Evangelism Coach

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Here is a great article about Jesus doing evangelism from Baptist Press. No formulas, no methodologies, and never a “sinner’s prayer.” Jesus spoke to all kinds of people, and treated each as a real person.

Speaking of conversations, Darrell Davis points out how many conversations that Jesus had.

Out of 132 contacts that Jesus had with people recorded in the New Testament, 6 were in the temple, 4 were in the synagogue, and 122 were out in the mainstream of life. (Adapted from Why Christians Sin, by J.K Johnson, Discovery House, 1992)

As evangelists, we need to make sure that we are regularly engaging people outside of the church. Most of us freely admit that after being a Christian for a few years, we find our social circles have changed to mostly Christians.

Be Blessed. . .. .

Popularity: 17% [?]

One of the things that is stressed in our teaching is watching for those moments where you can plant a seed in a natural sort of conversation.

The encounter
Today, I was returning a phone call to a stranger seeking to buy one of my items from craigslist. We had spoken a few days earlier to make arrangements to pick up the item but plans fell thru. During today’s conversation, I was told that her dad had a medical emergency and that our little transaction was the “furthest thing from her mind.”

Here was a relational context — we were already conducting a business transaction. But with this crisis in her life, I offered to pray with her on the phone. I said, “I know you don’t know anything about me. Would you like me to pray with you about your Dad?”

Her response: “I don’t do the religious thing. Thanks, but no.” With that, the conversation came to an abrupt and awkward end.

What happened?
Did I plant a seed? Don’t know. Did I accomplish anything for the kingdom? Don’t know. Will my question irritate like salt in a wound? Don’t know. Did I have an evangelistic moment? Don’t know. It had potential. Can God do something with it? You bet.

When I offer to pray with people in response to something they have shared with me, usually they accept and I get to pray. I trust the Spirit of God to show me how to pray and sometimes, the direction of prayer goes straight to the heart. It often leads to further conversation, and sometimes I’m asked “How did you know to pray for that?” (word of knowledge, perhaps?)

Sometimes, I get to follow up with people and see how things turned out, and have the chance to ask the question: “Do you think our praying had anything to do with that?” “Could God have answered your prayer?” That leads to further opprotunities and so on.

The point:
I’ve learned to take the risk and offer to pray with people when they make small talk about some crisis the story of the life. Strangers, friends, business partners — doesn’t matter. I take the risk and ask “Can I pray with you now?”

It may be one piece (of many) that God will use to bring people to Himself and show Himself at work. You may not know how a person will respond, or where it will go, but the point is, take the risk.

Let me ask you this?
When did you last interrupt your busy day to offer and pray with a person who casually shared a crisis in the story of their life during small talk?

Popularity: 23% [?]

A question that I’m asked often when teaching is “what is postmodernism?” It’s a term I throw around loosely, since that’s just part of my worldview. I’ve used it several times in this blog already and will continue to do so.

But often, my audience has only heard the word, not ever having thought about just what it is. I offer a few characteristics of it, such as relativity, spirituality and community, cafeteria style assembly of your personal worldview. I’ve not tried to define it, because its much easier to describe than define.

The web is full of much explanations, attempts at definitions, neither of which I will even attempt here. I came across a great article in the Presbyterian Outlook that does a pretty good job of describing postmodernism. If you can follow the link without registering, I hope you can read it.

Here is the description proposed there:

Postmodernity is a paradoxical worldview that flows from a modernist worldview
and is characterized by a shift in culture that moves from being scientific,
analytical, institutional, and mechanical to one driven by the mystical,
experiential, relational, and organic.

Presbymergent offers further comment on the article. To quote:

I found Bruce’s article in The Outlook incredibly helpful. For one, he has crystallized the “Postmodern” church—as much as something postmodern can be fixed—succinctly . . . . I believe Bruce summed it up with the simple phrase, “Jesus loves us.” This understanding, of course, transcends cultural shifts.

Jesus loves me!
Getting lost in the love of Jesus, experiencing it in its richeness, exploring its depths as we read the Word and meditate on it, gets us lost in the wonder of worship. We can describe it, we can experience it.

My favorite Spanish worship song by Jesus Adrian Romero contains the line “Si no fuera por tu gracia y por tu amor” which translates, “if it wasn’t for your grace and your love.” None of our pursuits for God, none of our worship, none of our evangelism and good works would matter to a hill of termites if it wasn’t for God’s grace — shown in His love for us.

I’m firmly convinced that experiencing God’s love propels us towards evangelism. Guilt compels, grace propels.

I can’t fully describe postmodernism. I can only disclose that I am a post modern. I don’t have all the right vocabulary, all the right connections, but this I do know — post modernism is here to stay . . . at least for a while.

Popularity: 22% [?]

In one of the Part 3 on evangelism defintions, we looked a little at the distinction between actions and words in evangelsim.

John Stott speaks a little on social action and evangelism. Here is an excellent summary at Timmy Brister’s blog. I’ve not met him, but thought it was a good summary for us to think about it.

Just food for thought . . . .

Popularity: 10% [?]

For more in our series “What is evangelism?”
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

More definitions 1
More definitions 2

Over on PomoMusings, a discussion about the evangelism and gospel soliciting reader definitions is in progress. I’ve enjoyed the discussion over there and encourage you to take a peek.

Other Definitions:
Lusanne Covenant: Proclamation of the historical biblical Christ as Savior and Lord with a view to persuade others to come to him personally and so be reconciled unto God.

Dr. Temple: To present Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit that people shall come to put their trust in God

Dr. J.I. Packer: Evangelism is just preaching the gospel. . . . the work of communication in which Christians become God’s mouth piece to sinners and summoning for conversion.

David Hester: Evangelism, in Reformed tradition, is the church’s work of proclaiming the gospel in word and deed, inviting persons to participate in the grace of God and to join in the mutual care and public ministry of the community of God’s covenant people…unfortunately, evangelism has, so to speak, fallen among thieves in the church where it has been ‘beaten and robbed’ by an unfortunate constricting of its meaning to either a fundamentalist theology, a revivalist style of preaching, or a congregational campaign for new members.” (How Shall We Witness?: Faithful Evangelism in a Reformed Tradition?)

American Baptist Churchs USA:Evangelism is the joyous witness of the people of God to God’s redeeming love, which urges repentance and reconciliation to God and each other through faith in Jesus Christ–who lived, died, and was raised from the dead. Through renewal with Jesus, believers are empowered by the Holy Spirit and incorporated into the church for worship, fellowship, nurture, and engagement as disciples in God’s mission of evangelization and liberation within society and creation, signifying the Kingdom that is present and yet to come. (Official definition of evangelism, adopted by American Baptist Churches USA in 1984).

Evangelism Connections lists a bunch of phrases regarding evangelism.

- sharing the “Good News” of Jesus Christ.

- bringing to people the love of God.

- telling the good news, being the good news, and doing the good news.

- making disciples for Christ.

- the good news of Jesus Christ.

- the sharing and joyous witness of the people of God.

- the primary mission of the body of Christ, the church.

- proclaiming the “Good News” of Christ, crucified and risen.

- a spiritual journey of formation and transformation.

- the joyous witness of the people of God to God’s redeeming love.

- joyfully sharing the good news of the sovereign love of God.

- leading persons to receive and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

-helping people discover their faith in Christ.

-Sharing Christian hope and hospitality.

- the peculiar task of the Church to communicate the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ.

Popularity: 25% [?]

I appreciate some of the comments received so far. I’ll wrap up the discussion by simply highlighting the last part of the definition that I use.

To restate:

Joyfully sharing the good news of the sovereign love of God, and calling people to repentance, to personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, to active membership in the church, and to obedient service in the world.

There is a four fold invitation described in this definition: Calling people to

1. to repentance
2. to personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord
3. to active membership in the church
4. To obedient service in the world.

Most models of evangelism that I’m familiar with focus almost exclusively on 1 and 2 above.

Evangelists and missionaries hit the streets with their tracts, acts of compassion, drama teams, go door to door, to the parks, and then record “decisions for Christ” on their papers somewhere and send their supporters the good news. Sometimes, a name or phone number is collected with the idea being that it’ll be given to a local pastor and hopefully, there will be some integration into a local church. I don’t know if anyone has ever done a count of those that never got connected to a church.

I’ve been around long enough and done this long enough to see that such methods focus so much on the decision, instead of a more holistic approach of integrating a person into the fellowship of a church and renewing them to serve the world.

I’ve been guilty of focusing on decisions without the integration to a local church in the past, and now I prefer to do church based evangelistic events or to work with a church that is doing evangelism.

Active membership is a theological term from our form of government (PC USA), but the idea is clearly active involvement in a local church.

Calling for repentance and decision to accept Christ is part of the process of evangelism. Thus begins the disciple making process, and it begins with getting connected to a local church for service to the world. Let’s not forget that as we do our evangelism.

Let me ask you this?
How vital is a church connection to you in your evangelism practices?

For more in our series “What is evangelism?”
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

More definitions 1
More definitions 2

Popularity: 21% [?]

After returning from Panama, its time to continue developing our working definition of Evangelism.

To restate:

What we share is all about the good news of God’s sovereign love. In the Christian circles I run in, most of us would agree this refers to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the solution for our separation from God.

Joyfully sharing the good news of the sovereign love of God, and calling people to repentance, to personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, to active membership in the church, and to obedient service in the world.(Definition adopted by the 202nd General Assembly of the PCUSA, 1990).

Part 3
focused on the activity of sharing, while today’s focus on is on the content of what we are sharing: the good news of the sovereign love of God.

 

But the good news is more than that fact. So often we neglect the sovereignty of God.

God’s sovereign love pursues us before we ever know Him.
God’s sovereign activity makes us aware of our need for the salvation he provides.
God’s sovereign love provides the solution and enables us to receive that offer.
God’s sovereign love continues to pursue us as we walk on the path of discipleship.

Sovereign over the process as well
Since evangelism is a process that occurs over time, it’s the sovereignty of God that gives me comfort in the fact that I’m just one part of God’s pursuit. Every conversation I have is part of God’s process in the life of the person I share with. I might have the part of planting a seed, watering what someone else has sown, or harvesting what others of planted, watered, and sown. Whether with a stranger on the street, or a long term friend, any conversation prompted by the Holy Spirit is one conversation in the process of God’s work.

Some presentations want to do all three parts (plant, water, and harvest) all at one time, and guilt driven methodologies make the evangelist feel responsible for lack of response, mistake in the script, or even lack of a complete presentation. But God’s sovereignty frees us from that guilt. It’s God’s sovereignty that draws people to faith, awakens their spirit, and helps one to respond to the offer of grace. We are simply a tool in the proclamation.

Let me ask you this:
What role do you see about God’s sovereignty in evangelism?

For more in our series “What is evangelism?”
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

More definitions 1
More definitions 2

Popularity: 30% [?]