Which Comes First?

We have all heard of the conundrum expressed as follows: “Which came first – the chicken or the egg?” Described by many as the causality dilemma, the thinker gets caught on the fact that each side of the dilemma is dependent on the other as a cause. The chicken could not exist without coming from the egg, yet the egg could not exist without being laid by the chicken. [NOTE: Thankfully, Scripture settles the causality dilemma; God made the chicken! (See Genesis 1:20-21.)]

Contemplating the strategic advance of the gospel as it has sequentially developed in the Church Age does open the door for its own causality dilemma. Which comes first – the evangelist or the church? Examining the starting point at Pentecost when the followers of Jesus were baptized as the church and then empowered to be witnesses, it would seem that the sequence is "church precedes evangelism." Yet, looking deeper into the book with the missionary journeys of Paul, it seems that the evangelist first secured entrance to a city bearing the gospel, and those who responded in faith to his message then assembled as a local body; the sequencing then is reversed as “evangelism precedes church.”  

So, which comes first? Should believers be so moved to declare the gospel that the establishment of a church is merely the fruitful byproduct of evangelistic enterprise? Or should believers engage in a strategic campaign of establishing churches as centers from which evangelistic enterprise can effectively penetrate local harvest fields?

It would seem that a case can certainly be made for the sequencing of “evangelism precedes church.” The simple organic overflow of a mobilized believer saturating his given geographic location with the gospel would be so effective that eventually, assembling the numbers won to Christ would dictate the birthing of a new church. Let’s say the initial work of the evangelist produced a harvest of fifty souls, saved and discipled. Afterward, if over a single year, those same fifty believers each won a soul to Christ, in five years, the assembly of saints would be 250. Add in the family statistical components that these numbers would logically represent, which translates to a reasonable minimum of 500 people identifying with that core of witness. At this point, the ability to intentionally generate other assemblies is self-evident for what would hopefully be a sustained model of reproduction. More souls evangelized leads to more saints being assembled – hence, "evangelism precedes church."

Yet, a case can also be made for the sequencing of “church precedes evangelism.” This perspective relies on the corporate nature of the witness being inserted into a given location. Whereas a man like Paul secured individual entrance to a field, it can be equally maintained that an entire body of witnesses can be inserted into a given location. By default, a fully operational plurality of believers represents a fuller range of spiritual gifting, personal capability, and relational scope. Establishing a church creates a center for the Great Commission activity needed in a given location. The impact for the gospel thus is generated by the church seeking to saturate its community with its witness for Christ. This sequence has significant potential in regard to broader geographic coverage in shorter periods of time. The strategic, organized agenda to penetrate locations with churches logically covers multiple areas needing a gospel influence. Gospel impact also benefits from a larger base of diversified witness embodied in each of the witnesses comprising the planted assembly, who in turn create more relation contact within its harvest field.

Now that the Church Age has recorded the two-millennium timestamp, the sequencing question is most likely moot. Far more concerning to the Great Commission plan today is that evangelistic enterprise is occurring at all versus the question of which comes first. The strategy for some locations may demand an individual presence to open a community for incarnational Christian witness. Pioneering evangelists penetrating utterly pagan cultures are championed in the stories of William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson, etc. Yet other geographic communities profile differently, as they will more readily view the corporate embodiment of a Christian witness as credible in the form of a spiritual community dwelling among those at large. It is significant to note that there was a plurality of Christian presence that introduced the gospel to the city of Antioch (Acts 11:19-20).

So when it comes to reaching the world for Christ in this age, there really is no causality dilemma. To advance the gospel in today’s world, both individual and corporate witness are needed like never before. May God raise up from among us both spiritually empowered evangelists and spiritually empowered churches!

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