Philosophy of Evangelism

Purpose of Evangelism

God has saved us and given us the command to “go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:18-20). The beginning of that process is evangelism. Evangelism glorifies God by exposing man’s sin and subsequent need for forgiveness and inability to obtain it on his own. The Gospel reveals the kindness of the Father to have sent the Son, Jesus Christ, who lived the perfectly obedient life (Matthew 5:17) we should have lived and died the death we should have died taking God’s wrath upon Himself for the sins of man. He rose again on the third day and after appearing the Disciples He ascended into Heaven. (Acts 2:22-35). He has promised to come again one day at which time He will judge the world in righteousness. All who are found not having repented and believed will be eternally judged (Acts 1:11; 17:31). Those who will obey the Gospel call to “repent and believe” (Mark 1:15) have the promise of God that they shall be forgiven, granted eternal life, receive the Holy Spirit within them, justified, and made Holy on the merits of Christ alone (John 3:16)

Evangelism is part of our worship to God and it is only a part of obeying the Great Commission. The Great Commission’s command is to “go,” that’s evangelism and “make disciples,” that’s the work we do afterward. As God graciously grants some from among those to whom we witness to repent and believe the Gospel it is our duty to take them under our wing and help them learn the great truths of Scripture so that they grow to themselves become disciple makers. It is not the function of evangelism to make converts because we cannot make a convert. Salvation is of the Lord and God alone brings conversion by the work of the Holy Spirit. We have no way of knowing who will and will not respond to the Gospel because that knowledge is kept for God alone. Our job is to preach the Gospel to all and trust God for the results. Our goal in evangelism must be to point all towards Christ in the hopes that they will respond by asking what they must do to be saved.

METHOD OF EVANGELISM

In Scripture there is no reference found for “asking Jesus into your heart,” “accepting Jesus,” or “praying the sinner’s prayer.” What is replete throughout the Scriptures is the command from God to repent and believe, to receive the good news of the Gospel by faith. If there is to be any model of a sinner’s prayer to be found in Scripture it would have to come from Psalm 51:1-12 or Luke 18:13. We do affirm that a prayer to God from the individual seeking His forgiveness and salvation is Biblical and necessary. What we reject is the idea that there is a special set of words which, when repeated sincerely enough, will save someone.

Friendship evangelism is only beneficial when the relationship begins with the upfront earnestness that your goal is to first share the Gospel with them and then build a friendship that demonstrates the results of the Gospel in your own life. To do so the other way around is at best a disingenuous motive for beginning a relationship. Nowhere in Scripture do we find anyone building a friendship with the hopes of earning the right to share the Gospel with that person. On the contrary we find that relationships are begun with the Gospel and built on that solid foundation of Christ.

The testimony of Scripture is clear that God’s intention for the Law (the 10 commandments) is the primary means used by the Holy Spirit to bring conviction of sin. The law must be used in our evangelism to bring humility and conviction to the proud. The Law must precede the Gospel so that sin is understood by God’s terms (Romans 7:7). Within that outline many methods or approaches of evangelism may be employed so long as the law is used, the Gospel is not watered down, and the promise of the Gospel is not distorted. The promise of the Gospel is not that God has a wonderful plan for your life. The Gospel promise IS that Jesus has died to forgive and set people free from the bondage of sin granting them eternal life in Himself and giving them His Spirit to convict, comfort, and guide.

Philosophy of Evangelism

Purpose of Evangelism

METHOD OF EVANGELISM

What is the Gospel?

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