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Evangelism in the Early Church

Evangelism in the Early Church Book Cover Evangelism in the Early Church, Michael Green, Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids MI, (1970) 2004. ISBN: 0-8028-2768-3.

I have deliberately refrained from defining the scope of this study too precisely. It concentrates on the New Testament period because of its normative importance for all subsequent evangelism. But I felt that it would be a mistake to leave the matter at the end of the New Testament period. I have, therefore, carried it through until about the middle of the third century, taking in roughly the 200 years stretching from St Paul to Origen…[I do not] make any attempt here to give a comprehensive account of the mission of the Church in the broad sense. I have tried to stick closely to evangelism in the strict sense of proclaiming the good news of salvation to men and women with a view toward their conversion to Christ and incorporation into his Church.

I believe that a study of evangelism, even in this restricted sense is of real significance for our day. If it can help us to understand afresh the gospel these early Christians preached, the methods they employed, the spiritual characteristics they displayed, the extent to which they were prepared to think their message through in the light of contemporary thought forms, to proclaim it to utmost of their power, to live it, and to die for it, then a study such as this might, perhaps, be of some service towards recalling the Church in our own day to her primary task.