The topic of evangelism has been coming up a lot lately within the community at Grassroots, which has led me to ponder and reflect upon the subject in my own quiet time. Scripture makes it clear that all Christians are called to evangelize; this word comes from the Greek ευαγγελιζω, which literally means “I preach the gospel.” So, with the responsibility of preaching the gospel, how can we most effectively and faithfully evangelize in our world today?

I would like to lay down a few principles (as well as a few cautions) which I feel are relevant and useful in this regard.

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When we talk about “postmodern evangelism,” we’re usually discussing methods of spreading the gospel within the context of our postmodern culture. However, we have much to accomplish, for from our earliest days we are “evangelized” with a different gospel—the gospel of “tolerance”—the epitome of postmodern ethics.

You’ve probably seen these bumper stickers before. “COEXIST,” the various religious symbols creatively read, urging all of us religious fanatics to get along. On the surface, this seems like a noble search for peace in a world of turmoil; after all, it is extremely troubling to hear of the violence and hatred between various religious groups. The postmodern solution to this chaos, however, is “tolerance.”

Now, I have no problem with “tolerance” if it is to be taken literally. But no, the “tolerance” we are expected to embrace doesn’t just mean getting along with one another. It means surrendering our belief in an absolute reality and accepting other worldviews as completely valid, yet different perspectives. In this way, our faith is emasculated and reduced to mere pleasant moral teachings, in order that we should have nothing to take a stand for (and therefore, nothing to fight about). This type of “tolerance” deprives us of any conviction and therefore forces our faith to become a jolly collection on wise sayings and moral lessons, lacking any real ultimate meaning. In many ways, it takes God out of Christianity. Our faith becomes nothing more than some empty, subjective set of spiritual ideas, lacking any transcendent meaning or eternal repercussions, and certainly far from something worth fighting over. Thus, in a world seeking peace, it is no surprise that this type of “tolerance” has been our answer.

Yet so-called “tolerance” will never bring us peace; after all, we will have no peace until Christ’s return, and this will happen only after his enemies are utterly destroyed (Revelation 20:15). As you can see, this truth is a direct contradiction of the postmodern gospel which rejects just about any proclaimed way to “God.” Furthermore, it seems as though God is terribly “intolerant.” Could it be true that the ultimate Peacemaker, the One who restores humanity to goodness and tranquility could be so “intolerant?”

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