Principles for Evangelism

By Jesse Johnson @ http://www.sfpulpit.com

As I noted yesterday, I do not believe that every Christian is called do “cold” evangelism. I also do not believe that a church’s evangelistic health should be measured by the number of evangelistic outings they organize. Nor do I believe that there is any “one” (as in ”only correct”) way or method of evangelism.

That being said, I would like to propose some principles for evangelism that I think are both comprehensive and biblical.

1. The best evangelism is to those with whom you have relationships. Yesterday’s post elaborated more on this, but the main idea is that the longer you have to explain the gospel, the more clearly and thoroughly you can do so. While it may be true that people can get saved from a 5-minute gospel presentation, my experience has been that an ongoing relationship is a more effective way of sharing the gospel. This is not to discourage you from evangelizing the person sitting next to you on the subway. After all, your short conversation on the subway might be the capstone to someone else’s faithful labor.

But it is to say that we must be faithful in evangelism to those we see regularly; our neighbors, doctors, cleaners, co-workers, and the like. I heard Mark Dever talk about how he goes to the same barber every time, for the purpose of building a relationship that would allow him to explain the gospel. That kind of strategic and evangelistic thinking should be prominent in every pastor’s life.

2. A gospel presentation should be biblical. This might sound obvious, but most evangelistic material around today focuses more on diagrams, catch phrases, and concepts/laws that are not explicit in Scripture. A biblical approach to evangelism equips a believer to explain the gospel message using Scripture. Can you explain who God is, the sinful nature of man, the person of Christ and his sacrifice, and the commands given to sinners using only Scripture? When you can, you are ready to call your approach to evangelism “biblical.”

3. A good evangelist uses dynamic entry points. Not all Gospel conversations start with the same phrases. If your gospel presentation consists of a pre-packaged, one-size-fits-all, memorized monologue, the odds are good it is neither effective nor biblical.

To the proud, we bring law. To the broken, we bring grace. To the hurting, we bring comfort. In the morning you meet with an arrogant college student who humorously claims to be an atheist who is going to heaven when he dies. In the afternoon you meet with a drug addict who has hit bottom, and who knows he is lost. That evening you meet with a woman whose son died in Iraq. These are each very different individuals in very different scenarios. The evangelistic conversations you have with each will necessarily be different.

4. The effectiveness of evangelism is measured by the clarity of the message, not the response to the message. I hope to write more on this at some point in the future, but Jesus often made his gospel presentation so challenging that He was almost driving people away from Him (see John 6 for instance). Our goal in evangelism is to clearly proclaim who God is, why people are lost, what Christ did to save us, and what our response should be. When this message is clearly preached, the Holy Spirit will save people. That is what the gospel does, and that is what the Holy Spirit does. What we do is proclaim the message, and pray for the person to repent.

When these principles are implemented, evangelism will be both effective and biblical. When a person rightly understands the content of the gospel and they have a love for the Savior, then their lives become a mission field. Their neighbors, co-workers, and the person bagging their groceries all become potential recipients of the gospel of grace.