Evangelism

[ashamoun]

How do all of you approach evangelism. Do you have an approach, a style?

I was asked recently by a nonbeliever if I believed in predestination. I of course answered yes. He pushed further and the end of the conversation, I had been led into a conversation about election and grace. He concluded the conversation by thanking me for telling him that if God had elected him from the beginning of time that God would eventually call him. He, according to him, could now go on living his sin filled life waiting for God's call knowing that if he was part of the elect, he would be forgiven, and if he weren't, then he had no hope of salvation so why bother leading a moral life.

I can't tell you how incredibly painful it was for me to hear him say that. Any thoughts on how I could have, or should have handled this?

[Mickey]

ashamoun, I understand your pain here. ALL of my friends accept for one are free-willers who by profession could never love a god who elects (I used to attend the same 'church' as them). Now these people supposedly read their bibles, but they act like this predestination, election thing is a new heresy that has crept into the church.

We really do have the upper hand here though. It goes without saying that sovereign grace is the only true gosple. But it is first of all logical--it makes sense and flows so you can defend it if you are good with logic. Second and most important, it is consistant with scripture--there is so much scriptural support; there is no excuse to think anything other than that God controls all of the affairs of man, and if you can get to know your bible well then that is all you need. Those that appose the truth have to go to some other form of argumentation such as appealing to emotions or using red hearings to divert the focus from the subject being discussed.

For example, "Mike, what if God hasn't elected your little sister?" or "then why pray, why evangelize, why do anything, after all God will cause it to happen if He wants it to happen anyway, right?"

I used to try to think up answers to anything you could throw at me. I still try my best to present the gosple in a clear, understandable manner, and learn new argumentation for those fun diologues. But when their response shows sarcasm, scoffing, or rejection and they don't show that they are really interested in the truth then we part ways.

We don't have control over the results of those convo's, and there is no telling what the reason for that convo is. See it's really a beautiful thing. When I was a free-willer I used to get so stressed about weather or not I led a soul to Christ. But I understand now that my job as an ambassador of Christ is to share the truth with the lost and love the brethren. Its as simple as that! I'm sure all of this stuff you already know, but it helps me to hear it again and again. If your past is anything like mine then you have some past teaching to dump and some relearning to do. So as you start to grasp more and more of the truth of sovereign grace you will learn how to share it.

You are doing the right thing by posting here, I'm excited to grow with you. Sometimes its hard to find likeminded brothers and sisters where you live, and God has provided us with some awesome fellowship here. Soak up all you can and take advantage of the personal message option too. This website for me is like a theology toys r us, but it seems to get me in more trouble with church leaders than it does gain me friends .

Mike

P.S. Don't worry about style--just accuracy.

[ashamoun]

but it seems to get me in more trouble with church leaders than it does gain me friends .

I'm on my way with that already. My church, although the Pastor is teaches pretty sound reformed doctrine, is also a member of the Willow Creek Association and also took part in the 40 Day Purpose Study.

I didn't keep quiet about it. And I bring it up quite often.

[Christ_†_Alone]

ashamoun,

when I read your post I immediately thought of this resource: http://marks.9marks.org/Mark5 - Biblical understanding of evangelism.

This site is called 9 Marks of a Healthy church. The 9 marks are:

1. Expositional Preaching
2. Biblical Theology
3. Biblical Understanding of the Good News
4. Biblical Understanding of Conversion
5. Biblical Understanding of Evangelism
6. Biblical Understanding of Membership
7. Biblical Church Discipline
8. Promotion of Christian Discipleship and Growth
9. Biblical Understanding of Leadership


I think you might be blessed by what you find at this site.

[JoToP]

Ashamoun,


I personally don't see what else you could have done. Understand that you did not change your friend's mind, it was already made up. As long as there is life in the body, there is hope, so maybe your friend will come to belief eventually. However, the cavalier attitude with election is obviously an excuse to do nothing for him to continue doing what he has done all along, not seek God. The heart of the dead is... well... dead.

I approach evangelism naturally. I don't really go out looking for converts. I talk about God all the time (its my favorite subject). People either get tired of hearing it or they don't. I get tired of hearing people talk about golf, NASCAR, movies or computers sometimes, but I put up with it just to be friendly. When unbelievers ask me a question, I answer it biblically just as you did... I don't try to hide anything or even win them over. The Gospel is not a market that needs commercials and salesmen. (BTW, in case anyone is interested, modern seeker-friendly evangelism can be traced, historically, to the development of salesmanship in the 19th Century.) Sometimes the Lord uses these ordinary, real-life conversations to go deeper into soul-winning evangelism. Evangelism is speaking the word and leaving the results up to the Lord. Only he knows where his elect are in their progress toward salvation. He puts us in the way at the right time to answer just the questions he has put on their hearts. It isn't the end of the world for your friend, if God is drawing him to Himself. What you told him was a divine appointment, either for his redemption or for his condemnation. That is in the Lord's hands. Keep up the good work.

[Brandan Kraft]

I believe in speaking the whole counsel of God to all who will listen. I believe in preaching the Gospel to those who are interested and to whom I'm given opportunity. The Gospel is a historical record of facts which proclaim what Christ did for His sheep. It comes as "glad tidings" (Rom 10:15) to the quickened sinner, and it is a "savor of death unto death" to those who have been condemned to eternal damnation (2 Cor. 2:16).

If someone rejects what I have to say, I am not upset by their reaction. God is responsible for the increase - not me. I do not believe in trying to make proselytes and pressing men to make a decision. The last thing churches need is to be filled with false professors. Knocking on doors, trying to get converts by meeting peoples' "needs", or holding evangelistic neighborhood barbeques are very unbiblical in my opinion! I'm not suggesting that we stop helping our neighbors when help is needed - it's just that getting converts should never be the motive behind our benevolent actions. Giving glory to God should be the underlying motive behind every thing a child of God does.

Those who have experienced redemption know how precious their faith is to them. They would rather have people come to an experiential knowledge of Christ and experience the gift of electing grace through divine revelation than enjoy the company of one who doesn't share their experience but instead has not had a work of grace performed upon his heart. It is true that there will always be tares sowed amongst the wheat, but I think we ought to try to minimalize these things.

I understand what it's like to mourn for friends and family that reject the Gospel of Grace. It is very disheartening to see them trample on the blood of covenant of grace as it is nothing to them. However, I am saddened not so much because I desire their salvation (it's there), but because it is very sinful and an insult to my Lord Jesus. I recognize this is all a part of His glorious plan, and in the end when all men are resurrected to eternal life and damnation, the sheep will rejoice in all that the Lord has accomplished!

Preaching the Gospel is not something one should engage in to give "opportunity" for the hearers to be saved. All that Christ came to save, He did save on the cross. Salvation has already been accomplished for every single one of His precious sheep. The Gospel is a precious call that goes out to these sheep in time and brings them to a knowledge of their Lord. I believe that these men and women are usually prepared ahead of time for reception of the message by the Holy Spirit. Maybe sometimes all preparations occur at an instantaneous moment. I believe there is a lot of myseterious work involved with the Holy Spirit in bringing men to the truth - however, it is all a work of grace. I do not believe the Gospel has any regenerating power as it is a message of historical facts. Only a regenerate individual can take any comfort in its news - and it is through faith alone (a precious gift) that men look upon the cross and all their burdens disappear. Hope and assurance is worked in the individual to see that Christ has indeed made satisfaction for them.

If men reject the Gospel and scorn election it is because they are carnal men with a totally depraved mind. This reaction is a symptom of their deadness. Only a work of grace performed upon these individuals by God Himself will bring them to an experiential knowledge of Christ.

- BJK

[Eileen]

ash,

Isaiah 55:11 "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall proper in the thing whereto I sent it"

Rest in our Soveregin God as He does accomplish His way regardless of our ways of presenting Him. We can rejoice that He will bring to pass according to His will.

Peace

Eileen

[ashamoun]

http://marks.9marks.org/Mark5

Thank you, this is an outstanding website. Very clear and concise points. There is a quote on the website that seems to sum up evangelism:

"To evangelize is to declare on the authority of God what he has done to save sinners, to warn men of their lost condition, to direct them to repent, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." (John Cheesman, The Grace of God in the Gospel [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1972], 119)

Thank you for passing along the link.

[wildboar]

I believe that the most important principles of evangelism are:

1. Evangelism must be God-centered. It must not be focused upon the lost sinner but upon the wonderful work of God.

2. Evangelism must be worship. We must worship God in our evangelism by proclaiming His attributes.

3. We must have a genuine concern for the salvation of the person we are evangelizing. It can be too easy to enter into a cold debate with the only real motivation being a desire to show that you are right.

I don't believe it is necessary to give the person a full course in systematic theology when you bring the Gospel to them. We should not deny or try to hide the truth, but we do not need to bombard them all at once and what is talked about will largely have to do with what the person asks about. We should be more concerned with bringing a positive declaration of what the Gospel is rather than talking about what everyone else believes and how silly it is although there is a time and place to talk about why false beliefs are wrong.

The Gospelby Herman Hoeksema provides a good explanation of what the Gospel is. It's not something I would necessarily hand out to non-Christians but it gave me a better understanding of what the Gospel actually is and made it easier for me to discuss it with others.

Christian Joy by Prof. Barry Gritters is excellent to give out and so is Knowing the True God by Rev. Steven Houck.

As for technique, I am opposed to any kind of formulaic manner. There are certain truths which must always be presented in the Gospel but the way in which they are presented in Scripture differs depending upon the hearer. There is one book which I found helpful that does do a reasonably good job of giving practical advice on how to share the Gospel. It is Tell the Truth : Will Metzger. It's not perfect and should be read with discernment. I really don't like most of the charts in it very much, but it does do the best job of anything I have seen.

There have been some recent articles in the Standard Bearer which I have also found helpful.
Evangelism in the Established Church (1): Orientation and <A href="http://www.prca.org/standard_bearer/volume81/2004nov15.htm#Go Ye Into All the World"">The Role of Every Believer in Evangelism by Rev. Kortering.

What should also be kept in mind is that the normal practice through which God saves His people in the Scriptures is through the preaching of the Word by a minister who is called by Him through the church. So we should make a strong effort to live godly lives and to show love to our neighbor and to invite them to church with us.