Evangelism Coach

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This week, I attended a committee meeting on evangelism. As the committee makeup changes over with new members coming on and serving members rotating off every few years, the committee will brainstorm again the answer to the question “what is evangelism?” It is a helpful process since those who volunteer to serve on the committee comes with their own understanding of evangelism.

We did that little brainstorming exercise with post-its. One idea per note, grouping the notes into relative categories. It didn’t take long before we got into very healthy discussions over nuances, meanings, and shades of understanding.

There are many definitions of evangelism. Searching the web and my library for definitions, I find some are so wide to cover anything related to growing a church, some are so narrow as to the only three correct points in a scripted outline to a stranger, and some are in between. It’s not my point here to list them all.

Here is the one I use:

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).

I use this one for many reasons.

 

• I am a Presbyterian pastor and its helpful to appeal to our higher authority (General Assembly).
• It’s theologically rich.
• It includes the activity of sharing, the content of the sovereign love of God, and a fourfold call to committment.
• It goes beyond the “say-a-prayer” types, and sees the fruit of evangelism as integration into a church and outworking as a disciple.

Over the next few posts, I’ll be sharing more about this definition and what it means. In the meantime,

Let me ask you this?
How would you define 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

For Part II, I want to examine the opening phrase of my working definition of evangelism.

“Joyfully sharing”

Do you have a faith worth sharing?
Think about something that excites you – aren’t you are propelled to share it with others? Good news cannot stay silent. As one of my teachers once said, “Good news travels faster.”

I am enthusiastic about Starbucks coffee, and people who know me first hand, know that I use it as a second office. I’m always happy to meet people at Starbucks and drink their product at home. Get me talking about coffee, and I’m often talking about Starbucks. I even have a Starbucks apron I bought off Ebay to use while I cook dinners at home.

But another coffee that I enjoy talking about is from my friend’s finca in Nicaragua. Esperanza Coffee grows and processes its own coffee and imports it to the United States. I buy their coffee for personal use at home and give bags of it away to my business clients. I promote their product where I go – with great joy. You can read more about Esperanza and order your own coffees here.

When it comes to our faith, faith is not a product to be sold. I’m not selling Jesus, so don’t let your mind take my analogy there.

However, I’m excited about my faith. I’ve had ups and downs, smooth patches and rough sailing. But through it all, I’ve discovered more and more God’s faithfulness to never let me go.

God pursued me, found me, awakened me, is transforming me, and renewing me. That’s all His initiative and grace. The more I relish and delight in the grace of God, I find awakening in me a contagious joy and a deep thankfulness that propels me to share. I want other people to know about God’s sovereign love.

I have a faith worth sharing. It’s about God’s pursuit of me and my continued discovery of the depths of his love for me. Its not about me, but all about Him.

This is where the joyfully part comes in. I’m eager to share what God has done for me in Christ. I’m not compelled out of guilt to share, but willing to share because its such good news. I don’t evangelize because I have to, but because I want to. It overflows from the heart.

Let me ask you this?
Do you relish in God’s pursuit of you? What wells up from within you as you ponder this loving pursuit of God? When was the last time you joyfully talked about your faith?

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

More definitions 1
More definitions 2

I want to continue on with “Joyfully sharing the good news of the sovereign love of God.”

For this part, we focus on the activity: Sharing.

As I travel and speak, I discover many different definitions of sharing. What comes first to my mind is conversation. For others, what comes first is deeds.

Conversation:
In most every occasion, our faith needs described as well as defended.

We share the content of our faith. Jesus died for sins, paid the price for sins, etc. We explain how we are separated from God by sin and that Jesus was God’s provision for solving that. We explain how God calls us to repentance, to faith in Christ, etc. All of this is explained in the course of conversations, sermons, books, events, etc. We share through a variety of means words, images, sermons, printed materials, etc. There is content to communicate. Many evangelism books and tracts focus on this.

I’ve written on about scripts that people use and various models of evangelism. These focus on content

Deeds:
For other people, what comes to mind is actions. A famous quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi is “Preach the gospel everywhere. If necessary, use words.”

For example, during a health outreach our church did for its neighborhood, one unchurched person commented, “I don’t like to listen to sermons, today I saw one.” Our service to the community was interpreted as we wanted – a tangible demonstration of the love of Christ that we have for our neighborhood. It’s a witness to the world thru actions. Yet that interpretation came about because we gathered all the volunteers at the beginning and I explained to them why we as a church are doing this outreach. We are serving because God first loved us and we want to demonstrate that to the community.

In our committee discussion last week, we got into a debate over whether sending church teams to build a Habitat house, or taking our week’s turn for providing overnight housing for the town’s homeless ministry was evangelism.

Servant evangelism focuses on actions. Many churches have social outreach programs to their local areas, but often, many find that doesn’t increase significantly to church attendance or new members. I’ve written more on Eli Dorman’s InviteOne Blog about this (see the comments).

My take:
When it comes to action based activity, I want to be clear – I’m not convinced it’s evangelism in and of itself. It is good works that demonstrate our faith. Without any overt explanation that our actions are propelled by God’s love for whom we are serving, what makes our good deeds any different than what a social service agency provides, or what good corporate citizens provide? I’ve written more about this in a prior post. Actions can be a good support or point of contact for evangelistic conversations.

Either/Or?
It’s not an either/or proposition for me. Both are necessary forms of sharing. Deeds are love demonstrated, but a further explanation of the gospel is necessary.

Giving food to the hungry, tutoring underprivileged kids, providing free medical care are all good deeds. They demonstrate love. But beyond the demonstration comes explanation. It is my view that many churches that only serve are not growing because there is often no conversational explanation of the gospel to go along with the service.

Let me ask you this?
How do you see deeds in relationship to 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

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

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

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.

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

More definitions 1
More definitions 2

I’ve continued to collect definitions of evangelism from various websites. For the beginning of our articles about a definition of evangelism, see “What is Evangelism Part 1.”

From the Espiscopal Church:
Evangelism is “the presentation of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in such ways that persons may be led to believe in him as Saviour, and follow Him as Lord with the fellowship of His Church.”

From a Brethern article:
Evangelism, then, is the specific, articulate presentation of the message that Christ’s death upon the cross propitiates (turns away) God’s wrath which abides upon man in his unregenerate state (Romans 3:25; John 3:36). Evangelism is the presenting of Jesus Christ, so that men will accept Him as their Savior from the guilt and power of sin, and declare Him Lord as they seek to follow Him in their daily lives.

From the Lausanne Covenant (1974) (cited at Believe).
“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. Our Christian presence in the world is indispensable to evangelism, and so is that kind of dialogue whose purpose is to listen sensitively in order to understand. But evangelism itself is the proclamation of the historical, biblical Christ as Saviour and Lord, with a view to persuading people to come to him personally and so be reconciled to God. In issuing the gospel invitation we have no liberty to conceal the cost of discipleship. Jesus still calls all who would follow him to deny themselves, take up their cross, and identify themselves with his new community. The results of evangelism include obedience to Christ, incorporation into his church and responsible service in the world.”