Reimagining Evangelism
The First Mark of Mission
At the Bishop’s Study Day held at St Michael and All Angels Church, Ledbury, on Saturday 13 September 2025, Bishop Richard Jackson of Hereford offered profound insights into the first Mark of Mission. His presentation challenged many of our assumptions about evangelism and pointed toward a more authentic way forward.
Evangelism remains one of the most challenging aspects of contemporary Christian life. While all traditions are called to this first Mark of Mission, many of us struggle with its practice. Too often, our role models have been off-putting, our language feels foreign to modern ears, and the wider culture views evangelistic efforts with suspicion or outright hostility.
Yet the call remains clear. As Jesus says in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” This commissioning points us beyond our discomfort toward a deeper understanding of what authentic evangelism looks like.
The Inner Life of Mission
True evangelism begins not with technique but with transformation—specifically, the cultivation of three crucial inner dispositions that mirror the life of Christ himself.
Dependence forms the foundation. Paul reminds us that Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:6-7). This same spirit of dependence characterizes effective evangelism. Like the disciples sent out as “lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:3), we acknowledge our vulnerability and need for divine strength. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:5 echo this reality—we carry this treasure in jars of clay, recognizing that our adequacy comes from God alone.
Security follows naturally from this dependence, but it must be the right kind of security. Too often we seek confidence in our background, education, or social status. True security, however, is rooted in the model of Jesus himself. Even hanging on the cross (Luke 23:21ff), Jesus maintained an unshakeable sense of identity and purpose. This God-given confidence allows us to approach others without defensiveness or the need to prove ourselves. As Romans 8:26 assures us, the Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t even know what to say. Where does our sense of security truly come from?
Empowerment completes this inner transformation. The same Spirit that descended at Jesus’s baptism (Luke 3) is breathed upon the disciples in John 20. This empowerment isn’t about human capability but about divine enablement. Jesus teaches us to ask for the Holy Spirit (Luke 11), recognizing that mission is fundamentally God’s work through willing vessels.
The Outward Expression of Mission
These inner dispositions naturally express themselves in three corresponding behaviors that characterize authentic evangelism.
Incarnational ministry challenges the typical “come to us” mentality that pervades much church thinking. Jesus was always going places—to tax collectors’ homes, Samaritan villages, and the margins of society. True evangelism requires us to leave our comfort zones and engage with people where they are, not where we wish they were.
Transformational presence operates through the dynamic of genuine friendship. People need to see something different in us—not perfection, but authenticity. The gospel should “leak out” naturally through our relationships and interactions. The question becomes: What difference does the presence of the Church make to the community? Are we adding value, bringing hope, and demonstrating love in tangible ways?
Proclamational witness calls us to change our mindset about communication itself. As Rowan Williams has observed, the gospel is news, not advice. We’re not offering helpful tips for better living but announcing what God has done in Christ. This shifts our approach from moral instruction to joyful testimony, from religious sales pitch to authentic witness.
Where Mission Takes Flight
True evangelism happens at the intersection of these six elements—three inner dispositions flowing into three outward behaviors. When dependence, security, and empowerment shape our incarnational, transformational, and proclamational witness, mission ceases to be an awkward duty and becomes a natural expression of who we are in Christ.
The first Mark of Mission isn’t about having the right answers or perfecting our technique. It’s about allowing the gospel to so transform us inwardly that it cannot help but overflow in authentic, loving engagement with the world around us. In this way, evangelism becomes not something we do but something we are—sent people living sent lives in the power of the Spirit.
Mark R D Long
This article was developed from notes taken at Bishop Richard Jackson’s presentation, with editorial assistance from Claude AI
Photo acknowledgment: P. K. Hartley-Davies (Google Maps: Ledbury Church | St Michael & All Angels; 2024)
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