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transcendent and the mundane and the need to be born again are part of the meaning of conversion which has both individual as well as social aspects (Cant\u00F3n 1998: 208-9).\u000AAn ICV engineer affirms that \u2018evangelistic work involves social promotion and the spiritual and physical well-being of people, even their economic promotion\u2019. He emphasizes, \u2018in my experience of eighteen to twenty years of being a Christian, I have seen people arrive in truly precarious conditions and I have seen them progress socially and economically because they put into practice a lively Christian faith\u2019. He concludes later \u2018I see evangelism like part of the investment in human capital\u2019 (L6ICV). That is to say, his perception of evangelism shows a relationship between Christian faith and social improvement. It reflects an integral vision of what it means to be human.\u000AAccording to Chilean theologian Sep\u00FAlveda, a Pentecostal theologian, \u2018salvation\u2019 brings an experience of God as a result of evangelism, which invades and fills the believer\u2019s life and provides a new meaning which enables him to face his world. He notes that conversion affects the way the convert sees himself, his family and his reality within the context of his community (1994: 68-71). It is important to notice that in general the lay people do not use sociological categories to express their ideas about faith and their world. They express them and their surroundings in religious language.\u000AOne of the answers given by an informant when asked to define the difference between evangelism and social issues was particularly interesting. He indicated that, \u2018the aim of the church is evangelism and to make disciples [...] No one has ever preached on social issues, only to change the life of the people for the better\u2019. This phrase \u2018to change people\u2019s lives for the better\u2019 has a sociological dimension, but it not always seen as such. The social dimension is not described in sociological terms, but in religious language. Depending on the social strata in society the members will make their own interpretations and applications.\u000A244\u000A


































































































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