From Mark Copeland... Evangelism Made Personal The Objective Of This Study
Evangelism Made Personal
The Objective Of This Study
(What To Expect In The Lessons To Follow)
The approach taken in this study devoted to the subject of evangelism varies somewhat from what you might normally expect to find. It is an effort to overcome the sort of problems that often follow special classes on personal work. Such problems as:
- People losing their evangelistic zeal soon after the study is over, or soon after any efforts are made to try to reach others for Christ
- People who do not have the ability to teach being made to feel as though they are not as dedicated to the Lord as those who do teach
- People going out to teach before they are really prepared to teach, and often doing much harm in the process
- People who are unable to teach not being shown how they can greatly assist those who are able to teach
- Efforts in evangelism being carried out without being accompanied by a demonstration of the truth of the gospel in our own lives
In trying to overcome these and similar problems, this study is based upon the following assumptions:
- If people can be properly motivated and maintain a positive perspective, they will do whatever they can in this enterprise we call "evangelism", both now and in the future
- The Lord does not expect everyone to be a "teacher" in the formal sense of the word (Jm 3:1; 1Co 12:29; Ro 12:3-8; 1Pe 4:10,11), and we fail to appreciate the diversity of function in the Lord's body (the church) if we expect everybody to become a teacher
- Developing the ability to teach comes only with time, study, and training, which is far beyond the scope of any one course in evangelism
- Those who may not be able to teach can still do a lot to greatly enhance the opportunities for others to teach, if only shown how
- The most effective method of evangelism is one where the "verbalization" of the gospel is preceded by the "incarnation" of the gospel (i.e., demonstrating the truth of the gospel in our lives before we try to preach it to others)
I suspect not all will agree with some of these assumptions. Given time and experience, I myself may change some of my views. But for now, and for the purpose of introducing this study, these remarks may help to explain the direction this study takes...
