The Theology of Missions

Evangelist wherein the Evangelist then follows into the role of the Apologist in defense
of their faith with the hope that Evangelism may be restarted. Since missionaries often
travel to areas or people groups where Jesus is not yet known, they frequently take on
an evangelistic role. But the apostolic or missionary calling is not necessarily the same
(and it is a misnomer and misinterpretation to equate them), as there are many who
serve in missionary, church planting, and ministry development roles who have an
apostolic calling or serve in an apostolic role but whose primary duty is not evangelism.
Evangelism in Vatican II Documents
Catholic Evangelism
In the very first sentence of its Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, the Vatican
II Council affirmed that Christ had sent the Church to preach the gospel to every
creature (LG 1; cf. Mk 16:15). Evangelism is a theme in multiple Vatican II documents.
These documents mentioned “gospel” 157 times, “evangelize” 18 times, and
“evangelization” 31 times.
New Evangelization
For several decades, the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church has been
promoting a theme of New Evangelization. This includes re-evangelism of Christian
people as well mission Ad gentes to reach new regions and cultures.
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