If we say that evangelism is 'more important' than, say, social action, it can imply a list of competing priorities. That is, it makes us imagine that there is a list of things that we must do; we put them in order; we work our way down the list, not doing the 'less important' things until we've done the 'more important' things.
But as I said before, this isn't the way the world works. There are all kinds of necessary things that we must do. Let me give one Biblical example. "Is evangelism more important than caring for your family?"
Paul would answer, "No." Certainly evangelism in the home is necessary. For example, we should speak with our children about Jesus: this is part of what it means to "bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). If we don't do this, we are living like unbelievers.
But the Apostle also says, "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (1 Timothy 5:8) If you create competition between 'evangelism' and 'caring for your family', then you present me with a dilemma: do I live like an unbeliever, or worse than an unbeliever?
One way we might slip into this competitive framework is if we think that evangelism (and the rest of the Christian life) primarily consists in attendance at church events. Now, suddenly, there is competition, because there are only so many events a church can host and only so many resources (time, money, effort, staff) that can be put into hosting them.
Within this framework, then it's true that you're going to have to decide whether to host explicitly evangelistic events, or marriage conferences, or Fair Trade stalls, or kids' clubs, or...
But this isn't the only way to do evangelism and the rest of the Christian life. In fact, most evangelistic opportunities arise in the course of ordinary life. I'll explore that futher in another post.
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