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Lift up your eyes!
What are Biblical Principles for Effective Evangelism?
What is evangelism?
Although the noun “evangelism” is not found in the Bible,
“evangelist” appears three times and has the same root in Greek as
“gospel” which means “good news.” Thus, an evangelist is a “gospel
preacher.”
The verb form of this Greek word (“evangelize”) is used 53
times, and is correctly translated as “preach the gospel” for which
there is also a separate Greek phrase of three words “preach the
gospel” which is found 11 times. Thus “evangelism” is gospel
preaching. “Preach” means to “proclaim publically,” so evangelism is
public proclamation of the gospel.
Benevolent work is not evangelism. Paul did not go to Corinth
and set up a soup kitchen to feed the poor. Christians should of
course do good works, but that is not evangelism. Evangelism is the
preaching of the gospel.
What is effective evangelism?
Gospel preaching is effective when people hear the word of God.
“Preach the word” is another phrase found many times in the N.T. in
addition to “preach the gospel.”
Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature” (Mark 16:15). Evangelism is effective when people hear the
word.
Notice what happened when Paul preached at Ephesus: “And he
went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months,
reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of
God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke
evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and
withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And
this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the
word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:8-10).
Paul taught daily, not just one day each week. We need to find
ways to teach daily, for example by conducting Bible studies in the
homes of non-Christians. The Internet is another way, since Internet
material can be consulted any time of the day or night.
What were the results of Paul’s teaching? All who dwelt in Asia
(which we now call Asia Minor) heard the word of the Lord! Did they
all become Christians? No, but they heard the word. As Demetrius the
silversmith complained, “Throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has
persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not
gods which are made with hands” (Acts 19:26). So Demeterius had
also heard the message. He did not like it. But he knew what Paul
was preaching.
We want people to be saved, but the effectiveness of evangelism
does not depend on how many become Christians but on how many
hear the word. In the parable of the sower, the seed was broadcast,
but only those with “a noble and good heart” bore fruit (Luke 8:15).
The response is not our job. That depends on the heart of the hearer
and on God who gives the increase. As Paul said, “I planted, Apollos
watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is
anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase”
(1 Corinthians 3:6, 7).
Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are
already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and
gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps
may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and
another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not
labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors”
(John 4:35-38).
Crops do not pop out of the ground and bear fruit the moment
seeds are planted! We may not get discouraged when there is little
immediate response. Our job is to let everyone hear the gospel.
Jesus tells us, “Lift up your eyes!” Are we preaching the gospel
to people who live close to our meeting place? That is good. But we
need to lift up our eyes! Are we preaching to the whole city? That is
better.
In 1964 an evangelistic campaign was held in The Hague.
Former missionary, Bill Richardson, came from the U.S. to preach
every night for two weeks. During the week before the meeting and
during the two weeks, workers from all congregations in Holland plus
two brethren from Belgium made about 9000 door-
to-door visits inviting people to attend. Two-hundred thousand folders
were distributed. A three-
week series of newspaper ads was run in the city’s three major
newspapers. Large posters were placed throughout the city and large
banners were placed at strategic locations.
The first evening 44 were present including 26 visitors.
Attendance built up until it reached a high of 60 on the last night.
Many visitors returned night after night. About 100 different visitors
attended and 50 were enrolled in a Bible correspondence course.
Eleven were baptized and two placed membership1. The congregation,
that had 13 members before the campaign, doubled in size.
This is a good example of preaching to a whole city. But if our
eyes see only our own city, we are still not looking high enough. Are
we preaching to the whole country? That is better.
How can this be done? Going is required. Jesus and his disciples
went from village to village preaching the word. In our time mass
media are available for sowing the seed, but going is still required to
do essential in-depth study with those who respond.
In a men’s meeting at Roeselare, Belgium in 1970 we discussed
how we could preach the gospel to all of Flanders. At that time there
were two chains of advertising papers that were placed free of charge
in every mailbox in Flanders. To advertise a Bible correspondence
course, we decided to place a want-ad each month in one and a
quarter million papers that went into every home in Flanders. With
outside financial help, we placed the ad every week for several
months.
For follow-up we agreed that since I worked full time and could
drive longer distances, I would take care of visiting people who
responded in distant places and other brethren would study with
people closer. From those ads I was able to set up home Bible studies
almost every night of the week, sometimes driving from two to four
hours each way. New congregations in Antwerp and Boortmeerbeek
resulted from newspaper ads.
Each summer for five years, about two-hundred thousand
enrolment cards for a Bible correspondence course were distributed
door-to-door throughout Flanders by groups of students who came
from Canada. The congregation in Hasselt resulted from card
distribution.
Although mass media gets the message to many people,
personal acquaintance is always the best source of contacts. Hans
and Ans van Erp first learned about the church from friends in
Germany who had recently become Christians. Hans and Ans
contacted Jim Krumrei and attended some gospel meetings in
Amsterdam. Because we lived closer (at Wellen, Belgium), Jim
introduced them to us and we started studying the Scriptures
together. They were baptized in November of 1976 and started
worshiping in their home at Asten. They taught the gospel to their
neighbor, and in time they formed the core of a new congregation at
Eindhoven.
When it had been several years since ads had been placed in all
of Flanders, and since I did not have funds to do it myself, I asked
various congregations in Flanders if they would help bear the
expense. Want-ads were placed again in one and a quarter million
homes throughout Flanders, once in October of 1978 and three times
in January of 1979. Three people were baptized who responded to
those ads, including Willy de Groote.
But is the whole country enough? Are we preaching the gospel to
the whole world? Now, we have lifted our eyes high enough! That is
what Jesus tells us to do! Preach to everyone in the whole world!
Impossible? Not with God’s help! We need to think of ways to do
our share. Some need to go and others need to send. Each person
and each congregation must help according to ability.
Now with the European Union we can preach to 500 million
people in countries, many of which were closed to evangelism just a
few years ago! People can go as missionaries. Groups can go to help
small congregations in other countries conduct evangelistic
campaigns.
Ghanaian Christians who have emigrated have formed new
congregations and have joined existing congregations in many
countries.
Internet teaching goes to all the world. I preach each month to
less than 100 people, divided into four small congregations in Belgium
and Holland. I prepare my lessons, however, with the same care as
though I were preaching to 20,000 people, the number who read or
listen to my sermons on the Internet each year. Each day about 1000
people from all parts of the world read lessons by various brethren in
the Old Paths Archive. I publish websites in English, Dutch, French,
German and Russian. All together, they get about a million visits each
year. This is a very small part of what is being done. Thousands of
Christians and churches of Christ are using the Internet to preach the
gospel to the whole world!
These are just a few examples to help us lift up our eyes.
Evangelism is effective when we preach the word to our
neighborhood, our city, our country and to the whole world. God will
give the increase.
What Biblical principles apply to evangelism?
We can learn by examining how Jesus and His apostles preached
in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts. In this lesson only a few
points can be mentioned.
We must preach the word (2 Timothy 4:2).
The true gospel of Christ must be preached, not a perverted
gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living
God, the Savior of the world. He died for our sins and rose from the
dead. There is salvation in no other name (Acts 4:10-12). We preach
“Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2), God’s gift of grace for
the salvation of mankind.
We must please God not man.
Paul said, “But as we have been approved by God to be
entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men,
but God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4). God has told us
to preach. He is the one we must please, not man. We must tell
people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.
Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners,
to repentance” (Luke 5:32). A call to repentance involves the
condemnation of sin, and most people do not like to have their sins
condemned! When Paul “reasoned about righteousness, self-control,
and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ‘Go away
for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you’” (Acts
24:25).
Clear preaching makes many people angry. At Lystra they
praised Barnabas and Paul when they thought they were their own
gods, but after Paul told them, we “preach to you that you should
turn from these useless things to the living God” (Acts 14:15) they
stoned him and left him for dead.
Most people have a wrong idea about how one can be saved. So,
in addition to faith, we need to emphasize repentance, confession and
baptism.
Most people think they have been baptized, when they have not
been baptized. Thus the nature and purpose of Biblical baptism must
be emphasized.
Most people worship in vain “teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9), so we must emphasize
Scriptural worship.
Most people have a wrong idea about the church. They think
they may belong to a denomination. Thus, the evils of
denominationalism and the identity of the Lord’s church must be
emphasized. This will make people angry, but God will be glorified,
and those who love the truth will be saved.
Although our preaching is addressed to everyone, it is designed
for the few truth seekers who want to please God and are willing to
repent.
A want-ad that received much response in Flanders said, “Being
a Christian means to follow Christ, not to be bound to a human
church organization. Request 8 lessons by correspondence.” (In your
advertising, by the way, it is good to offer something people can
request, such as a tract or a course, so you can get the names and
addresses of people who are interested.)
We must adjust ourselves to those we teach.
Paul said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by
all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Paul adjusted himself
culturally to his hearers. Of course he does not mean that we should
compromise with cultural evils. But if things in our own culture form a
barrier to preaching, we should give them up. And if adopting certain
aspects of the culture of our hearers will help them accept the
message, we should do so.
Yet we must understand that the gospel, by its very nature, will
cause culture-based opposition. “For the message of the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved
it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). “For since, in the wisdom
of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God
through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who
believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but
we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the
Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”
(1 Corinthians 1:21-24).
We need to learn languages.
Since we must preach to everyone in the whole world, we must
learn languages. If we have immigrated from another country, we
need to learn the local language so we can teach our neighbors. If we
go to another country as a missionary, we need to learn the
language.
That being said, in the same way that Greek was widely known
in N.T. times and could be used to spread the gospel throughout the
Roman Empire, English is widely known today and can be used to
spread the gospel throughout the world. But that is no excuse for not
learning local languages!
We must teach faithful men who can teach others.
Paul told Timothy, “And the things that you have heard from me
among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be
able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).
The spread of the gospel in Ghana is a wonderful example of
this.
Missionaries from Nigeria visited Ghana around 1957. John
Gaidoo took a correspondence course and became a Christian. He
started teaching others and went to Nigeria for Bible study. Traveling
and working at his own expense, he baptized fifty-five people and
established three congregations before his death in 1961.
In August of 1961 two missionaries went to Ghana, Jerry
Reynolds and Dewayne Davenport. When they left in 1964, just three
years later, fifteen congregations had been established. Samuel
Obeng, who translated for them, became a Christian and began
preaching the gospel. At Kumasi the Ghana Bible College was
established to train men to preach. At least four other schools have
been established since. Ghanaian preachers have taken the word to
the whole country. World Bible School correspondence courses have
contributed to growth. By 1984 the church of Christ was the fastest
growing religious group in Ghana. Now there are more than 300
preachers and 2000 congregations. Total membership exceeds
100,000. There is a church of Christ in most villages.
The Nsawam Road church in Accra, with 1200 members, has
established more than 40 congregations in the last 20 years and has
sent missionaries to Mali, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Senegal
and Togo. I had the privilege of presenting five lectures there in
1988.
We must pray.
We need God’s help. We are weak. He is all-powerful. Jesus tells
us: “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore
pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest”
(Luke 10:2)2.
What have we learned?
Evangelism is gospel preaching. It is effective when everyone
hears the word. We must preach daily. We must lift up our eyes and
preach to our neighbors, our city, our country and the whole world.
We must preach the word, calling people to repentance so they can
be saved by the grace of God. Our aim must be to please God, not
man. We can learn how to preach from the N.T. We must adjust
ourselves to those we teach, including learning their language. We
must teach faithful men who can teach others. And we must pray.
Amen.
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Footnotes:
1 Dutch evangelist Henk Rog was one of those baptized.
2 Paul asked the brethren: Pray “for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19).
Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)
