Evangelism Handbook

Why do you do the things you do? Why do you like certain books and not others, prefer one type of automobile to another, or enjoy certain people while avoiding others? We all have preferences in everything from sodas to music to sports teams. And, we have varying levels of passion for each. Why do we do the things we do?

Why are you reading this book? Are you passionate about the subject (hopefully), in awe of the author (hardly), forced to read it for a class (likely), or looking for a remedy for insomnia (my books are good for that)?

Enough questions, but I do think given the recalcitrance of so many believers to share their faith, the question of why we should be interested in sharing the good news matters. As our culture moves farther away from a neutral or positive attitude toward Christianity, the question of why matters more.

Evangelicals have made much of the vital place of evangelism. We have created an amazing array of approaches to tell the world about our Savior:

• Church meetings from the creative to the cheesy, from vacation Bible school and wild game dinners to block parties and gimmicks, like the church that offered a chance to win a free car to visitors over a six-week period, which caused more than a few members and staff from neighboring churches to decide to visit!

Surely there should be a connection between our motive and our methods. Why share Christ? Too much emphasis on evangelism has to do with the how-to. I mentioned in chapter 1 that Christianity is a movement. The best way to know your movement is in trouble is when all you do is create how-to manuals! For people to have a lasting commitment to something as personally challenging as evangelism, we need a clear understanding of the why before proceeding to the how.

Motives for witness can be categorized in a least two categories: the perspective of God and the perspective of man.

While many motivations exist to share Christ and will be considered, the fundamental motive for all we do must start with God Himself. The Western church has too often seen Christianity as a means to personal fulfillment, a way to find “your best life now.” I often remind my students that if you cannot preach what we do in Somalia or China where believers are oppressed, you should not preach it in the West because we are safe!

Many believers demonstrate a lack of passion for the gospel stemming from a consumer ethic. After all, sharing Christ will bring rejection. The gospel, no matter how winsomely you share it, will be a stumbling block to some and scandalous to others (see 1 Cor 1:23). So if you or I are driven by a Christianity that is fundamentally about our happiness, we will hardly be motivated to be rejected, which will happen if we share Christ faithfully.

The Character of God

Our motive for sharing Christ should start with God, not with either believers or those apart from Christ. As my friend Mark Liederbach puts it, “The supreme motivation for evangelism, then, finds its genesis in who evangelism is about and all other forms of motivation find deep and rich grounding and proper expression from that point alone.”² Liederbach then quotes Michael Green on the motivation of the early church to witness in the face of persecution:

There can be little doubt that the main motive for evangelism was a theological one. [The early Christians] did not spread their message because it was advisable for them to do so, nor because it was the socially responsible thing to do. They did not do it primarily for humanitarian or . . . utilitarian reasons. They did it because of the overwhelming experience of the love of God which they had received through Jesus Christ. The discovery that the ultimate force in the universe was Love, and that this Love had stooped to the very nadir of self-abasement for human good, had an effect on those who believed it which nothing could remove.³

I discovered this in my own life as a young, idealistic evangelism leader. At 29 I was given the responsibility of leading the Indiana State Baptist Convention in evangelism. I took that role very seriously, praying much for a greater love for the lost. I saw no change in the practice of my witness, however, until I focused less on the lost and their need and more on my Savior and His love. That motivated me!

As we will see in the next chapter, we cannot separate the Great Commission in Matt 28:18–20 from God’s command in Gen 1:26–28. When we grasp the amazing reality that the God of creation invites us to worship Him, that motivates us to see others become such worshippers as well. We share Christ because God is glorious, like no other, and we can share this amazing news with others. We have shrink-wrapped our concept of God to a few brief statements while over and over in Scripture we encounter His majesty.

God desires that people be saved (Luke 15:2; 2 Pet 3:9). During my first year in Wake Forest, we had one of the most severe winters in decades. Snow and ice were our constant companions. One week, after days of no first-grade classes for my son, Josh, he and I sought to rescue our family from cabin fever by renting a video. While I searched for a tape, he perused the video games. Unknown to me, Josh saw a man through the window walking up the sidewalk in a coat like mine. He left the store in pursuit of the person he thought was me.

Realizing the man was not his dad, Josh panicked. He walked farther up the sidewalk, being so afraid that I had disappeared that he forgot to consider going back to the video store. By this time, I realized he was not in the store, and I got nervous. Several minutes passed, and Josh was nowhere to be found. I prayed for my son’s safety. Josh was outside a store, crying and praying. About that time, two ministers from our church found him. We were so glad to be reunited. Why was I so concerned about Josh? Because he is my son; he means more than life to me. His lostness hurt me deeply because I love him so much. One need only to turn to John 3:16 to see that our Father in heaven wants lost people to be saved. Or read Rom 5:6–8 or any number of New Testament passages. The need of a lost world resulted in the death of the Son of God.

Delos Miles reminds us of the place of evangelism in the plan of God: “Evangelism is not an isolated side show of history.”⁴ Evangelist D. L. Moody imagined every person he met as though that person had a large “L” in the midst of his forehead. Moody considered people lost until he knew they were saved!

The Greek word for “lost” is from the apollumi/apololos word group. It describes a thing not used or claimed. Luke 15 describes what it means to be lost—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. All signify value, something worth finding. In the case of the sheep, lostness meant being subjected to being taken by a wild beast or stolen by a thief, or wandering away and starving. In the case of the coin, it meant that it would not be able to fulfill its purpose for being created. In the case of the lost son, it meant wasting his inheritance, wasting his life, and missing the intimate relationship of his family.

Miles noted the progressive nature of the son’s lostness. First, he rebelled against his father and sold his birthright for money. Second, he left home for a faraway country. Third, he wasted his money in a riotous life. Fourth, he faced a severe famine. Fifth, he became more like the hogs that he fed than the man that he was.⁵ When the New Testament refers to people as lost, it is not a derogatory term. It means people are of value. In fact, people are worth the life of Jesus, the Son of God (Luke 19:10).

Personal evangelism is primary in the plan of God to reach lost people. This is obvious in the practice of the early church. Jesus won Andrew, who told Peter (John 1:40–42). Jesus won the woman at the well, who told others in the city (John 4:29). Therefore, personal evangelism is the single most effective way to reach the world for Christ. Every class taught at our seminary in the field of evangelism places personal evangelism at the heart of all we do. In our required courses, we expect our students to attempt to share Christ one-on-one each week.

Why is evangelism important? Because, it is important to God! He did not spare His Son for you and me! Should not our priorities be similar to his?

When we properly see evangelism’s motives come from the character of God, other motivations matter as well. John Piper observes: “Missions exists because worship does not.”⁷ Understanding that helps us to see other motivating factors that may be secondary to the wonder and worship of God but are at the same time both biblical and helpful.

The God we serve expects His children to fulfill His purposes. In our consumer culture, where even the church has a “what’s-in-it-for-me?” attitude, we must raise the standard of serving God out of a heart of obedience. I have made it a practice for all but about three years of the last two decades to read the Bible through each year. After almost twenty years of reading the whole counsel of God’s Word, one thing that jumps out as critical throughout the Scriptures is the importance of heeding and obeying what God says. Again, the Great Commission is not the Great Suggestion.

Liederbach refers to this as the deontological motivation. He notes that motivation by duty, when rightly placed underneath the worship of God, has merit. It also has dangers; if one misapplies the motivation, it can become legalism. After all, telling someone to do something because “you are supposed to” is a better motivation for a child who has much to learn than an adult who should understand duty. A greater motivation should captivate the imagination of worshipers of the King of kings! But we do need to be reminded at times there is an “oughtness” to our faith. Rules matter; relationships are better. I expect my children to obey me, but I hope they do so out of love and respect for me over a mere sense of duty, particularly as they mature.

Andrew Murray said there are two kinds of Christians: soul-winners and backsliders. A born-again child of God cannot take seriously his or her relationship to Christ without dealing with the issue of evangelism. Evangelism is important to those of us who follow Jesus because of the critical role that obedience plays in our spiritual growth.

James Eaves, one of my evangelism professors at Southwestern Seminary, used to say that two barriers keep many Christians from going further in their walk with God: tithing and soul-winning. Why? They affect two things that matter so much—our comfort in material things and our reputation. Crossing these barriers requires faith, without which it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).

Remember Samuel’s conversation with Saul? Saul disobeyed God and spared the king. Then he kept some of the livestock as well. When Samuel confronted Saul, what did Saul do? He blamed the people for his own disobedience. How did Samuel reply? “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam 15:22). But he went further: “For rebellion is like the sin of divination” (1 Sam 15:23). Unfortunately, we consider really bad sins those that other people commit. But Samuel said disobedience puts us in the same boat with those involved in the occult. Is any sin worse than disobedience of God?

But there is a positive side to this. I believe many believers want to obey Christ. They want to grow spiritually. Many don’t witness because of their sense of inadequacy. The good news is that any believer can be obedient. We may be varied in gifts, abilities, and time, but we can all obey. And only God knows the impact we can make.

Let me give you a little quiz.

Jim Elliot, the martyred messenger of the gospel to the Auca Indians, once called missionaries “a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt Somebody.” If God uses you as a Melanchthon (not a Luther), as a Kimball (not a Moody), as an Onesiphorus (rather than a Paul), it’s OK. The bottom line: God will use you if you make yourself usable. It’s the “nobodies” whom Somebody chooses so carefully. And when He has selected you for a task, you are a somebody, never a nobody.⁸ Be encouraged! You can obey God, and this book will offer many insights into how He will empower you to do so.

My hunch is that you came to Christ because of the impact of other people. While only the death of Jesus can provide for our salvation, we owe a debt to those who shared the message with us. Paul declared, “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also” (Rom 1:14–15 NKJV). “Ready,” prothumon, literally means “on fire.” Roy Fish says Paul had “holy heartburn.” Our own sense of gratitude for the witness of others should encourage us to have that same impact in the lives of others. The Lord warned the prophet Ezekiel that he was accountable to warn others of their sin (see Ezek 33:8).

When we witness, we take giant steps toward spiritual maturity. Christian growth is linked to discipline and surrender. We need Sea of Galilee Christians. The Sea of Galilee flows into the Jordan River. It is beautiful, filled with fish. The Jordan flows into the Dead Sea but not out. The Dead Sea is stagnant, lifeless, self-contained. Nothing is more pathetic than Christians whose lives are characterized by spiritual navel-gazing—totally introverted. Too many believers seem bored to death with their faith. Taking no risks, doing little for eternity, focusing on preserving their institution, there is no wonder so many live lives empty of passion!

Sharing Christ motivates a person to study Scripture because of the issues raised by lost people. It burns with a burden for people blinded by the gods of this world, eliciting a desire to pray. In my experience, some of the most exciting, dynamic, and evangelistic believers are those who began witnessing soon after conversion. One of the best things you can do for a new believer is to involve him immediately in sharing his faith.

Our lives should be marked by gratitude for salvation. Jesus taught that he who is forgiven much loves much (see Luke 7:47). Paul’s unashamed courage about the gospel in Rom 1:16–17 is linked to his sense of indebtedness. When the focus stays on our great God and His work of salvation, gratitude can spur us to good works, as we often see, for example, in the Gospels. But like obedience, our gratitude can create a “debtor’s ethic” if we are not careful. We can believe we owe God and must work to repay the debt, creating an unbiblical, works-based attitude.

Christians will be rewarded at judgment based on our service to God (1 Cor 3:11–15). Paul also tells us we will all stand before the judgment seat (bema) of Christ (2 Cor 5:10–11). In this judgment of believers, we will give an account of how we served God. This is a judgment of service, not salvation. Our salvation comes by the complete mercy and grace of God. But we are to serve Christ with a goal of growing effectiveness (Phil 3:12–14). Paul writes that the things we have done will be judged to be good or evil (2 Cor 5:10). The word translated “evil” can also mean “worthless” or “trivial.”

I like to use the analogy of standing before the Lord with a DVD of my life. First, the Lord shows a documentary of my life, demonstrating how I served Him. Then, a second tape is viewed. This tape depicts what my life would have been had I served the Lord with all my heart. My aim is that the two tapes will not be too different! This thought motivates me almost daily to faithfulness.

Further, the rewards we receive are not measured by human accounting. Greatness is related to serving the Lord, especially when no one is looking. That’s really the test of greatness. On a cold, wintry night, Paul Keating was walking home in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The twenty-seven-year-old saw two armed men assaulting a college student. A much-admired photographer for Time magazine, Keating had every reason to avoid trouble. He was outmanned, the student was a stranger, and he had nothing to gain. Yet he tried to rescue the young student. The victim escaped and ran to call for help. Paul Keating was found dead on the pavement from two gunshot wounds. The city of New York posthumously awarded Keating a medal of heroism. Mary Egg Cox authored an apt eulogy at the ceremony: “Nobody was watching Paul Keating on the street that night, nobody made him step forward in the time of crisis. He did it because of who he was.”⁹ If we are faithful in witnessing, who we are transcends the things that we do. The reward for such a life cannot be measured in this life alone.

Evangelism and Unbelievers

The reality that all outside of Christ are without hope for salvation and face certain judgment should move believers to witness as well. Liederbach refers to this as the utilitarian motive. Again, this motive should flow from the goodness and greatness of God, and when it does we can develop a biblical burden for those outside of Christ like Paul had in Rom 9:1–3. Living witnesses proclaim the gospel by personally sharing, through preaching, and by ministering to others so they will hear our words. We are God’s plan A, and God has no plan B. If we see that as a great honor, that this God who created the universe would use the likes of you and me in this great endeavor, it properly motivates us. If we focus on the consequences too much, it becomes motivation by guilt. “If I don’t share, they may not know.” At one level that is exactly right (Rom 10:14: How will they hear without a preacher?). However, we must balance that reality with the awareness that each person will give an account for himself to God. If unbalanced, this otherwise healthy motive can lead to an ends-justifies-the-means attitude that unintentionally robs God of the glory due His name.

People are the objects of divine love: “For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!” (Rom 5:6–8). We are created in the image of God, and according to Jesus, one soul is worth more than all the accumulated wealth of the world (see Mark 8:36).

Christopher Hancock came to Southeastern Seminary for a lecture series. At the time he served as vicar of the Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, England. In the 1980s, Chris was a member of the faculty at Magdalene College, Cambridge. When he moved into his office, one formerly occupied by a theology professor, he noticed a dull, brown rug. The bookshelves were a wretched pale green. He had the shelves repainted, but the awful rug remained. He asked that the rug be removed, but the request was repeatedly denied. One day he saw the theology professor who had used the office earlier. Chris commented about the wretched rug. “It belonged to C. S. Lewis,” the professor remarked. Suddenly the carpet’s value increased! Then a rug expert valued the Persian rug at $250,000! Do we treat lost people for whom Christ died like an old rug? Is there anything more valuable than a soul?

Future Joy or Future Judgment

Only God knows the long-term impact of our witness. We know the eternal significance, for there is heaven to gain for those changed by the gospel. In this life, every believer in Jesus can be used by God to touch the lives of others. When Billy Graham was converted under the ministry of evangelist Mordecai Ham in a crusade in Graham’s hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, no one knew for certain he would become the great evangelist of the twentieth century. Before his conversion, however, Billy’s father and a group of godly businessmen prayed that “out of Charlotte the Lord would raise up someone to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”¹⁰

Evangelist D. L. Moody is another example. How could Edward Kimball, the Sunday school teacher who led Moody to Christ, have ever known the potential of the uneducated, young shoe salesman? How could that preacher, a stand-in on a frozen winter day at the little Methodist chapel, have known the impact of the young Charles Spurgeon when he challenged the youth to “look to Jesus”?

Not everyone we lead to Christ will have the impact of these men, but some will. Never underestimate the impact an individual can make for Christ. Every person was created for a purpose—a purpose that will never be realized apart from a relationship with God through Christ. The most significant aspect of that purpose is stated in the Westminster Catechism: “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

Mike Woody gave his testimony at the 1997 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas. Woody had spent years in jail and had basically wasted his life. At one point he prayed, “God, show me you are real.” A Christian cellmate tore his Bible in half and gave it to Woody. Ultimately he came to Christ and began to win others. Now, released from prison, he leads a significant ministry to street people and others in Fort Worth. Listen to his discovery: “I never dreamed I could be part of something good in the lives of other people.” Mike Woody has learned the potential of one lost soul.

There is another side to the good news. Hell seems so far from our culture, but it is close to the heart of Scripture. The most consistent preacher on the subject of hell in the Bible was Jesus Himself. He taught, preached, and ministered with an awareness of the lostness of people and the reality of judgment.

Lostness means emptiness. Lillian Veles, who also gave her testimony at the 1997 Southern Baptist Convention, came to Christ from a life of sin. “Every time I spoke to myself,” she recorded of her life before Christ, “I only heard myself. But after I came to Christ, there was God in my life.” The emptiness, the lostness, was replaced by intimacy with God.

While more will be said in a later chapter about the reality of hell, suffice it to say that helping others to flee the wrath to come has been a motivating factor in the lives of many. John Wesley formed entire societies for those who sought to follow Christ and flee impending judgment. Jonathan Edwards warned his listeners of the “justice of God in the damnation of sinners” and the plight of “sinners in the hands of an angry God.”

Jim Eaves taught me a simple exercise that has helped me to demonstrate the lostness of people. We have lost that sense of utter lostness a person faces apart from Christ. Let me encourage you to try this in your place of ministry. It is best done in a Wednesday or Sunday evening service or in a small-group study.

Have the group turn to Ephesians 2. Then divide them into two groups. If you have a large number, make several small groups and divide them into two categories. Have the first group read Ephesians 2 to note every reference related to this statement: “What It Means to Be Lost.” It is staggering to see all the references in only one chapter in the Bible. Have the second group examine the same text to discover “What It Means to Be Saved.” After giving the groups 10 to 15 minutes to study the text, have them report their results, using an overhead, marker board, or a chalkboard to report the findings so all can see them. Draw two columns to compare the groups. Make a list of the statements, which will include the following:

As they do this, note the stark, destitute state of lost people. Remind them that their neighbor, who may be a good, decent person, is “without hope,” “at enmity with God,” “far off,” and so forth. That family member who seems so moral is “dead in sin”; those coworkers who give to charitable causes are “without God” unless they have met Christ. I have used this many times, and it has proven to be very effective in raising people’s awareness about the lostness of people.

Then list “What It Means to Be Saved.” The difference between the two lists is striking. Remind the people that there should be just such a difference between saved and lost people today—not because we are better but because God has changed us! This should result in a greater sense of gratitude for salvation.