Evangelism

Evangelism
Evangelism and observance of the verse in St. Mathew 28:19 can be done in at least 4 or 5 different ways.
1.By preaching the good news
2. Mirroring Christ by one’s own life like the Judaic Christian sanyasis. They were silently christianizing the society
3. Proselytizing by persuasion.
4. Militant Proselytizing as Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, during the colonial period. Bishop Tutu of Africa complained:” They gave us the Bible and took away our land “.
5.The latest in the Western evangelism is the mass evangelism of great preachers likes Billy Graham and the creation of Electronic Church through television by Oral Roberts in 1954 and by Pat Robertson in 1960.

There is a basic difference between Western and Eastern Evangelism. West believe in Proselytizing and increasing the number of Christians and expanding the Church by hook or crook (example: Francis Xavier in the 1560s and Bishop Menses in Udayamperor Synod). Eastern Christianity believe in the second method of Christianizing the World by their life and preaching. Fr. Bijesh Philip, Professor of Nagpur Orthodox Seminary writes in "Theosis and Mission" a recently published book, "Mission is not a Christian commercial. It is a witnes and an act of love. It implies love for those whom it is directed, and love means self-giving, not simply giving something."
Malankara Christians.have imported during the last 4 centuries western evangelism. In our Orthodox Church H.G. Pathros Mar Ostathios started it in the 1940s followed by H.G Geevarghese Mar Osthathios. But let us remember that even now we do not believe in or practice militant evangelism. But Kerala Orthodox Christian expatriates in USA, Gulf, Europe, Malayasia, Australia and other parts of the World have globalised our church with parishes in different parts of the world. Kerala Christians have thus evolved a new type of evangelism that can be termed as “Global Evangelism”.