From Shade to Sun: Jonah, the Church, and the Call to Evangelism

The Church has long struggled with prioritizing pastoral comfort and internal preservation over outward evangelistic mission, a tension vividly illustrated through the narrative of Jonah's withering plant (Jonah 4:6–11). Drawing on Paul's articulation of the five-fold ministry in (Ephesians 4:11-12), the office of the evangelist has been systematically marginalized in contemporary Christian practice, while the roles of pastor and teacher remain disproportionately emphasized. Through engagement with Scripture, patristic sources, and reformed theologians, distractions rooted in speculation, tradition, and self-preservation, warned against in (1 Timothy 1:4) and (Hosea 4:6), are shown to have dulled the Church's evangelistic zeal and boldness (parrésia). The plurality of spiritual gifts (charismata) as described in (1 Corinthians 12:1-7; Romans 12:6-8) is further explored, affirming that all gifts are given not for self-service but for the building up of the body of Christ and the advancement of the missio Dei. Concluding with the charge of (2 Timothy 4:5), the Church is called to move from the temporary shade of comfort and tradition into the light of its God-given mission, to proclaim a gospel that is signed by divine authority, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and delivered to the world.