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Evangelism

I have some fundamental convictions regarding evangelism that I have derived from my study of the Scriptures over the years. Please consider these with an open mind and heart.

  1. Sharing the Good News about Jesus is something every Christian should be doing as a normal function of their experience of growing in Christ.
  2. Evangelism is an activity we do as a community of Christ; we seldom do it in isolation from one another.
  3. Conversion is God’s part in the evangelistic process. He either works through us or around us (that is, in spite of us).
  4. Seasons of sowing and seasons of harvest are normal parts of the life cycle of God’s churches. They seldom happen simultaneously.
  5. Evangelism normally takes place through the network of relationships each of us have. When believers are newly born into God’s family, that same network is what keeps them growing in Christ.
  6. In evangelism, our emphasis should be on the work our Savior did for us on the cross. That emphasis will inspire faith, prompt repentance and confession, and lead to baptism into Christ.
  7. The conversion stories in the Book of Acts emphasize the cross of Christ and report the response as a bundle, any one of which can stand for the whole (by metonymy). Believing the gospel, repenting of sins, confessing Christ, and being baptized each can stand for the entire bundle of the response, but we should assume that all of them are involved whenever a sinner is redeemed by the Savior.
  8. Recognizing this helps to clear up the confusion regarding the human response to the gospel. Saving faith is the entire bundle, and the Message of the Cross prompts us to respond in this way when we hear it: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7). Of course, we can resist that prompting; God grants us the freedom to decide for ourselves (see Acts 17:30; 2 Peter 3:9; Matt. 7:7-8; John 1:12-13; Luke 8:15; Mark 8:34-35; Isa. 55:6-7; Ezek. 18:30-32; Ezek. 33:11).