Personal Evangelism and Church Evangelism

Personal Evangelism and Church Evangelism 

This is a presentation given at Life Church Nuuanu

Goal:   To present a healthy approach between personal and church evangelism and to encourage Life Church in the area of evangelism as a whole.

Probing the balance between personal evangelism and church evangelism. 

Introduction:

1.     EVANGELISM is first and foremost the work of God. 

2.     Understand the difference between personal evangelism and church evangelism.  

3.     Take advantage of the dynamics personal evangelism and church evangelism offer.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV) “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Personal Evangelism and Church evangelism are means to to carry out the Great Commission.  However evangelism is carried through, we are commanded to “make disciples.”  After which they are to be “marked as disciples by baptism, this is their act of obedience and identification with His church.  The process continues as the persona matures as a disciple.  A disciple means a learner and a “follower.”  A disciple is to obey everything Jesus commanded.  Part of that is expressed as a disciple-maker. 

I.               Personal Evangelism

a.     What Is Personal Evangelism?

b.     The Principle of Personal Evangelism:

                                      i.     You should always be ready.

                                     ii.     You should always be trained

                                   iii.     Consistent Apologetics Exposure, 2 Pet. 3:15

                                   iv.     The Condition of the Lost:   Understanding the Engel’s Graph

1.     The process of conversion continues to lengthen.  The Engel Scale is a good tool for understanding the journey that one takes from no understanding of the gospel to becoming a disciple.  Take a moment to look at the Engel's scale on Workbook  

                                     v.     Praying for specific individuals 

c.      Different Training Materials for Personal Evangelism

                                      i.     3 Circles

                                     ii.     EE

                                   iii.     Faith

d.     Basic Principles taught in these materials

                                      i.     The Aspect of Prayer

                                     ii.     The Context of the Sharing:  Transitional points to the gospel

                                   iii.     Gospel Sharing

                                   iv.     Harvesting and asking the final question

                                     v.     Leading the person to follow Jesus: Accepting Jesus in Your Heart.

                                   vi.     Follow Up:

                                  vii.     Discipleship

                                viii.     Introducing them to Church / Small Groups

II.             Church Evangelism:  GPS

a.     What is Church Evangelism?

b.     Four Components to church evangelism:

                                      i.     Praying.  It has been said that evangelism begins with talking to the Father about people before we talk to people about the Father.  There are two groups of people that need to be the focus of prayer strategy:

1.     The first aspect of this prayer component is for the Lord of the harvest to send  out people as workers.   In obedience to Jesus:  “He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is pletiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into his harvest field’” (Matthew 9:37-39, NIV).  From the beginning, the church shold be praying ad looking to build a growing number of workers to equip to go into the harest field with them to gather the harvest.  (See satruatecolardo.com/prayer)

2.     The second aspect of this prayer component is for the Holy Spirit to convict and convert people.  Jesus states that it si the Holy Spirit who convicts “the world of guilt in regard ot sin and righteousness and udgment” (John 16:8, NIV).  IN the dialogue with Nicodemu about the new birth, Jesus said “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spriit”  (John 3:6-7, NIV).  Paul wrote that God saved us, not because of rightesous things we had done, but ecause of His mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewed by the Holy Spriit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 3:5-6, NIV). 

3.     Activity:  Take out a prayer list, 3x5 card.  Every time someone gets saved, Celerate!  Add new names to your list as people come off your list because they accepted Christ.  

4.     Activity:  What Activities do you have planned for the next year to identify lost people and to expand your intercessory prayer list?   Develop an Intercessory prayer list.  

                                     ii.     Equipping.  The second component of a comprehensive evangelism strategy also has two target audiences.   It is critical to view evangelism not as an activity – oriented functionof the chuch, but as a process.   Many churches do evangelism as a series of unrelated acitvities.  In a process, the activities are planned toward a purpose and are seen in relation to one another.  IN a process, attention is paid to:

·      Solid preparation

·      Responsible execution

·      Planned follow up

·      Evaluation for adjustment

·      Connection to the previous and next activity.

1.     One aspect of the engage component of the evangelism strategy seeks to answer the question, “How will we engage believers in training to effectively share their faith in Jesus with others?”  Every church needs a process that uses a variety of training opportunities that are sensitive to the different personalities of its members and diversity of the focus group.

2.     A second aspect of the engage component of the evangelism strategy seeks to answer the question, “How will we engage the unchurched and the unsaved to effectively give the equipped believers an opportunity to build relationships and share the gospel? 

Two important aspects of engaging lost persons require intentionality:

·      Part of every church’s strategy should be to help believers see how they can engage people in the normal traffic patters of life – neighborhood, office, school and marketplace – to be carriers of the gospel.   This involves being intentional witnesses in the casual contacts of life, as well as in circles of relationships. 

·      The church also needs to plan intentional events to engage believers with lost persons that they might not connect with in their normal traffic patters of life:  Prayer walking, servant evangelism activities, men’s widl game dinners, or youth outings.  Other events are not stand alone events but mauy involve a series of related events that allow for deeper relational development, more comprehensive communication of the gospel, and intentional actions calling peole to a decision to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior like sports camps or leagues, repetitive ministry activities, Bible clubs for children, evangelisti Bible studies for youth and adults. 

                                   iii.     Sowing.   The parable of the sower, Matthew 13:3-9.

1.     The pastor need to be an example of broad and abundant sowing of the gospel.  The following four Ms demonstrate a simple equipping format to multiply the sowing activity:

a.     Model: I do it, you watch

b.    Mentor: We do it together

c.     Monitor:  You do it, I watch

d.    Multiply:  We model it, someone else watches each of us. 

2.     Churches need to be involve in broad sowing of the gospel.   We sow by sharing our testimony, a gospel tract, random acts of kindness through which we share the gospel and many more.  

3.     Churches need to be involve in abundant sowing of the gospel.  2 Cor. 9:6, Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  

                                   iv.     Harvesting

1.     We must sow in order to reap.

2.     Sometimes we reap where others have sown

3.     Sometimes we sow where others will harvest

4.     We must sow together for the harvest.    Gal 6:6-9.   It is often said that there are three principles in harvesting:

a.     You reap what you sow

b.    You reap later than you sow

c.     You reap more than you sow

5.     The harvest must be gathered or it will be lost. 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

III.           Upholding a culture of evangelism in the church.

a.     The Pulpit and  Evangelism

                                      i.     Preach about Evangelism

                                     ii.     Preach evangelistically

                                   iii.     Model harvesting

                                   iv.     Spotlight testimonies:

1.     New believers

2.     Those who had moments of gospel-sharing

b.     Constant Training for counselors in the church

                                      i.     The Need for counselors:

1.     During Worship Events

2.     During Special Events

3.     On Simple Days / Without Events

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4.     Train Faithful men to train others, 2 Tim.2:2