In some older studies of the science of missions, a distinction was made between missions and evangelism. Missions was that work of the church in bringing the Christian message to pagan nations that were "far away" from the church. Evangelism was thought to be that activity of the local church to their local community and neighbors (covenant-breakers living "close by"). Most recent discussions of missions and evangelism reject such a distinction if one thinks it to be airtight.

Missions developed out of a Latin word meaning "to send," while the word evangelism is derived from a Greek word meaning "good news." To the church Christ entrusted both a task and a message. The church is the Body of Christ that is sent forth to bring an announcement to all the nations of the world: the old era is now ended and ending because the kingdom of God has come near (cf. Mark 1:14,15). God sent His only-begotten Son into hostile territory where the population was engaged in breaking covenant with Him. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, takes the sin and guilt of God's elect upon Himself, dies under God's wrath, rises from the grave, and then ascends to the right hand of God, to the throne of the universe, waiting until all His enemies are made the footstool of His feet (cf. Hebrews 10:12,13). Thus sin, death, and Satan himself are defeated. The question then becomes, "How does this message get communicated to my neighbors? To the world? Where do we start?"

First of all, mission work is not strictly the work of the church in the sense of our pursuing a human invention. J.H. Bavinck says in his Introduction to the Science of Missions (p. 5) that the "work of missions is the work of God; it is not lawful for us to improvise. At each step we must ask what it is that God demands." Since the sinful rebellion of man in the Garden, God Himself has been on a mission to reclaim mankind and creation for Himself. Genesis 12:3 reveals that Abram is called out of Ur of the Chaldees so that God's blessing to him and his seed would cause blessing to go to all the families (nations) of the earth. Israel is that covenant people ("seed of Abraham") who are given the law at Sinai, and through Israel's life under the covenant, something of the light of God could shine forth to the nations. This is God's mission, and He uses the people that He delivers out of slavery first and brings to Himself (Exodus 19:4ff) to prepare for that mission.

When Jesus comes in the fullness of time, He comes to His own people first. Salvation is both from the Jews (John 4:22) and to the Jews first (Romans 1:16) in redemptive-history. The Lord came to evangelize His own covenant people. Missions starts with your own neighbors. In a North American context, this almost always means contact with people who may have some church background or affiliation (although even those connections continue to diminish). Although many of our neighbors may have some church background in their family history, they often are covenant-breakers or are indifferent to the Christian message. They either reject or neglect so great a salvation (Hebrews 2:3).

Luke 24:27 and Acts1:8 indicate that the message of the gospel of the kingdom of God must be preached to all, beginning in Jerusalem. Thus the Jewish people are historically the first ones to hear this good news. Romans 1:16 confirms this to be true. The Apostle Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles, to be sure, but his typical missionary and evangelistic' practice was to begin with the people who gathered at the synagogues of the cities that he visited. Jews and God-fearing Gentiles who attended the synagogue in the first century would have the greatest "points of contact" for Paul and the other earlier apostolic messengers. Preaching in a first century synagogue Is bringing good news to those heirs of the covenant. But then again, preaching on Mars' Hill in Athens also brings good news: good "theology" of the God who created everything and who will judge everyone through Jesus Christ, raised from the dead (Acts 17:22-31).

In the end, any airtight distinction between missions and evangelism does not really hold up. For the message is the same: Jesus Christ crucified and risen again on behalf of people who are dead in sins. He makes such people alive so that they might, by grace through faith, walk in God-ordained good works (cf. Eph. 2:8-10). The approach to be used with different people may well differ, given the covenantal background of the audience of the gospel message and the cultural setting of the nation being approached. But, to approach those who are nearby and those who are far away, we must. Says Bavinck (Introduction to the Science of Missions, p. 76), "And no matter how they may differ from one another, since missions has to do with the 'not yet,' and evangelization with the 'no more,' they are still the same, insofar as both are based upon the same calling of Christ and both are expressions of his compassionate love, which overshadows all sheep that have gone astray without a shepherd."