Can you preach the gospel of the kingdom of God by not preaching the gospel? Some people apparently think so.

Should Christians do "good deeds" in service to their fellow man? Of course. Do "good deeds" and humanitarian projects benefit people? Of course. Are they praiseworthy? Of course.

However, can you preach the gospel of the kingdom of God by not preaching words, but instead by doing "good deeds", including being involved in some humanitarian project? Some people apparently think so. They say things like "We preach the gospel of the kingdom of God by our deeds and not by words."

However, can you really preach the gospel by not preaching the gospel? I don’t think so.

You might be an example of the way of life that reflects the kingdom of God, but unless those around you hear and know what the kingdom of God is, they will be unable to associate what you do with the kingdom. For them, you may be no different than any number of people who serve others by their "good deeds", including serving in humanitarian projects. You are no different than members of other Christian churches with different beliefs, or even non-Christian believers or atheists who want to serve their fellow man – and do so in many cases, quite admirably! In fact, in years past this has been the case. Church of God groups served in some humanitarian effort side-by-side with others, some of whom were Christian believers, and some were not.

Can you preach the gospel of the kingdom of God with a "silent" – a non-verbal – gospel? I don’t think so.

Consider this: For the first 30 years of His life, Jesus Christ set a better example of Christian living than any of us do today, even though it is our desire to follow in His footsteps. We fall short, we make mistakes, etc. Now, how many disciples did Jesus make during the first 30 years of His life? Remember, He was living an exemplary life, including "good deeds". His example in those 30 years was far better than ours is today, try as we may.

So, how many disciples did He make in those first 30 years?

None!

When did He start to make disciples? When He started to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God!

How did He preach – by just continuing to set the perfect example He had already set for 30 years? No, He opened His mouth and preached! Read Mark 1:14-15 to see how Jesus started to preach.

You preach the gospel of the kingdom of God by preaching, not by being silent and doing "good deeds" even if those deeds are good and helpful.

If the thought exists within the church of God community that you preach the gospel via a silent gospel, then we have confusion. By all means do good deeds, serve in a humanitarian project if you can, but preach the gospel the only way it can be preached: by preaching it, just like Jesus did.