Featured Contact evangelism vs. Friendship evangelism

Not an attack on you at all. Just stating what you have told us and comparing it to biblical evangelism.

This is, after all, the topic of the thread. An man who lives like the lost cannot effectively evangelize the lost because his life invalidates his words.

 

You believe it is an attack on you because the shoe fits (they are, in fact, your shoes). But I'm using you as an example of the false preachers Paul spoke of who proclaimed the gospel out of false motives. Hopefully your words will become seeds for an evangelist to water. The concern, however, is that you can also damage the witness of other people who are genuine disciples engaged in making more genuine disciples.

 

I hadn't thought of it like that before, but you are right. Jesus' commandments are for the Church and once the gospel is proclaimed the work becomes one of discipling those to whom the gospel has proved the power of salvation. I think that there needs to be an emphasis on the Church here (and local church membership). Scripture assumes that the believer is one who has been "added to the Church", to the "Body". But in our culture we seem to hold religion as an individualistic thing.

As believers we need to oppose street evangelism that is isolated from a church body, and I believe this for a couple of reasons. First, without the accountability of a local church there exists no oversight on doctrine and no objective evaluation on effectiveness. A "lone wolf" street preacher assumes that God has both gifted and commanded him to work apart from the body, which assumes the gifts necessary for the Kingdom work and given to the Body as a whole do not apply to his "ministry". We all need oversight...someone to give us feedback on what we are teaching and someone to whom we are accountable. In Christianity this is the local body of believers to whom we belong. Second, we are commanded to disciple. Discipleship is not done thorough the efforts of one person alone. God has commanded us as individuals to witness to other individuals, in both word and deed. But God has not granted one person the gifts to function as the Body of Christ. Instead this falls on the congregation. Third, a "lone wolf" evangelist is isolated from the Body. This can only spell trouble as discipleship is a lifelong process for the evangelist as well. Cutoff from the "building up" and support of the church (the spiritual nourishment of the Body) the preacher is bound to fail as his/her work becomes more about his/her ministry and less about the Kingdom (which is corporate). And forth, such isolated evangelism deprives the local church of participating in kingdom work.

Biblical evangelism is church-wide evangelism as the evangelist(s) represents the effort of the church body - to include "discipling" those reached with the gospel message.