Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus (Building Healthy Churches)

5 min read

Short and light book on evangelism. I think it would be good if there was a book on just stories on how others have shared the gospel with others. I enjoyed reading those stories.

It begins with defining what is evangelism.

Those who do evangelism is doing better than those who wait till they feel like they are prepared.

Evangelism is teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade.

What response the hearer gives does not define whether or not you have evangelism successfully.

There’s no secret formula on how to share. The secret formula would just be to share it. Being aware of the other person and where they are at. Be bold and clear with the Gospel message. Do not lose heart and leave the response to God. Know that you are a part of God’s long term plan and that you can always have follow-ups even if you think. The tips given here is good. I don’t feel guilted to share the gospel more. The advice is well rounded, wholistic. Would recommend to any believers who want to be faithful be strengthened to share the Gospel.

The book emphasize that the church should have a future of evangelism. So much so that if someone invites their non-believer friends they can trust that the church would be “on-game” to grasp opportunities to witness.

Introduction

  • Humility in evangelism

    • “How many of you came to faith in churches that evangelized in ways that you would now reject?”
      • God is sovereign and would work in mysterious ways

  • Practicing evangelism as best as they can > those who wait until they have the best recipe

  • But we shouldn’t be informed by instant results, and we shouldn’t use tactics that deceive, or manipulate.

1. Of Alter Calls and Laser Lights

Evangelism is teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade

  • teaching

  • gospel (p. 33-34)

    • Who is God?
    • What is the human condition?
    • What is Christ do?
    • How do we get back to God?

  • aim

    • Everyone we interact with is head toward 2 directions

  • persuade (to convert)

    • but no manipulate
    • Knowing that conversion comes not from us but from God
    • All Christians are converts

  • Marks of conversion

    • Repentance and faith
    • Fruit: changed life

  • In a fire alarm those who heed the alarm and exit the building are true converts. Those that stood around are not.

  • ! notice that a respond from the person is not part of evangelism

2. A Culture of Evangelism

  • If personal evangelism is scary, do it together!

  • Evangelistic programs are not very effective for evangelism. Too expensive and time consuming

  • More people come to faith through friends and families than through evangelistic programs

  • A Culture of Evangelism

    1. A Culture Motivated by love for Jesus and His Gospel
    2. A Culture that is confident in the Gospel
    3. A Culture that understands the danger of entertainment
    4. A Culture that sees people clearly
      • made in the image of God
      • fallen
      • but can be reborn into new creatures
    5. A Culture that Pulls together as one
    6. A Culture in Which People Teach Each Other
    7. A Culture that models evangelism
    8. A Culture in which people who share their faith are celebrated
    9. A Culture that knows how to affirm and celebrate new life
      • “Hallelujah” and “We’ll See”
    10. A culture doing ministries that feels risky and dangerous
    11. A Culture that understands that the church is the chosen and the best method of evangelism

3 Connecting Church and a Culture of Evangelism

  • there are responsibilities of a church
  • And there are things that individuals of a church can do to evangelism
  • The responsibilities of evangelism shouldn’t be placed on to the church leaders only
  • Members should help so that church leaders can focus on being a church
    • Preaching of the word
    • Growth of members
    • To do this the member needs to trust in the culture of evangelism the church have
  • important to know what a church is

4. Intentional Evangelist in a Culture of Evangelism

  • We do different parts in evangelism
  1. Prepare our hearts, minds, and feet
    • Motivated to share
    • Equipped with the gospel
    • Available to unbelievers
    • “Churches are called to concentrate on God, individuals are called to be seeker sensitive”
  2. Understand a gospel-shaped way of life
    • The Gospel is not just a message, but also a way of life
  3. Slay or assumptions
    • Don’t assume that people at church knows the Gospel
    • Don’t assume that we don’t have preached, teach, or share the Gospel
    • Look for the gospel in bible studies and sermons
  4. See evangelism as a discipline
    • to plan for evangelism
  5. Pray
  6. When possible, give leadership in evangelism
    • Give people time to talk about evangelism
    • Ask people if they have had oppourtunity to evangelize regularly

5. Actually Sharing Our Faith

  • evangelism is good for us too. Sometimes we’re too focused on the others response. But when we share we get a better and fuller understanding of the Gospel as well
  • Good to listen and ask questions
  • Meet the person where they are
  • It’s easy to be discouraged thinking that you could have done better. But you can always ask to get a follow up conversation
  • be bold and clear in your Gospel presentation
  • Give yourself grace when you share the gospel. Many things can go wrong but trust Christ for the response
  • Have compassion and be tender hearted
  • Be intentional with your message
  • don’t lose heart
  • Look for open doors