In his widely analyzed commentary on evangelism in Canada, Fragmented Gods, Reginald Bibby has contended that very few people are coming to faith through the work of the evangelical churches in Canada.

Based on his ongoing demographic studies, Bibby has concluded that most growth among evangelical churches is nothing more than a reshuffling of the faithful. The percentage of Canadian people professing faith in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ has remained constant between six and seven percent for the past 75 years.

Census data confirms it. Statistically, the percentage of Canadians who are actively following Jesus and trusting Him for salvation is stagnant. The big question is, “Why?” In offering an approach to the answer, I would define evangelism as “being effectively involved in inviting people to move from a non- Christian or nominally Christian stance toward God into a personal, committed relationship with God.” There are three major challenges we need to address.

The Challenge of Ecclesiology

The battle lines surrounding the idea of “a personal relationship with God” were drawn two centuries ago. The idea first came to Canada through the mission work of Methodists. Until 1837, the only legally “legitimate” religions in Canada were Roman Catholicism in Lower Canada--now Quebec, and Anglicanism in Upper Canada--now Ontario. Both established religions resolutely opposed the idea of a personal relationship with God as a politically subversive notion: the idea challenges the monopoly that each holds over its people.

Their orientation to the matter has influenced the attitude of the other denominations. The United Church of Canada, the Presbyterian Church, the Lutherans, and most of the Baptist denominations are committed to positioning the institutional church between believers and God. They are committed to the notion that salvation comes through Jesus Christ, but that salvation is mediated only through the institutional church.

When we portray the work of the Church of the Nazarene in such a way that it becomes just another voice saying, “He is here-- not there--you can only meet Him here,” we subvert the very idea to which we were called. God provides direct fellowship with us by bringing us into a personal, justified relationship with God. The institutional church may help, but it is not essential to that relationship. We must announce publicly and persuasively that God offers a personal relationship to any who accept the lordship of Jesus.

The Challenge of Justification

The official catholic perspectives on justification are identical in one detail: They each reject the reformation idea that humans are justified before God by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8). Roman Catholicism, with its teaching of “grace plus dogma;” Eastern Orthodoxy, with “grace plus tradition;” and Anglican “grace plus the ministry of the Church,” all contradict the central tenet of the Gospel: the Reformation doctrine of “sola fide/sola scriptura.” That idea emboldened John Wesley to transcend conventional Anglican practice and announce the reformation message (See Standard Sermon V, “Justification by Faith”).

With Wesley, Nazarenes have always been in solid agreement with the doctrines of the Reformation. The current anxiety we are experiencing over various notions of sanctification has hindered our announcing of our central doctrine of justification by grace through faith. We must correct that if we are to be effective in Canada.

The Challenge of Sanctification

Many Christians believe that people must be sanctified if they want to fellowship with God. The big question that divides people is, when/how can a person be sanctified? The standard answer given by Canadians is, “we must become sanctified in order to be accepted by God” (i.e., justified). In chorus with the religious factions of Jesus’ times, the Roman Catholics of all times, the eighteenth century Anglicans, and the nineteenth century Methodists, they answer, “You must become sanctified in order to be justified before God.” The religious cultures of Canada teach and enforce this perspective.

Jesus came announcing, “The Kingdom of Heaven is nearby.” Saint Paul proclaimed, “the just shall live by faith.” Martin Luther declared, “sola fide” and found peace with God. John Wesley found his “heart strangely warmed” and put to rest his anxieties regarding sanctification. Phineas Bresee went peacefully about the challenge of becoming holy after he discovered the joy of knowing personally and subjectively, that he had been justified by the grace of God. To meet the challenge of evangelism in Canada we need to be willing to be “counter-cultural” regarding ecclesiology, justification and sanctification. Canada is waiting to hear it and see it lived through the power of God.

by K. Clair MacMillan
national director
Church of the Nazarene Canada