How should we do outreach? When should we proclaim the gospel, and when should we reach out in acts of love and kindness? Is there any particular order in which we should do them?

To answer these questions, many rightly point to the example of Christ. In his public ministry, Jesus befriended sinners so much that his enemies called him “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19, Luke 7:34). He mingled closely with the very ones who were despised by the self-righteous religious leaders of his day. This fact, many say, teaches us that Christ went out of his way to build friendships with the lost. Since we should follow Christ’s example, we should also strive to build relationships with unbelievers around us.

Certainly we should strive to follow Christ’s example when possible. To do so, however, we need to make sure we realize the full extent of what he did. In other words, if we say we are going to follow Christ’s example, then we’d better go all the way with it, at least with respect to the areas of his ministry that we are able to imitate. Although we don’t perform miracles such as multiplying loaves and fishes, curing the blind, raising the dead, and healing the sick, there are two major aspects of his ministry that we can, in fact, imitate: preaching and relationships. The challenge for us is to avoid elevating one of these over the other.

When we examine Christ’s ministry carefully, we can see that his mingling with the unrighteous was always accompanied by preaching and teaching. Jesus’ verbal ministry received equal emphasis alongside of his mercy ministry. His teaching on the kingdom of God and the gospel was never crowded out by his relationships. On the contrary, the relationships were always developed in the context of his teaching ministry, not apart from it. In fact, there is strong evidence that he regarded his preaching as the main reason for his ministry:

And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” (Mark 1:38, ESV)

Let’s follow Christ’s example faithfully, reaching out in both word and deed. Mercy ministry without the verbal proclamation of the gospel is not evangelism, while preaching the gospel without acts of mercy is failing to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:10, ESV). Although it’s not always possible to do both, we should strive to keep this twofold goal uppermost in our minds as we do outreach.