creates an ethical framework in which our evangelism must take place because the agenda for evangelism is set by Jesus, the Lord. This agenda includes the purpose of evangelism which in turns shapes both the choice of methodology and the ethical constraints that are placed upon our practices of evangelism. This is brought particularly into sharp focus when working with people in vulnerable situations or people who lack power. For example, women and children are usually among the most vulnerable people in society; likewise, those facing various forms of disaster or poverty are often in positions of powerlessness. The challenge required of us, as followers of Jesus, cannot be how can we exploit circumstances to win converts?; rather, we must ask ourselves and our Lord, what does it mean to give life, and life in all its fullness, for these people? We have the example of Jesus himself as he healed people, cast out demons and
2 John Baxter-Brown, “Evangelism through the Eyes of Luke 5:1-11 and holistic evangelism for the 21st century: Towards life, justice and equality … but not as we know it”, St Francis Magazine, 8:6 (December 2012) 742, 732-748, accessible at www. stfrancismagazine.info/ja/images/stories/SFMDec2012-Evangelism-JohnBaxter.pdf, accessed 8 July 2013.
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confronted evil; as he faced down the powers of imperialism and defeated them through the Cross; as he rose on the very first Easter Sunday; as he forgave and befriended, fed and feasted with the last, the lost and the least.
We explored these themes through the life of Jesus and through the stories of those in the seminar. We examined both our own conduct but also the conduct of other Christians whose practices can often be misunderstood by other Christians and by those of other faiths. The concern is that unethical evangelistic practice actually undermines the very gospel that is being promoted. Some examples of this are the so-called prosperity gospel theologies, the exploitation of vulnerable people in disaster-relief contexts, and the misuse of wealth and power of the Western Church. Another related concern is the danger of unethical practices by people or churches who have good intentions. Thus we are challenged to think about (i) our discernment processes, (ii) how we encourage our Christian brothers and sisters to reflect on their practices, and (iii) the ways our interventions or actions might be perceived by others, even when we have the best of intentions.
The primary importance is to be a follower: if we lose sight of Jesus, we lose the very source of our power and life and love and become empty, noisy and futile. It is not that we need Jesus because we need His presence with us to do the ministry; rather it is that if we have His Spirit within we cannot help but become engaged in evangelization. And so we need to bring ourselves before Him, to be with him and follow him and listen to him say, “Go and do likewise”.
5. Epilogue
It is fair to say that the ISUM summit raised more questions than it answered – questions about how to build or participate in community-building ministries when the very nature of the city pushes against such sharing in one another’s lives; questions about
finding Jesus even in the darkest places and learning to be light and salt and bread to those we meet along the way. How to embody Christ in multi-faith contexts remains an ongoing challenge that requires of the church continual discernment and prayer so that we hold firmly both to the authority of Jesus, acknowledging his Lordship, and the breadth of his love for all creation.
Though our time together was short, the process of listening to one another, hearing the stories of those we met during the immersion experiences, sharing in struggles and joys – all of these were as important as the final outcome or any answers we might come up with. Witnessing to Jesus, no matter what context, is, in the end, about persons and
being in relationship. It is learning to live together in ways that might counter the ways of the world; in places of death, it is sharing life, and life in its fullness (cf. John 10:10).