Evangelical Fads Don't Always Reach Others

To me, each individual is unique...

And there is not one general technique I use...

It depends on the person and the Holy Spirit's leading...

One thing that I think we may have to add to our presentation of the Gospel, as we are moving farther and farther away from a Christian culture... is the Creation story, along with the fall.

Many people today may want to come to Christ and never understand WHY they need to. Those of us that grew up in church has taken "the Fall" for granted.. I catch myself assuming that people know we came from Adam, and because of Adam's sin, all are now guilty.

And at one point in our country's history, most people would have known this... but not today.

So because of the differing cultures in our world, we need to take them back all the way to the beginning sometimes...

OH, and a 10 minute presentation to sale the Gospel will not work.

I use relational evangelism...
I get to know a person.. then fill in the gaps in that person's understanding of the Gospel... and it is amazing to see the Holy Spirit work when that person hears the WHOLE gospel, and understands it...

I can see the scales fall off of that person's spiritual eyes... and one of 2 things will happen...

1) a look of Joy comes on their face... as they prepare their heart to accept the Good News...

OR

2) a look of despair comes on their face... as they are rejecting the Good News.

I guess what I am trying to say is that as long as a person is witnessing, I don't care what type of method they use....

Sorta like my view on Bible Translations... we can set here and argue all day, but I don't care what one they read... as long as they READ it.

God is in control.. as long as we are following HIS leading.. there is never a wrong way.

 

hehehe... must have missed it myself... sorry.

BTW.. good thread.

 

You don't win by losing. There are more ways to present the gospel as there are people. In this day and age, there is a vast indifference to sin. We don't, however, impress these people by pointing out the various sins in their lives. It just doesn't work as a rule.

The Salvation Army's approach often does work: soup, soap and salvation, and in that order. First, we feed the natural man. A hungry man hears nothing. Then, clean up the man. A dirty man often has no self respect. Restore his self-worth. Then we are in a position to present salvation. The approach does not always include literal soup and soap, but it does include the essence behind these things. I don't need to tell a man in the gutter that he is down and out. He knows that. I can feed him, with food and my company. It is possible that the doors to present the gospel will also open.

Sometimes a direct statement will work. The shock theory! It worked on Mr. Spurgeon and also on Mr. Billy Sunday, but it doesn't work on everyone.

Reason can lead to argument with no results, but we must always be reasonable. Notice the difference?

You don't like my red suit, but I do. There is no point in telling me you don't like my red suit. You may tell me that you have something that will make my life as bright as my red suit. It is using circumstance to our advantage without offending.

Having said this, I am not ruling out the importance of the Holy Spirit working in that life and through us. It is not ruling out the importance of using God's word, and appropriate passages and not just cliches.

My approach through life has always been to meet people where they are, and let them know where they can be in Jesus Christ.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Ok, I re read it.. but I don't see how Carter learned that the guy was using a "technique"... or a fad...

If Carter NEVER spoke to the person again, how does he know which technique was employed....

I am not trying to be argumentative here.. I AGREE WITH CARTER...for the most part
But I feel the opening illustration in the article has some very big holes.

BTW, the best evangelism series I have ever been through is "Outflow" by Steve Sjogren and Dave Ping.

Our churches in our State Baptist Convention went through this series last yr.. and it is timeless...

Make sure you check it out...

As Crabtown's article points out, some methods cannot be passed down from one generation to another... for instance the door to door method is proving to be ineffective in today's culture...

But Outflow doesn't have a method.. the overall basis is this...

Fill yourself up with the Lord.. and then allow the Lord to overflow into people's life around you.. Family, Friends, Coworkers, people in the Grocery store... etc...
I led a few to the Lord last yr by doing this... that I would have never led to the Lord by door to door.. or in your face evangelism....

Everyone is wired different.. we need to be flexible enough to meet them where they are at...

Just as Jesus met the woman at the well... and gave her living water...

Notice Jesus learned about her background, theological beliefs, etc, and then he filled in the gaps... her eyes were open.. and she recognized the Messiah.

 

Frankly I like W. T. Conner's, a professor at the Southwestern Baptist Theological seminary early in the 20th century, description of true evangelism [Christian Doctrine , page 155]:

“It [Election] means that God has decreed to bring certain ones, upon whom His heart has been eternally set, who are the objects of His eternal love, to faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour. When a man is saved he is not saved as a matter of chance or accident or fate; he is saved in pursuance of an eternal purpose of God. God saves man because He intends to. He saves a particular man, at a particular time, under a particular set of circumstances, because He intends to.”

 

Wouldn't a Christian be eager to talk about salvation with a fellow believer?
It is Carter's dismissive "Yeah I'm saved" response that speaks volumes.
If that is all a professed Christain has to say about the Gospel, something is wrong.

Acts 4:20
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

 

In a previous post, I suggested a re-evaluation of how we present the Gospel to the lost, including the language that we use.

I suggest a second look at such terms as:

"Pray to receive Jesus."
"Invite Jesus into your heart."
"Accept Christ as your personal Savior."
"If you want to be saved, come to the altar."
"Take that step of faith."
"Repeat this prayer after me."

Which ones would you keep, and why? Which ones would you not use, and why?

Any others you'd add to the list?

 

None of them. Salvation has been reduced to the mechanical recitation of certain facts. Salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit alone!

 

There are many ways to present the gospel and invite others to Christ. Some methods work for some, different approaches work for others. I think if we sincerely pray for God to give us opportunity and the right heart attitude, he will put the right words in our mouth. We won't have to follow a set script or coerce confessions out of folks.

 

Let me clarify my post #27.

The question I'm raising is not if these are effective ways to present the gospel.

The question is, are these scriptural ways to present the gospel?

It seems to me that if they are scriptural, we should be able to cite either a specific scripture using such language, or a scriptural example of this method being used.

 

For what it's worth, I am a Fundie, and I disagree with many approaches (most, probably). I think they do more harm than good. Upon reflection, I'd say that in my experience, it's not so much the approach as the attitude. Most fundies I know are rude, condescending, and quick to damn anyone and anything.

I agree with the poster who said to use the word of God and let the Holy Ghost do the work that only He can do.

 

I agree with the poster who said to use the word of God and let the Holy Ghost do the work that only He can do.[/quote]
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I believe the scripture says the LOST have to be called, then convicted by the Holy Spirit, repent (hopefully no definition needed) and then the Supernatural happens. No invitation needed if the previous events take place. You can't keep Christ out. Presenting the Gospel is merely telling them WHO Christ is, WHAT he did and WHAT IT MEANS to them.

 

Amen. Same here. I have seriously wondered if I would make a better Southern Baptist than IFB at times.

So much of the "language" we use is so confusing to the unchurched. As was mentioned earlier, is it even Biblical? I don't think so.

"Invite Jesus into your heart" I had a child get really upset by this because she thought this would kill her.

"Come to the altar" What's an altar? The front of the platform? The steps leading up to the platform? The front pew?

"Repeat this sinner's prayer" Why? Are they too dumb to belive? Do they have to repeat certain words to make sure? Whatever happened to "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief?"

Then there's the age old "raise your hand if you want to be saved" and "now, if you raised your hand, come forward and we will pray with you so you can be saved." I'm not saying this is totally wrong, but I've seen it REALLY backfire with little children.

 

Let me be the first to say, YES! (Almost kidding, of course.)

As for the OP, if every Believe would simply tell others what Jesus has done for them, there would be many who would come to faith in God. From what I've experienced, very, very few are willing to do this.

 

This made me chuckle.

The SBC has been kind to my prodigal sister, much kinder than the IFBC. I appreciate the former and am ashamed of the latter.

 

Okay...

What if God uses different approaches to reach different people? I think we should pray for a witnessing opportunity (because we love souls) and then pray for discernment on how to handle the situation. I have had experiences where only blunt and bare truth of their spiritual condition moved them to seek Christ as their Savior. I have also developed friendships where I was able to speak with them in time, but also friendships where there was never an opportunity! That person had so closed the door on Jesus that I could only continue to pray for her (and we cannot neglect prayer in any opportunity that arises.)

Instead of trying to determine what the correct way is, we can rest assured that God will see fit to guide us in these situations.

 

I find that "Everybody" is interested in "Prophecy", regardless of their belief.

And by "injecting" Bible/prophecy into explaining current event get's everyone's attention, and offends few.

Not only does current events verify prophecy, but it lends support to prophecy of the coming "hell", both the Tribulation period and "lake of fire", for those who are not saved.

Once you get people to engage with you, they are much more open to ideas/suggestions from you.

So far, I haven't found any subject of current interest that the Bible doesn't have something to say about, so it's easy to inject scripture into any conversation.

 

I here what you are saying and agree with you. A phrase that always bothers me that we see on some tracts is: "If you want to be saved right now pray this prayer sincerely". I have seen it on tracts down here; tracts that are given to traditional catholics who pray "sincere" prayers for salvation all the time. Talk about confusing the Gospel!

Lets get back to biblical language in our pleadings to men, and trust the Holy Spirit to do His work.

 

I'm an old retired broadcaster, and one of the things we feared most was dead air. Some preachers are like that. I look forward to hearing a preacher exhort people to repent and confess Christ as Lord, then SHUT UP. Just like Paul did on Mars Hill.

 

That's true. I've been approached by non-Christians who have asked me what I thought about what was happening in the world today. The fear factor can many times lead to sharing the good news.