For many Southern Baptists, the label “Calvinist” equals “unevangelistic.”
Those who claim to be Reformed in their theological outlook are often assumed to fit several less-than-flattering descriptions: know-it-alls, wanna-be theologians, obnoxious debaters, and then the worst (for Southern Baptists) – “against soulwinning.”
Whenever confronted with the common Calvinist stereotypes regarding missions, a common reply has been to point to the missionary fervor of the Reformed heritage. After all, we can look back to men like Charles Spurgeon, whose evangelistic pleas from the pulpit put many an Arminian-evangelist to shame. Or Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, two great evangelistic preachers from America’s earliest years. Or William Carey, the founder of the modern missionary movement. Or Adoniram Judson, another great Calvinist missionary.
Whenever someone questions the Calvinist fervor for evangelism, it is easy to bring out the “stars” of the Reformed heritage as evidence that missionary zeal exists in the Reformed camp.
But this is not the best way to correct misconceptions about Calvinism. That would be like someone arguing that the Anglican Church is orthodox today because of the great men like Thomas Cranmer, Richard Hooker, and C.S. Lewis, all of whom were influential in the Anglican church.
Instead, we should ask: Do people point to great evangelists within the Calvinist tradition as a way to mask their own lack of intentional evangelism?
All Christians are called to make disciples. And too often Calvinists do a lousy job of sharing the gospel, as do many Arminians, and just about every stripe of Christian out there. We are not passionate about evangelizing the lost because we are all naturally unevangelistic.
Those in the Reformed camp may open themselves up to the charge of being anti-missions because of their insistence on God’s election in matters of salvation. But we must be careful to see God’s election in the right way. Israel was chosen by God, not merely to be the recipient of his special salvation, but to be the channel through which God’s blessing would flow to the wider world. Hence the promise to Abraham that “all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.”
Too many Christians, Calvinist and Arminian alike, picture the Church as a sink – a tub that fills up with the unspeakable treasure of salvation’s blessings. We love soaking up the benefits of God’s salvation. The Bible, however, describes the Church more like a faucet – the channel through which salvation and blessing can flow out to the rest of the world.
Now in taking seriously the New Testament’s teaching on election, I agree with my denomination’s confession of faith that God chooses his people, but this choice has as much to do with our new vocation as his people as it does our receiving a future inheritance. We are called, chosen, set apart to be God’s people for the world, which means our task includes issues of justice, poverty, morality, protecting life, honesty, etc.
A Christian has been chosen to fulfill the Great Commission. And with an unshakeable faith that God will save the lost, we can reap the harvest of the mission field with confidence in God’s saving power.
So, if you’re a Calvinist or Reformed-leaning and someone asks if you believe in evangelism, it would be better to point to some of the people you’ve recently witnessed to and led to the Lord. Instead of trotting out evangelistic Calvinists of the past or going through the theological reasons why Calvinists do indeed believe in evangelism, it would be better for all of us if the answer was, “Look at my life, and see for yourself.”
