We live in a day and age when many professing Christians are questioning whether or not people of other faiths (or no faith at all) should be evangelized. Which makes the following headline today in the Times of London very interesting: "Anglicans Called on to Convert Non-Christian Believers."
In some ways it's hard for me, as a card-carrying evangelical (I don't really have a card), to understand why Christians would need to be called on to pray and work for the conversion of non-Christians. How does it get to this point? The Anglican Rev. Nezlin Sterling offered this explanation:
We have positioned ourselves like the disciples did immediately after the death of Christ, behind closed doors, paralysed with fear of the world.
Fear of the world is certainly one cause of silence when it comes to our witness. We fear being shunned, rejected and scoffed at by those that don't want anything to do with Christianity. We worry that people will be offended by our desire for them to embrace our faith. We fear being called intolerant or disrespectful. We fear tension at work or at home. We fear not being perceived as cool. We worry about coming across as too serious (C'mon, man. Stop worrying about such weighty things. Just relax!). The list of fears seems limitless.
The most important thing missing in our list of fears? God.
I'm praying that the Anglican communion is gripped with a renewed sense of the fear of God so that bold witness to the gospel follows. And while I'm at it, I'm praying that this card-carrying evangelical joins the ranks of those overwhelmed with the majesty of the One with whom we must give account. For unless this happens fear of the world will keep me silent.