Italy: biblical evangelism

The 2013 Giornate Teologiche was held at IFED in Padova (Padua) on September 6-7.

There was a time when the word ‘evangelism’ was spoken by evangelicals alone and its meaning was defined, i.e. the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ to a lost world. These days are gone. Nowadays Roman Catholics are talking about the ‘new’ evangelisation and its meaning has become blurred. Moreover, evangelicals seem to put less emphasis on the verbal communication of the gospel, preferring ‘different’ methods of evangelisation. This generation, therefore, has the responsibility to clarify afresh what evangelism is and how to do it.

This was the central concern of the conference. Nearly 250 people, most of whom were young leaders from various church backgrounds, took part at the 26th annual conference, an impressive record for a theological initiative in a minority situation. The goal of the Giornate is to nurture biblical thinking which is not afraid of dialoguing with other viewpoints. Daily life is confronted with the need to cultivate the Christian faith in an apologetic context and the Giornate model a faithful way of responding to such a task.

The main speaker of the conference was Chris Castaldo of the Billy Graham Center (Wheaton College). In two stimulating sessions, he provided a biblical overview of evangelism which is centred on the death and resurrection of Jesus and practical hints for personal and church life. A panel discussion between Leonardo De Chirico and a Catholic scholar centred on the meaning of the ‘new’ evangelisation. This Catholic initiative is based on the conviction that those who are baptised are already saved and the ‘new’ evangelisation is a tool to call them back to the Roman Catholic church.

On the contrary, biblical evangelism assumes that people without Christ are lost and in desperate need of a Saviour. Other round tables saw pastors, church planters and evangelists share about their experiences in evangelism. Another session had a more historical flavour and focussed on the relationship between evangelism and revival in the history of the church. In this respect, Collin Hansen of the Gospel Coalition presented his book on revival, which was recently translated. A final session revolved around the opportunities and challenges for evangelism through the media.

The conference highlighted the need for the church to be confident in the power of the gospel for salvation. While we should always be ready to exegete our culture in order to find windows of opportunity, the gospel must be at the centre of our evangelisation.