Is "soulwinning" a fundamental?

Arthur:

You have stated correctly my chief beefs against what "soul winning" has become.
In my early years as a convert and as an Arminian, I was greatly turned off by "seminars in soul-winning" conducted by well-known Philippine pastors who had big memberships in their churches.
From my first day as a working adult I have been exposed to methods and systems of sales and marketing and I saw no big difference in the "methods" to "win souls".
There's this guy who used pebbles to illustrate.
Like, here's the pebble, this is you, then this pebble "wins a soul" and this soul gets baptized, then now you have two who go out there and "win souls", and now each "wins a soul", so now there are four who go out and "win souls", and they make it.
So now there are "eight" souls who are members of this "fundamental, soul-winning" church, and they multiply into 16, and 16, becomes 32, and 32 becomes 64, and 64 becomse 128, and so on and on, until over the years you have hudreds, maybe even thousands, of souls that starts with just one "soul winner" !

Imagine the rewards waiting for that one "soul winner" !
What crowns he has reaped !
He will have a lot of souls waiting for him in heaven to thank him !

Thank him ?
Excuse me. Isn't Jesus the One who died on that awful cross ?
Therefore, without Jesus, where would the "soul winner" be ?

And how does one "win a soul" to God ?
Well, there's the Roman way, and there's the pressing for decision, and then make sure they understand what they believe.

I think the term "soul winning" should better be understood as an effort to impart the gospel in accordance with its purpose: to bring life and immortality to light.

Jesus ALREADY saved and redeemed those whom He intends to save and redeem in accordance with the will of His Father.
His blood was sufficient for their release from the penalty of sin.

If there were thousands of "soul winning" fundamentalists who went out every hour they will still not be able to reach every human being who will ever be born and who will ever live on this earth.

Only the Holy Spirit can do that, because He alone is omnipresent and unhampered by geography and space.

Soul winning then is when one converts an erring brother, or when one points a searching sinner to the right direction, and leaving the conversion and the convicting to the Holy Spirit.

We can add nothing to the complete work of Christ at the cross, or as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

 

David: This is one of my earlier posts on this thread where I gave Scriptures:

Why do we spread the gospel? To show people the way to Jesus and disciple those who are already saved.

Why do preachers preach?

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Romans 10:14

There is also a crown for soulwinners which we will cast at Jesus' feet when we get to Heaven.

Here is a verse in the Old Testament which pertains to our salvation and 'winning' souls.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Isaiah 1:18

God gives us the wisdom and the words. The Holy Spirit convicts. All we have to do is go.

 

In my experience, it is usually Calvinists who oppose the term "soul-winning." However, ironically, some of the greatest advocates of soul-winning, even using the term, have also been Calvinists. Note the following quotes.

Charles Spurgeon: "Soul-winning is the chief business of the Christian minister; indeed, it should be the main pursuit of every true believer" (The Soul Winner, p. 15). And I could give many more quotes from this great book.

J. I. Packer: "Paul's ultimate aim in evangelism was to convert his hearers to faith in Christ. The word 'convert' is a translation of the Greek epistrepho, which means--and is sometimes translated--'turn'. We think of conversion as a work of God, and so from one standpoint it is; but it is striking to observe that in the three New Testament passages where epistrepho is used transitively, of ’converting’ someone to God, the subject of the verb is not God, as we might have expected, but a preacher. The angel said of John the Baptist: ‘Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.’ (Luke 1:16). James says: ‘Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner…shall save a soul from death…’ (James 5:19 f.). And Paul himself tells Agrippa how Christ had said to him: ‘I send thee (to the Gentiles) to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,’ and how he had obeyed the heavenly vision by proclaiming to both Jews and Gentiles ‘that they should repent and turn to God’ (Acts 26:17 ff.). These passages represent the converting of others as the work of God’s people, a task which they are to perform by summoning men to turn to God in repentance and faith” (Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, pp. 49-50; all emphasis by Packer--JoJ).

Packer actually even uses the term “win souls” a couple of pages later, speaking about Paul: “His aim and object in all his handling of the gospel, even in the heat of the polemics which contrary views evoked, was never less than to win souls, by converting those whom he saw as his neighbours to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” (ibid, p. 53).

I could give many quotes from Presbyterian D. James Kennedy, who used the term "soul-winning" in his book Evangelism Explosion. In fact, Kennedy also talked about "the five great Laws of selling: Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction and Close. Did salesmen invent these? No, they just extracted them. They learned that is the way to move people to action. This is what Jesus did, for example, with the woman at the well" (p. 58). Gasp!!! A Calvinist comparing soul-winning to salesmanship? Yep! And I refer you again to the Packer quote above. Packer also believed the soul-winner could convince the sinner.

The term in Matt. 28:18, "teach all nations," is well known to be the Greek matheteuo, "make disciples." Now how can you “make disciples” unless people were not disciples in the first place? In other words, Matthew's Great Commission is about soul-winning, or actually effectively and wisely giving the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit so that lost people are saved.

For other Scripture, check out James 5:20, Romans 11:14 (Paul “saving” the Gentiles), 1 Cor. 9:22 (“by all means save some”), etc.

 

Good post, Sister I Am Blessed 17. I especially love Matt. 4:19. What do people think of a fisherman who never catches fish? :smilewinkgrin:

 

I am a born again Christian and a disciple of Christ - and that implies that the commandments that Jesus left to his disciples are directed at ME also.

Calvinists - do you know who the elect are? If you don't, then maybe that is a very good reason to try and seek the lost!

I honestly believe that Christians who don't want to go "soul-winning" are just afraid of failure - or embarrassed to try and let the Holy Spirit work through them. I don't see how you could interpret Jesus' commandments any other way!!! We are COMMANDED to bring the lost to Him. It is not my Preacher's sole assignment. I am a disciple too.

In my FUNDAMENTAL CORE CHRISTIANITY class I am currently taking, the definition of a church can go two directions - an organism (the body of Christ) and also an organization, specifically, a group of believers joining together with the main purpose being that of fulfilling the Great Commission.


If you want to be part of a social club, go join the Elks. They don't witness.

 

Hello Brother John,

You would have to agree John that it is not only Calvinist that have a problem with what it has become, however, many Calvinist are among that group.

Some may want to know what Spurgeon meant by these words you quoted. These are the opening words of his address. The 1st part of his address Spurgeon tells us what is NOT soul winning. Then he tells us what he feels soul wining is. Spurgeon's words follows...


Part 1

more coming..

 

Part 2 of what you see above...

 

Part 3....and the last...

I have no problem with what he said.

As I said before, I have more of a problem with those that feel door to door and the sales man thing is the only right way to share the gospel.

 

Great stuff from Spurgeon, one of my greatest heros if not the greatest hero of baptist history.

I agree. In fact is some areas the door to door thing is a hinderance not a help in spreading the gospel.

 

Evangelism is more than just a simple Gospel outline. The Great Commission is more than just share the grace of God in salvation. Christ said teach all that I taught you. So the Great commission is the imparting of theology. Its making known the doctrine of Christ to the world.

 

Hello dcorbett, tis good to meet you.
I am born again Christian also. Being that is true, you could also say I'm a disciple of Christ.

and me as well.

Being a Calvinist, I will answer. No I do not. Nor does any Calvinist. Nor do Calvinist claim this. BTW as John of Japan has already shown, most Calvinist do share the gospel.

Here are 7 reasons why Calvinist share the gospel of God to all men.

List http://www.corkfpc.com/

Though this could be true in some cases, you have gone beyond what you know to be true and what is the truth. The fact is you have no idea why some do not. I'm not trying to pick a fight, but it is bold blanket statements without knowing the facts that fundamentalist a bad name.

You should also know this in case you do not know, that some share the gospel in other ways. "Going" is but a charge for us to share.

Just how do you think others may interpret it?

Verse please.

My Bible says God draws men to Himself.

I agree. And so do most Calvinist.

If the great commission is you number one goal, you missed the point of the Gospel of God.

The main purpose is to worship God. This will cause others to go tell.

There is no Elk club in my area. But who is talking about social clubs and why bring this up?

I have no idea if they witness or not, for I know no Elky...or whatever they are called.

But it would be my guess that they do witness (tell others) about the elks.

 

I would agree 100% brother.

The gospel of God (romans 1) is for all of life.

I call these verses...The creed of the Gospel.

Man that is good stuff.

 

Actually, in the five statements of the Great Commission given by Christ, only the Matthew statement can be construed to include teaching theology. So personally I would temper this broad statement.

 

John 4:31-38 is just one place....there are many others. That is a lesson within a lesson as (in the surrounding verses) the woman that Jesus preached to went out and spread the good news of the Christ.

Yes, the Holy Spirit will start working on someone the minute they hear the Gospel. And if you can't get them into a church, how will they hear without a preacher? (from Romans)

I can worship God anywhere at anytime, and I do. I don't need to go to church to do it. I go to church to be fed and to do His will.

Because many churches are turning into social clubs instead of following the Bible and the Commandments of God. Laodecian in nature, they "play to the masses" with drama, dance, and modern music. "Be Ye Seperate" is what the bible tells Christians, don't bring the worldly ways into the church!!! Take the gospel to the world is what the Great Commission states. And MY world begins right here at home.

I can do nothing - God does it all.

 

Back to the OP, I found this on Wikipedia:

I didn't see soul-winning listed as one of the fundamentals.

But since most fundamentalists have a very generic creed, if any creed at all, then it's up to the Big Mannagod to determine what the fundamentals are.

 

Personally, I have not yet come across anyone ("Calvinist" or not) on the BB who says that the know who the elect are, or that we as Christians should not seek the lost.

As several have said on this thread, some may prefer to talk about "spreading the gospel", preaching or witnessing, rather than "soul-winning", which implies that we can actually win sinners' souls from the devil.

 

If the issue is semantics, we need to drop it.

Going soul-winning is an expression for going out and spreading the gospel - inviting people to church, offering to show them the Plan of Salvation, etc.

Nobody I know that goes soul-winning has EVER thought so high of themselves that they didn't give God the glory for anything that results.
When we go out on Saturdays after "soul-winning class", we are attempting to spread the gospel. AND THAT IS A COMMANDMENT, you can't interpret the Great Commission any other way.

By the way...My church calls it "door-knocking" :thumbs: Now I wait to see how that expression is ripped apart.........:BangHead:

 

Are you a Presbyterian? I am not.

And like I said in the last post, "soul-winning" is one term used for spreading the gospel. It is not meant to imply WE do anything....rather, we let the Holy Spirit work THROUGH us.

I am a born again Bible-believing disciple. I just happen to affiliate myself with an Independent Fundamental Baptist church that believes in carrying out the Great Commission. But I will work alongside anyone that believes in witnessing and bringing the gospel to a lost and dying world (as long as they are scripturally correct). My son attends an Evangelical Free church, and he and I witness to people together.

As I mature in my Christian walk, I cannot sit on my Blessed Assurance and wait for the lost to walk through the door....they won't. "Look unto the fields, they are already white unto harvest"

 

the term is "soulwinning" - not "soul-saving"....


we do not claim to be the one SAVING the soul, we are simply going out in order to WIN them over to Christ. Not like "win a prize" but like "he has a 'winning' smile"....


It has always amazed me how so many here on the BB can get so caught up in whether or not we use a specific term...and yet those same people will get all worked up over what they call other people's "legalism." It's a Biblically-derived term. If you don't like it, oh well, but don't hang your whole argument on terminology.

 

You're right on this -- of course. :laugh: How big of a "soul winner's crown" can you get before it breaks your neck!! We're gonna cast them at Jesus feet anyway so who cares. "Win one for the Gipper!!" (Sorry if that is disrespectful but it's true.)

Preach/teach the gospel, right?

Or that way is good, too. I'm not picky.

This is true. But the omnipresent, unhampered Spirit can and will reach everyone. Just hopefully, through you, He can reach them with grace and not justice.

Why exist if we are not Christ to the lost? We are an "extension" of Christ, Isa 53:10 -- "...he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand." You wonder what we "add." It is testimony.

skypair