A Code of Ethics for Christian Witness

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1. As Christians called by the Living God, we seek first of all to honor
Him and His ethical standards in all of our private and public lives,
including our efforts to persuade others to believe the good news about
Jesus Christ.

2. As Christian evangelists, we seek to follow the mandate, motives,
message, and model of our God who is always pursuing and reclaiming those
who are lost in sin and rebellion against Him.

3. We believe all people are created in God’s image and therefore endowed
with the capacity to be in relationship with their Creator and Redeemer.
We disavow any effort to influence people which depersonalize or deprive
them of their inherent value as persons.

4. Respecting the value of persons, we believe all people worthy of
hearing the gospel of this loving Lord Jesus Christ. We equally affirm the
inalienable right of every person to survey other options and convert to or
choose a different belief system.

5. We believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and affirm the role and goal
of the Christian evangelist. However, we do not believe that this
justifies any means to fulfill that end. Hence, we disavow the use of any
coercive techniques or manipulative appeals which bypass a person’s
critical faculties, play on psychological weaknesses, undermine
relationship with family or religious institutions, or mask the true nature
of Christian conversion.

6. While respecting the individual integrity, intellectual honesty, and
academic freedom of other believers and skeptics, we seek to proclaim
Christ openly. We reveal our own identity and purpose, our theological
positions and sources of information, and will not be intentionally
misleading. Respect for human integrity means no false advertising, no
personal aggrandizement from successfully persuading others to follow
Jesus, and no overly emotional appeals which minimize reason and evidence.

7. As Christian evangelists, we seek to embrace people of other religious
persuasions in true dialogue. That is, we acknowledge our common humanity
as equally sinful, equally needy, and equally dependent on the grace of God
we proclaim. We seek to listen sensitively in order to understand, and
thus divest our witness of any stereotypes or fixed formulae which are
barriers to true dialogue.

8. As Christian evangelists, we accept the obligation to admonish one who
represents the Christian faith in any manner incompatible with these
ethical guidelines.

(Revised by Doug Whallon from “A Code of Ethics for the Christian
Evangelist,” from original document compiled and edited by Dietrich Gruen.)