Balance in Evangelism

Not sure whether Christians should be doing relational evangelism, cold contact evangelism, or both? Here are some thoughts….

Questions & Answers about The Gospel & Evangelism
At Fellowship Raleigh

Part 1- Biblical Convictions concerning Evangelism

What is evangelism (simple definition)

“Declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ”

• Definition of Evangelism (Lausanne Gathering 1974)- “To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that as the reigning Lord he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe.”
• Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade)- Presenting Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.
• JI Packer- Preaching the Gospel (the evangel).
• John Stott- To announce the good news irrespective of results.

What Evangelism is NOT

• Evangelism is not imposition of our subjective beliefs. It is declaration of the objective truth of God’s Gospel.
• Evangelism is not personal testimony. A story that is only about what Jesus has done for you personally can easily fall short of declaring the Gospel and it’s implications upon those you are sharing with.
• Evangelism is not social action and mercy ministry. Being involved in mercy ministry is necessary for every Christian and it may serve to help commend and/or point to the Gospel, but it is not a replacement for declaring the Gospel in verbal or written form. A wordless Gospel is like a digit-less phone number.
• Evangelism is not apologetics. Giving apology (defense) for the Christian faith and worldview is a wonderful and necessary activity. There are many difficult questions in life and the Bible has some amazing answers. This is not the same as Evangelism where we simply declare the Gospel and it’s implications to our hearers.
• Evangelism is not the results of evangelism. We are to be faithful to declare the Gospel and God does the work of converting. Our aim in evangelism is to see a person convert, but it is imperative to realize that a person can be very faithful in evangelism and not see any converts. (this section thanks to Mark Dever)

What exactly is the Gospel? (4 Essentials)

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” – 1 Corinthians 15:3-5

(1) The Gospel is a message about God.
o There is a holy God who created all things and us, to whom we owe our existence, and to whose standards we are accountable. (Genesis 2:7, Acts 17:24-26, 31, Rev. 4:11).
(2) The Gospel is a message about Mankind and our sin.
o All men and women have sinfully rebelled against God and are alienated from God and deserving of nothing but eternal death and punishment (Romans 3:10-12, 23, 6:23).
(3) The Gospel is a message about the person and work of Jesus Christ
o God the Son Jesus Christ humbly took on a human nature and came to us in person, lived a perfect life, healed many, preached the Gospel, and willfully died on a cross in our place, paying the penalty for our sins, he was buried, and he was raised victorious over death and sin (Isaiah 53:5-6, Romans 5:8, 1 Cor. 15:3-5).
(4) The Gospel is a message about responding with faith and repentance.
o The Gospel commands a response of repentance and faith. According to Scripture the promise of salvation comes along with these responses (John 1:12, 3:16, Acts 2:38, Romans 10:9, 2 Cor. 7:10, Eph. 2:8).

Who is supposed to do evangelism? Are we all commanded to?

Every individual Christian (the universal church) should be engaged in evangelism. (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, 8:4). This is clearly NOT an activity that is just for trained Pastors and professional evangelists.
In addition to effectively organizing to engage in evangelism, specific Christian communities (local churches) bear witness to the Gospel with their love, unity, and distinct living (John 17:21, 1 John 4:12, Philippians 2:15). Ordinary Christians laboring in planting, building up, and serving within healthy local churches is a very real way of contributing toward the call of evangelism.

How does belief in predestination effect evangelism?

Predestination (Romans 8:30) simply means that our all-knowing God has already chosen those who will believe the Gospel. A belief in predestination should never hinder or slow evangelism, rather it should comfort and motivate evangelism. We are comforted because the results are ultimately up God and not us. God gets all the credit and we get none! We are motivated because (a) We do not know who is predestined and so we labor in evangelism to all people, and (b) We recognize that God desires to carry out his sovereign plan through his people- as instruments- and we must be obedient to this.

Part 2- Methodology Concerning Evangelism

What diversity of methods do we see for doing evangelism IN the Bible?

• Evangelistic Religious Teaching that starts in the Old Testament (Acts 7)
• Evangelistic Intellectual Teaching that references culture (Acts 17)
• Evangelistic Miracles that show the power of God (Acts 13:11)
• Distinct living leading to sharing the Gospel (Acts 16)
• Divine Appointments that lead to Gospel presentations (Acts 8, Phil. 1)
• Letters written to individuals and groups (Luke, Epistles)
• Evangelism to one’s family (2 Tim. 3)
• One on one conversations (John 3)
• Small group conversations (Acts 16)
• Large gatherings in the thousands (Acts 2)
• When it is against the law or rules (Acts 4:21)

Are there right and wrong methods for doing evangelism?

Of course like anything there are right and wrong methods. The Bible, proper theology, and a clear grasp of the Gospel ought to drive our methods in evangelism more than any other factor (i.e. personality type, cultural mood, negative past experiences with evangelism). It is important to have a right methodology, it is also VERY important to recognize that there is more than one right methodology.

What are the different contemporary methods for evangelism?

• Evangelistic Crusades and/or church services
• Evangelistic Small Groups/Bible Studies
• Street preaching
• Contact/Street Evangelism with tracts
• Personal/Relational Evangelism

Should we seek to lead others in the sinner’s prayer?

The sinner’s prayer is the simple suggested prayer that someone may want to pray to express faith and repentance to Jesus for the first time after hearing the Gospel. This may be very appropriate and meaningful so long as the person clearly realizes that it is Jesus (not their prayer) that saves them. This method has been used irresponsibly in times past to lead people to false assurance, namely that their prayer saved them regardless of how they live the rest of their life. Using the sinner’s prayer depends on the person and the situation and wisdom is the key.

What is the relationship between discipleship and evangelism?

Evangelism is not the precursor to discipleship, rather it is clearly the first step in discipleship. Furthermore it is difficult to ever completely separate evangelism and discipleship. The parallel passage to Matthew 28:18-20 “go…make disciples… of all nations” is Mark 16:15, which says, “go…proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” The goal of all evangelism is discipleship and discipleship is centered around believing and applying the Gospel!

Should culture determine our methods for evangelism?

In the Scriptures we see the evangelism method adapt to the ministry context. Of course the Gospel message never changes. The goal of contextualization/relevance is simply for the culture to understand the Gospel. The goal should not be to remove the offense of the Gospel or to see the culture like us and think we’re cool.

Should “ripeness” of a culture influence evangelistic strategy?

Sowing is a common metaphor used by Jesus and Paul in the New Testament. In his book “Finding Common Ground” Tim Downs defines sowing as “the long, slow, behind the scenes process of preparing an individual, or an entire culture, to be able to hear and believe the Gospel.” Downs argues that our Western post-Christian culture is not in a “harvest season,” and therefore every Christian should identify their field and begin sowing. The key farm tools for sowing according to Downs are: 1) Questions, 2) Agreements/Common Ground, and 3) Your life.
Downs thoughts are extremely helpful and important for us to consider. However, the Bible seems to clearly speak of us living in the last days, repeatedly commands us to evangelize, and Jesus said “lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.” Were the Samaritans a more ripe cultural soil than the post-Christian West?
In conclusion, it seems wise that every Christian should be faithfully seeking to sow and harvest for the Gospel in their sphere of influence. The ripeness of culture should influence but not completely drive our strategies for evangelism.

Should we have Sunday service altar calls for evangelism?

• It may be appropriate and extremely meaningful for a new believer to publicly demonstrate their desire to repent and believe in Jesus Christ upon hearing the Gospel in a corporate gathering. There is no strong Biblical evidence for or against this practice. We must be careful that we are responsible, not using manipulative means to coerce premature decisions to follow Jesus Christ. We must also be clear that “walking the aisle” does not save, but only Jesus saves by grace through faith, and we must keep walking with Jesus in perseverance!