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I have been pondering just how our views regarding God's grace has a direct relationship on how we share the Gospel. My own understanding of the Gospel is that it is 'good news' about the grace of God. The 'Gospel of Jesus Christ' and the 'Grace of God', to me, are one and the same.

If I have any thoughts that I somehow deserve eternal life by my performance as a believer, am I not confusing what grace is really all about ? I am saved by grace as it is a gift of God. It is a gift I don't deserve nor can I merit it through my deeds but rather something given me by the unmerited favor of God. If I could not merit the gift to receive it, can I merit it to keep it ?

In my experience in Anabaptism, and it is limited (10 years in an MB church), but knowing to some extent the various dozen or so other Anabaptists brands in our area, I don't see much enthusiasm for evangelism. The MB group I was with were leading the way, so to speak, and had ministries like the Alpha Course and other outreach programs. But, by and large, most Anabaptists/Mennonites in our area, outside of one or two more, basically were concerned with their own group and raising young people up in their tradition.

I'm wondering if this lack of evangelistic interest has some connection with one's view of grace. It seems to me although many might say that we cannot do good deeds to be born again, we must do enough good works to remain born again and therefore they view 'staying saved' more as some unspecified level of obedience we must pursue in 'fear and trembling' hoping that, in the end, we will be saved. And, by the way, this is not just Anabaptists.
Seems to me there are various Christian brands that take this approach. The focus then seems to become more on being obedient enough to qualify as saved. At that point it is confusing to me that eternal life then appears more earned rather than it being a gift. Then the focus is not so much to reach others with the Gospel but rather concentrate on 'staying saved' and trying to raise a family in that 'staying saved' environment.

I hope this is making sense as I try to express what I think I am observing.

In my experience, those who viewed grace as a gift of God that they really did not in any way deserve, were more focused on sharing this gift with others who are also non-deserving. They reached out to many unchurched and saw the miraculous conversion experiences that came with the message of grace (unmerited favor). My immediate family was one of these unchurched families. And upon their conversion, the focus on being a disciple was to share about this free gift of God as very primary. It was about this good news of God's grace. However, some of those same assemblies, over time, changed their focus to be more internally focused on sanctification and seemed to lose their outreach enthusiasm. It became all about who appeared the most Christian and along with that about 'hanging on' to one's own salvation.

Well, I ramble on but I would be interested in what others think and/or have experienced in this area and if they believe what we focus on in our local assemblies is related to our view of grace.

No one has responded to this thread but before it dies a couple more related thoughts came to me so I'll post them -

Speaking about the initial gift(s) we receive by the grace of God, I mentioned, eternal life and we also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And this gift of the Spirit provides me with many things - He is my helper, my comforter, my teacher, He knows my weaknesses, He is my advocate, He teaches me how to pray, He provides me with power, He gives me understanding about Jesus, He convicts me of sin, etc ,etc. Many, many things that we have access to through the Holy Spirit if we have the Spirit in us.

And how I understand and relate to these various aspects of having the gift of the Holy Spirit, I think is crucial to the degree that I will experience life in the Spirit. For instance, if I have faith to believe the Holy Spirit provides me with power over sin, I will receive this power over sin for it is by grace I receive through faith. Jesus said after the Holy Spirit comes upon us we shall receive power and be witnesses unto Him. If I have faith to believe this to be true, then I will experience this gift of power to witness. I will not be ashamed of the Gospel as it is the power of God unto salvation.
And also that this power is supernatural power, the same power that raised Christ from the dead and it brings life to our mortal bodies.

Well, I could go on and on but I guess I'm trying to say that who I believe I am in Christ and what Christ has given me as gifts of grace is how I will operate either as walking by faith in the gift of the Holy Spirit or walking by faith in my own power, understandings, abilities, contentment, peace, joy, etc, etc. I got up this morning thinking about this application of faith in what I believe about the Holy Spirit and realize I don't believe enough about what it all means to have this gift of the Holy Spirit. If I want to experience God's unmerited favor in a greater dimension, I need to meditate and believe
in what it means to have the Holy Spirit within me and act upon this by exercising faith in these truths.

Don't know who this word may be for besides myself but if anyone has anything to share on this subject, I would love to consider your understandings. And although I focused on grace and how it relates to evangelism, I don't mind bunny trails related to God's grace, the need for faith to have it operational and what you think about this power we have in the gift of the Spirit.

Not driving a wedge between believing and doing:

Good observations. I resist driving a wedge between believing and doing, so if Christians don't act like they believe in eternal torment, they probably don't, regardless of doctrinal statements. If we don't have much belief in the overwhelming grace of God that changes the undeserving, then we will not bother much with evangelizing people who don't seem deserving.

silentreader wrote:I would like to suggest that Scripturally there are two (types?) of grace, saving grace, which is the free unmerited grace God provides for our salvation, and enabling grace, which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, enables us to do the good works that God has prepared for us to do. Often there is focus on either one to the exclusion of the other, but I believe that for the Christian the two are inseparable.

KingdomBuilder wrote:

silentreader wrote:I would like to suggest that Scripturally there are two (types?) of grace, saving grace, which is the free unmerited grace God provides for our salvation, and enabling grace, which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, enables us to do the good works that God has prepared for us to do. Often there is focus on either one to the exclusion of the other, but I believe that for the Christian the two are inseparable.

Valid

silentreader wrote:I would like to suggest that Scripturally there are two (types?) of grace, saving grace, which is the free unmerited grace God provides for our salvation, and enabling grace, which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, enables us to do the good works that God has prepared for us to do. Often there is focus on either one to the exclusion of the other, but I believe that for the Christian the two are inseparable.

Josh wrote:I don't think there's a solid connection between lack of an evangelical view of grace and evangelism.

Nobody links salvation to grace more than Reformed people, but just like we Anabaptists, they often bemoan their lack of evangelism (using the term the "frozen chosen").