Evangelizing

Living a Godly life is one of the most powerful witnessing tools we have. People will want what we have and at THAT point, we can open our mouth with assurance.

The Holy Spirt will lead in that because no man comes to the Father, except he be led...

 

I think we're agreeing, too. But, I also have a feeling that what some are having a difficulty with is your second idea in this paragraph. The idea that we Christians wouldn't spend time with an unbeliever if we were paid to..... I mean, the obvious comes to mind, that many of us have secular jobs, thus are literally paid to spend time with unbelievers. The vast majority of people I know have unsaved friends and/or relatives. In fact, I can't think of anyone I know who refuses to spend time with unbelievers.

We all need to be reminded to keep a good testimony around those unbelievers in our lives. Try to tell your neighbor the gospel when just that morning he heard you yelling obscenities at your children, or saw you being nasty to your spouse. It wouldn't come off well at all.
But let's not assume things about "many Christians today".

 

To say there is a set pattern and words to say is like saying the Holy Spirit is not needed. God is still God and He is still sovereign and gives wisdom.

 

I don't think it hurts at all to have a set patterns and words to say. The Holy Spirit is definitely needed for it is He who tells us when to speak them.

 

I used to believe this way. I would spend hours of my day hunting down a 'prime candidate' for Christianity. Then, I would try to make Christianity more appealing to them, by taking out all of the hard demands, and talking about the fulfillment and peace that accompanies salvation. Well, what happend was it was a disaster.

Constantly, I was dissapointed and dissilusioned, spending most of my time praying for the same lost, who I had already given the salvation message, but they had not shown much interest. So, I do not do relationship evangelism. Not one bit. I be friendly to people, show them my good works and try to allow the light of the Holy Spirit shine out, but I do NOT spend my time with people after they have rejected the message. Frankly, I do not see Biblical evidence that states otherwise.

Relationship evangelism = two thumbs down. If you really want to, you can build a relationship with someone in a few minutes, and share the good news of Jesus Christ with them.

God bless,
Andy

www.wayofthemaster.com

 

Well, I'll throw my opinion in, for what it's worth. I agree it's not an either/or thing. If you're not gifted with the gift of gab, you should learn a gospel presentation and be ready to use it when the situation arises. And you should have definite plans to make situations arise. But you also have to remember that you live and work around people you will bump into quite a bit. You should try to be friendly and see what comes of it. You should be concerned about your testimony. You probably should be very sensitive about coming on like gang busters.

I'm a little concerned with Christians spending a lot of time with unbelievers, though. Seems more likely they'll drag you down than you pull them up. The faith ain't the measles; you don't catch it.

Our church recently did some door-to-door canvassing. I had done a lot of this in the past at other places. While some folks were saved this way, the numbers were small compared to the amount of time we went out. But this time, we got a number of visitors to church. Attendance went up and stayed up by about 20 people. What was the difference?

In the past, the handouts we used were basically tracts with info about the church. This time, we scaled way back on what we said. It was basically a friendly invite to church. I didn't agree at first with not presenting the gospel in the flyer, but my other two team members convinced me to give it a try. They were right. The goal is to bring them to Christ. We have to be sensitive as to how quickly we reel them in.

 

Just writing from the heart. :wavey:

 

David Ekstrom,
So like most Arminians, your church uses 'coercion' or 'convincing' tactics to get them into the church. I cant help but think this comes from having the philosophy of pragmatism highly instilled in the leadership of Your church's mind.

Pragmatism -
1.character or conduct that emphasizes practicality.
If it works, it must be right!

That type of thinking is SO dangerous! Now, you did it this way, instead of going out and preaching against sin and peoples need of a savior, you just gave them a friendly invitation to church, this is not biblical. Now, when you get them to church, you have to 'impress' them, right? You have to create a very friendly environment, make sure the music sounds just right, make sure everyone has a smile on their face and greets them warmly, make sure the Pastor doesnt preach to hard to offend them and drive them off, you see where this leads? It is death.

As Paul Washer says, the main problem with American Christianity is that we think we can manipulate a move of God. This is a perfect example.

What would be easier, to get a dead man to move 10 feet or 1000 feet? It would not make a difference, would it? Because they are dead. It is exactly the same when evangelizing, because of my theology I can tell people the full Gospel message, I can preach repentance and discipleship, about following CHrist and giving up your sin, and commiting yourself to Him, of making Him your LORD and savior.

Leonard Ravenhill, at the Revival Forum in 1989, clearly stated that in his oppinion, the greatest opposition to revival in America is our evangelization methods. Please, let us examine them and see if they are biblical.

good books i recommend:

The Gospel according to Jesus by John MacArthur
Hard to Believe by John MacArthur
The Way of the Master by Ray Comfort
Terrified by Todd Friel

Those should clear up some evangelization malpractices, as well as teach you a clear and effective way to share your faith, but more important then effective, a biblical way.

God's Blessings,
Your little brother in Christ,
Andy

 

Do you then equate being anti-Republican with being anti-Christian?

 

That's right, kid, you tell 'em. A church should not be friendly like David's, it should be unfriendly! :tongue3:

(How in the world did you get "coercion or convincing tactics" from what David wrote?)

 

I am truly sorry if my post had a angry tone to it, most of the time I do not get the tone I am trying to achieve. All I was saying, about the convincing and coercion, is that 'inviting' people to church is not evangelizing, and it leads to a series of problems.

Why? Well, now instead of focusing on the believers getting to worship their Father, and us getting fed the meat of the Word, the Pastor has to try to blend evangelism with whatever passage he is teaching on. We as believers miss out.

I feel this is a step-away from the seeker friendly movement, maybe I am wrong.

So, I apologize if I seemed rude in my previous post.

Your little brother in Christ,
Andy

One last thought, I almost forgot this. I went out evangelizing both ways. I would go out with my old church, and we would dress real nice and go out to give people a friendly invitation to come to church. There would not be ANY Gospel presentation, but just information about the church, with a packet.

Then, about 6 months ago, me and my brother just went out evangelizing, not associated with any church, and we had much more response from people. We would just talk to them, and tell them ' we are not representing any church, we do not want any money or for you to join an organization, but we are here to talk to people about their eternal destiny' and then proceed into the Gospel message if they were interested. We did NOT have any visitors to the church, but we did have some people ask us, ' so what church do you go to' , so it really worked out good.

btw, David, I think that was the Holy Spirit that initially objected to the idea of canvassing without evangelizing.

 

Andy, good, humble apology.

I'm sure David can speak for himself, but my reaction was, what is a 10th grader doing rebuking a pastor like that?

Gotta head for church. It is Sunday morning in Japan.:wavey:

God bless.

 

This thread is starting to feel to me like the ear is telling the foot to listen more, or the arm is telling the eye to stop looking and start reaching out! It has already been said, but I'll restate that it isn't all one or the other. God places us in a body so that together, each doing what God calls us to do, we serve His purposes.

Good thread -- very thought-provoking.

 

christianyouth,

they're right ya know....you should be willing to do both. Now, I understand what you are saying. However, you don't write off unsaved relatives once they reject the gospel, do you? I certainly hope you don't, because if you do than you are slamming the door in the face of the next witnesser that comes their way. You ought to be having a loving relationship with those relatives......and those unsaved coworkers you might someday have. Don't just write people off.

That being said, I also believe in going out on a regular basis just for the purpose of handing out tracts or knocking on doors to present the gospel. We expect all our missionaries to do it on the foreign field, but for some reason there are some who think we don't have to do it anymore here in America.

Keep going out, but don't give up on the relationships that God has placed you in with unsaved people. God put you in there for a reason, and many times people are saved because of a faithful coworker or relative who is willing to be friendly with them and let them see a faith that is alive.

 

Let me see if this makes sence . . . today it is enough for someone to think that you are a Christian.

OK - there are those on this board that have thought that adolf was a Christian . . .

I think he wasted the opportunity. Byt, I have wasted many as well.