ABSTRACT

Felix Enegho and Cletus Enwefah, Catholic Seminary of All Saints, Nigeria.
E-mail: feljulnegho@yahoo.com

Abstract

Christian Evangelism and Its Implication on Church Growth: An Evaluation

We opine with D. JAMES KENNEDY ( 1970) that there is something new in the life of the Christian Church of the contemporary time. It is the "Evangelism Explosion". It is also a truism that the world is experiencing "Population Explosion" which entails that the world is being populated far beyond man's widest imagination. It has even become a popular belief that the population of the world has been increasing at a far greater rate than the Church. In this type of scenario, something is certainly wrong. The Church should be able to breach the gap between her and the world if the Church is to actualize her mission.

In the light of the above mentioned submission, the leaders of the Church: the clergy and the Lay faithful must rise up to their responsibilities by being more aggressive and obedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to all Christians: "He said to them, "Go into the whole world and poclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved;whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16 :15 - 16)

The thrust of this paper therefore is to assert that Evangelism though aimed at harvesting of non - Christians, there is also the need for Christians to be re - evangelised so as to be re -focussed to our calling as soldiers of Christ. It is hoped that when the above mentioned task is fulfilled, the Christian Church is most likely to experience the authentic growth that is worthwhile: physical and spiritual.

1. MR. FELIX ENEGHO is Lecturer on Church History at the Catholic Seminary of All Saints, in affiliation with the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.He is also a member of International Association for Mission Sudies as well as a .Ph.D Candidate in Christian Studies at the Lagos State University, Ojo -Lagos.

2. MR.CLETUS ENWEFAH is a student at the CATHOLIC SEMINARY OF ALL SAINTS, EKPOMA, EDO STATE , NIGERIA.