EVANGELISM AND SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY MUST COME TOGETHER
Former WEA General Secretary Calls for Holistic Ministry in Mission
By Wolfgang Polzer
REHE (ANS) -- The former
Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), Gary
Edmonds, has called for a closer combination of evangelism and social
responsibility. Speaking at the annual meeting of the German
Association of Evangelical Missions (AEM) in Rehe, March 1 – 3, he
warned evangelicals not only to concentrate on the salvation of souls.
At the same time they should address physical needs.
As Edmonds pointed out Jesus wanted not only to impact the lives of
individuals but also politics, culture, the economy and the media.
“What would Germany look like of Jesus was Chancellor?” asked Edmonds.
He was the main speaker of the meeting focusing on “Holistic Mission”.
According to Edmonds a holistic understanding of mission has a positive
effect on the development of nation states. In former atheistic
Albania, for instance, corruption had been greatly reduced through the
influence of Christians.
Edmonds also observes a greater awareness among African churches for
creation concerns and for the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Edmonds resigned as
WEA General Secretary in January and is now director of “Churches
Together” linking North American and African churches in the battle
against HIV/AIDS.
German evangelical mission agencies are focusing increasingly on social
responsibility, according to the annual report presented at the AEM
meeting. More and more of their co-workers are engaged in the fields of
education, health and social care, while the numbers of those involved
in evangelism, theological education and church planting are dropping,
Exactly 41.5 percent of the German evangelical missionaries are
currently engaged in social ministries.
AEM’s chairman Detlef Bloecher welcomed the change. A holistic ministry
needed to present the Gospel in word and deed. The antagonism between
evangelical and ecumenical missions dating back to the seventies and
eighties has largely been overcome, according to Bloecher. Evangelicals
are re-discovering their own heritage – to combine evangelism and
social responsibility, he said.
Herbert Meissner, Director of the (mainline) Association of Protestant
Churches and Missions in Germany (EMW), agreed that his organization
and the AEM have come a long way on the road towards Christian unity.
The long-standing controversy had arisen from different understandings
of the relationship between evangelism and social action. AEM
represents 89 agencies with 2,900 missionaries and EMW 24 organizations
with 700 missionaries.
| Wolfgang Polzer (54), is senior
news editor of the Evangelical News Agency idea, Wetzlar (Germany),
which he joined in 1981. His previous work included four years in the
editorial department of the Salvation Army in Germany. In all, he has
spent 27 years in Christian media. Wolfgang can be contacted by e-mail
at: Wolfgang.Polzer@idea.de. |
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