Evangelism Handbook

I’m taken by this, because there is nothing I want more than for my life to matter. I want to be used profoundly by God, to be seized by his great and mighty hand and thrust onto the stage of history in order to do something significant. With as pure of a heart as I can muster, this isn’t about fame or prestige. It’s about wanting my life to count where it is needed most. There is a great movement of God that has been set loose in this world, and I want to be on the front lines. And I have felt this way for a long time.¹

I lived in Indiana serving the state Baptist convention as I finished the writing of my doctoral dissertation. Another young man also pursuing a PhD served as a pastor in southern Indiana. He is the man I quoted above. James White has continued to push me to think through his writings as he did in personal conversations almost 20 years ago. I can relate to the quote above. I long for my life to matter, to be all God made me to be. I believe in the heart of every Christ-follower there is a hunger for their life to matter, to be consumed with serving the Most High God. But most never get there. “Sadly,” he continued, “for most it ends there. The feeling comes and then fades.” He added:

We allow the movement of God on the surface of our spirits to become lost amid the stones the world tosses thoughtlessly into our lives. As a result, we lose the vision God can give us of our world and our place in it. Too quickly, and often without struggle, we trade making history with making money, substitute building a life with building a career and sacrifice living for God with living for the weekend. We forego significance for the sake of success and pursue the superficiality of title and degree, house and car, rank and portfolio over a life lived large. We become saved, but not seized; delivered, but not driven.²

For us to find effectiveness in ministry, whether in evangelism, in family life, or anywhere we seek to make an impact, it will take more than passion. It will also require discipline. White discovered the secret to turning the passion for God into a living, vibrant walk—discipline was required. Our experience-driven church culture often underplays the powerful place of discipline.

Growth as a follower of Christ includes being increasingly formed into the likeness of Christ. “The spiritual disciplines,” Whitney wrote, “Are the God-ordained means by which we bring ourselves before God, experience Him, and are changed into Christlikeness.”³ We can no more grow into Christlikeness without spiritual disciplines than we can grow into excellent physical stature without food and exercise.

Speaking on the cost required for true discipleship, Dallas Willard is right in noting that “we would do far better to lay a clear, constant emphasis on the cost of non-discipleship as well.”⁴ I may not know you, the reader, personally, but I know this about you—to this point, your life has not turned out exactly the way you thought it would. So many things happen in life over which you have no control, but you can control how you respond to them. You and I absolutely can and must control our disciplines.

The subject of spiritual disciplines has become one of the topics of great interest in recent years. Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline and Dallas Willard’s The Spirit of the Disciplines have helped to bring a renewed interest in disciplined Christian living in an undisciplined culture. Don Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, which includes evangelism as a discipline, is my favorite. Such emphases have helped to shift the focus for many believers away from a what’s-in-it-for-me? attitude to a more biblical concept of living focused on honoring God.

Spiritual disciplines refer to the New Testament reality that, while we are saved by God’s grace, we are called to live lives worthy of our calling. Discipline in our day is considered a vice more than a virtue. Many people think of discipline in negative terms—with images of monks cloistered in seclusion, stern-jawed Olympic hopefuls who have given up a “normal” life for their goals, and so on. We may admire such people to some extent; we just don’t want to pay the price to be like them. Give us an infomercial-style holiness—five minutes a day to become like Jesus—that is the Christianity too many of us crave.

Foster noted that the key to the disciplines is not sternness but joy: “The purpose of the Disciplines is liberation from the stifling slavery to self-interest and fear. . . . Singing, dancing, even shouting characterize the disciplines of the spiritual life.”⁵ Disciplines give focus and structure to the heart of what Christianity is: a personal, intimate relationship with our Creator. The disciplines give focus to the larger view of Christianity. Rather than focusing on specific details that look “Christian,” such as turning the other cheek or going the second mile, the disciplines produce that “sort of life from which behavior such as loving one’s enemy will seem like the only sensible and happy thing to do.”⁶ As Whitney put it, “Discipline without direction is drudgery.”⁷

Discipline for the sake of discipline leads to bondage and legalism. However, a lack of discipline leads to an unproductive life at best and a shipwrecked life at worst. Discipline is never an end in itself; it is a means to a greater good. An athlete is disciplined to win the race; a student is disciplined to learn important truths; a couple is disciplined to enjoy a long and joyful life together. And a Christian is disciplined because such a life leads to true intimacy with God.

Our Lord Jesus knew something of a disciplined life. Read the Gospel of Matthew, and see how Jesus responded to people. He had great compassion for the multitudes, always making Himself available to them. He had little positive to say to the Pharisees and other religious hypocrites; note His scathing attack of them in Matthew 23. But there is another group: those who are committed to follow Jesus. Read the Sermon on the Mount and see the standard He expected of His disciples. Read His words in Luke 9:23: “Then He said to [them] all, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” There is a cost, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer has written, to discipleship.⁸

“Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried.” *

G. K. Chesterton

* Willard, Spirit of the Disciplines, 1.

The examples of great believers in Scripture also give witness to the importance of discipline. Behold Joseph, who was victimized over and over again, yet he never saw himself as a victim. How could this be? Joseph had great faith coupled with a disciplined life. Look at Moses, Daniel, and Paul. As you read about Whitefield, Edwards, Bunyan, and others, you find people who lived lives of great sacrifice and discipline.

Writers on the subject identify numerous disciplines, although they are categorized in varying ways. Disciplines include the following, although the lists are not exhaustive. Note the slight differences among these three authors:

FOSTER:	WHITNEY:	WILLARD:
Inward Disciplines:	Bible Intake Prayer Worship Evangelism Serving Stewardship Fasting Silence and Solitude Journaling Learning	Disciplines of Abstinence
Meditation Prayer Fasting Study		Solitude Silence Fasting Frugality Chastity Secrecy Sacrifice
Outward Disciplines:
Simplicity Solitude Submission Service
Corporate Disciplines:	Disciplines of Engagement
Confession Worship Guidance Celebration Service Prayer Fellowship Submission	Study Worship

Notice the disciplines are the same in some categories and quite different in others. Whitney, for example, includes evangelism as a discipline. I agree with him, and I will say more about this later. Disciplines have to do with those areas of spiritual growth in which we are to grow, through God’s grace, into mature children of God.

Disciplines can be abused and become legalistic, binding, and even addictive. This is where corporate fellowship and worship with the body of Christ help us to maintain a balance. The disciplines are best attained in the context of personal accountability to a small group or a fellow believer. Legalism tears us down, emphasizing the times we miss our goal of godliness; accountability builds us up, focusing on our successes more than our failures.

How do we discipline ourselves to serve God? Whitney offers these motivations.⁹

• Gratitude motivates us (see 1 Sam 12:24). Recognition of the great salvation God has given us makes us cry with the psalmist, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Ps 84:10 NKJV).

Discipline composes an important part of all facets of life. What is true in education and in relationships is even more true in our walk with Christ. Paul told Timothy to discipline himself for the purpose of godliness (1 Tim 4:7). The word for discipline in this verse is the Greek verb form of the word from which we get the English word “gymnasium.” The same discipline required for a healthy body is that necessary for a healthy Christian life. But, as important as a healthy body is, our spiritual health matters more, for it relates to eternal issues.

We are not alone in our discipline. At my house, I have had exercise bikes, a treadmill, dumbbells, ankle weights, and various forms of exercise equipment. They do me little good. Why? Because I must be disciplined to use them. Don’t you hate those infomercials with people ripped like a professional athlete telling you to buy their product, when you know they are in such fabulous shape because they have a personal trainer? The greatest exercise help is another person to encourage us, to push us, to believe in us. I was in great shape in high school because my coach pushed me. Time in the weight room was not optional!

You may not have a personal trainer for your physical life, but you do have one for your spiritual life—the Holy Spirit! What did Jesus say? “When He comes, He will guide you into all truth.” Solomon exhorted: “Apply your heart to instruction” (Prov 23:12 NKJV). The Holy Spirit of God will guide the serious believer who truly desires to “discipline himself for the purpose of godliness.”

The greatest privilege we will experience is knowing Christ, being a child of God, having eternity in our hearts. And the greatest joy we can experience beyond conversion is seeing another person come to Christ. As late evangelist J. Harold Smith said in our seminary chapel, leading someone to Christ is almost like getting saved all over again!

Still, the motivation of gratitude and the sense of privilege for being a herald of our great God are not the only reasons we share Christ with others. Evangelism should be a disciplined part of our Christian life. When we are in school, we are held accountable. We take tests! We are required to be disciplined. I love to study, so I have stayed disciplined as a reader since finishing school. But it is easier to be disciplined when you have a teacher holding you accountable.

It is the same way in relationships. Many couples are disciplined in the way they treat one another while they are dating. But let them be married a few years, and see how they take each other for granted. Lack of discipline is often the problem.

In this chapter we will examine several disciplines that play a significant role in personal evangelism.

“The purpose of the spiritual disciplines is the total transformation of the person,” wrote Foster. “They aim at replacing old destructive habits of thought with new life-giving habits. Nowhere is this purpose more clearly seen than in the discipline of study.”¹⁰ The believer is to be transformed (cf. Rom 12:2). How? By the renewing of the mind (cf. Rom 12:2; Phil 4:8). In my own experience, the reading and study of the New Testament played a key role in my early commitment to evangelism. Too many believers are involved in the trappings of faith (church attendance, etc.) but live defeated lives. The battle is lost with the mind.

The foundation of study for the Christian is the Word of God. Studying alone is not the issue. What you study is crucial. Some people are “Gideon Christians,” those who are always looking for signs. Others are “Mystical Christians,” who live by “instinct” or feeling. Then there are “Guru Christians,” who find a preacher they like, treat him like a spiritual guru, following him in print, sermons, and so on, as if his words are gospel. The need of the hour is for “biblical Christians,” who use Scripture as their guide. Study the Scriptures continually can help you to stay focused on the gospel and its power to change the world.

At times I have students complain about taking tests. They grow weary of studying. This is what I tell them: Imagine you have a child with a brain tumor. You take him to see a brain surgeon. The doctor says, “Yeah, I can fix this. I’ve been to class. I’ve studied it. I’ve never been tested as to whether I can do brain surgery. But I am sure I can do it.” You wouldn’t want that person to perform brain surgery on your child, would you? Our faith will be tested and our growth challenged; we must give attention to study.

Foster cites four steps for study: repetition, concentration, comprehension, and reflection.¹¹

Be repetitious in studying God’s Word. Here are examples.

1. Read the Bible through annually. As a seminarian, I taught a group of retired persons a Bible study weekly for one year. One lady, a godly woman in her eighties, told me she had read the Bible through more than 20 times. I became ashamed. I could name books I had read several times, and I had read parts of the Bible over and over, but I had read the Bible through only once in my life, and I was a minister!

Since that time, I have read the Bible through almost every year. Many years I used the One Year Bible (Tyndale). I cannot overestimate the treasure of wisdom I have gained from an annual, panoramic view of God’s Word.

2. Read the same Bible book seven times (one time daily for a week), or thirty-one times (one time daily for a month).

3. Memorize Scripture. Memorizing Scripture can play a vital role in witnessing. We partner with the indwelling Spirit of God as we share. The Spirit helps us to know what to say, but we can certainly help by giving him material with which to work! Scripture memory certainly allows the Spirit more freedom to work.

Don’t exhaust yourself in this memory work. If memorizing comes easily, then memorize portions: Psalm 1, Romans 8, and so forth. If you are a mere mortal like most of us, work on certain key verses consistently. My son had learned more Bible verses by memory by the first grade than I had learned by the time I finished high school. Why? Our church used the AWANAs program, which emphasizes Scripture memory.

While I was in high school, our minister of music had everyone who planned to go on choir tour memorize certain Bible verses. I still remember the first verse we learned: “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and wondrous things you do not know” (Jer 33:3). The verse still guides my life in a meaningful way. In college I was in a small accountability group. Each week we learned a new verse, using material from the Navigators. Become accountable to someone; hide God’s Word in your heart. It will aid your witnessing by causing you to think more on the Lord, which will give you a spiritual sensitivity to lost people.

Find time daily or at least weekly to study, to concentrate on what you have been reading. Let’s be honest: laziness is a great sin in the contemporary church. R. C. Sproul put it like this: “Here, then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. . . . Our problem is that we are lazy.”¹²

Comprehension focuses on knowing the truth we study. This leads to “Aha!” moments of fresh discovery. George Whitefield read many books before and after his conversion. But he said he gained more from studying the Bible than all other books combined.

Reflection reveals the significance of what we are studying. One of my professors once gave this formula: Knowledge – application = frustration. Reflection makes the truths we learn become personal. Use God’s teachings to change your life and the lives of others. Hide the Word of God in your heart, and see how it helps your witness.

Whitney gave an excellent definition of fasting: “A biblical definition of fasting is a Christian’s voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes. It is Christian, for fasting by a non-Christian obtains no eternal value because the Discipline’s motives and purposes are to be God-centered. It is voluntary in that fasting is not to be coerced. Fasting is more than just the ultimate crash diet for the body; it is abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.”¹³ Fasting in a broader sense deals with more than food. It is the denial of any normal activity for the purpose of serious spiritual activity.

I almost never heard anyone speak of fasting in my younger days. Through the influence of leaders such as Bill Bright, fasting is being practiced by more and more believers. I often preach in churches where believers are involved in fasting and prayer for revival. This can only help the cause of evangelism!

The Bible is filled with examples of people who fasted: Moses, David, Elijah, Esther, Daniel, our Lord Jesus, and Paul. Corporate fasts are recorded as well, both in the Old Testament (Judah in 2 Chronicles 20) and the New Testament (early church in Acts 13). Jesus spoke of the importance of fasting (see Matt 9:15).

In the second century, Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, exhorted the Philippians to “return to the word which was handed down to us from the beginning, ‘watching unto prayer,’ and persevering in fasting.”¹⁴ Obviously, fasting was still a significant practice in the church beyond the New Testament era.

Scripture indicates different types of fasts:¹⁵

The purpose of fasting is to move our attention from our appetites to God Himself. John Wesley, who led the Methodists to fast two days each week, said, “First, let [fasting] be done unto the Lord with our eye singly fixed on Him. Let our attention be this, and this alone, to glorify our Father which is in heaven.”¹⁶ Such a focus will give us insight into the heart of God for a lost world.

A young man came to me who felt a call to go overseas as a missionary, yet had never personally led anyone to Christ. “How can I go overseas to do that which I have not done here?” he asked. He called me for advice. I gave him some practical tips on sharing Christ and some places to go in our area. Then I told him the best advice I had: “When I feel ineffective in my personal witness,” I told him, “I take a day to fast and pray for God’s hand on my life and witness. I seek to see God afresh, as He truly is. And then I spend hours simply crying out to God for effectiveness, for unction, for the power of the Spirit.”

A day or so later he e-mailed me. He too had spent a day fasting and praying. And that very day he led someone to Christ for the first time! What price are we willing to pray to know God so well that we can be used by Him for His great purposes?

The disciplines of meditation, silence, and solitude are not the same, but they are similar in that all involve quietness and disengagement from the busyness of our lives. Meditation in the Christian sense emphasizes obedience. As we meditate, we fill up our minds. This is different from emptying them, as in Eastern thought.

“Christian meditation, very simply, is the ability to hear God’s voice and obey His word.”¹⁷ How can we know God in an intimate way unless we learn to listen to Him? The psalmist declared, “I am awake through each watch of the night to meditate on Your promise” (Ps. 119:148). This is no syrupy sort of buddy-buddy relationship that dishonors the transcendence of God; on the contrary, we meditate upon Him and His words in awe of the fact that He has condescended to us and desires intimacy with us.

In America we have a mountain called Rushmore. Consider the microwave, the Internet, fast food, e-mail, HOV lanes, wi-fi, podcasts, iTunes, and smartphones. How did we survive before Google? All of these things encourage us to speed up the pace. I love music, but music is beautiful only when it has rests to help you appreciate the melody. At times we need replenishment—physical, spiritual, and emotional replenishment.

Christian meditation involves focusing on God—specifically on obedience and faithfulness. Our culture’s frenzied pace has infected the church. I confess this is one of my greatest struggles. I am a hyperactive, type A, driven person. Meditation is not the easiest thing for me. I often succumb to the theory that the person who is busiest is most important and, therefore, most spiritual. In our fast-paced culture, an emphasis on meditation is needed.

James Emory White’s writings again help me at this point. He writes about how he discovered the value of getting away regularly to reflect, meditate, and be rejuvenated. In a time of great frenzy in his life, a mentor confronted White:

“I laughed. ‘You’ve got to be kidding. Once a month? The mountains? I don’t have the time! My life is too busy, too full, to put something like that into my schedule.”¹⁸

His mentor responded with words that changed the trajectory of White’s life: “If you don’t, you will end up in a ditch. You will burn out, lose your ministry, perhaps even your family, and become a casualty of the cause.’”¹⁹ White knew he was right. So he began to go to the mountains regularly.

I encourage you to find a place of solitude, of refuge, from the busy world in which you live. Further, I challenge you to take a personal retreat, a day spent alone with God, at least annually, and better, several times a year. Take your Bible, a notebook and pen, and a bottle of water. If you have health issues take what you need medically. But do not take the needless things we tend to think we need. Leave your music, and discover the melody of God in silence. Leave your commentaries and devotional books, and meet Christ in the Scriptures. Leave your e-mails and texting, and simply write in a notebook your thoughts to God.

I had a class of church planters who were required to take a spiritual retreat for a day. One said that day saved his ministry. More than one said they had never spent so much time with God at once in their life, and it totally changed their perspective. Get off the ferris wheel of a busy life and meet with God. It just might change your life. And it may save it.

About a year following the fall of Communism in Romania, I was privileged to travel there to teach and preach. I had never seen such poverty—people standing in line half a day for a tiny can of ham—and yet such a spirit of servanthood. The believers in Romania were so grateful to be free to worship and so happy that Christians from America came to help them learn the Word of God that they would literally give me anything.

One woman in her eighties wore a pair of men’s boots, one with a hole in it—probably the only shoes she had. Yet she cooked us the best red peppers from her tiny garden. I don’t like red peppers, but these peppers tasted like honey because I was overwhelmed by her servant heart.

Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). We must discipline ourselves to serve. Such a focus makes evangelism more practical, for we are serving people with the greatest news imaginable. Servant evangelism, one of the most exciting approaches to sharing Christ in our day, will be considered in a later chapter. If we are to reach a culture that is increasingly negative or even hostile toward our faith, we must take the posture of service, not entitlement.

One of my most fulfilling experiences as a professor is taking a group of students, youth, or laypeople to share Christ with others. There is something exhilarating about setting aside time to share Christ. Evangelism is not easy work; it requires discipline.

It is true that evangelism is a natural result of a passionate life transformed by the gospel. But we must not witness only when opportunities jump into our laps. We must look for times and places to share the gospel. The average church member can fill his calendar with religious activities and push evangelism to the periphery. This is easy to do because evangelism is so intimidating. Pastors can stay busy visiting the sick, counseling, preparing sermons, and going to meetings and never get around to evangelism. It takes discipline to do evangelism.

Whitney wrote that witnessing is comparable to the postal service. Our success is not gauged by the response of the person to whom we deliver the message. Instead, “success is measured by the careful and accurate delivery of the message.”²⁰ We can discipline ourselves to faithfulness, and such faithfulness leads to godliness.

This could mean establishing scheduled times to witness. When I served as evangelism director in Indiana, most of my time was spent with pastors and church leaders. I dealt with my need to witness in three primary ways. Whenever I was in town on the night our church had weekly visitation, I went. I taught witness training a great deal and took those I taught out to share our faith. I also joined a local health spa to be around people who needed a Christian witness. It was the only way I could consistently meet lost people.

In Houston it was much easier for me to witness. Houston Baptist University, though a Baptist school, drew many unchurched people, particularly to its pre-med and nursing programs. I set aside time weekly to talk to students specifically about Christ. Many met the Lord; years later some still write me. Now I travel so much I have ample opportunities to share Christ in airplanes and restaurants. Each semester I take my classes out to witness, and I still witness when in town through our local church’s ministry.

Obviously, my schedule is not typical. I share it to show that I have to make a constant, disciplined effort to share Christ regularly. And I don’t do this because I teach evangelism; I do it because of my love for Christ.

When I was 11 years old, I was a skinny kid. In fact, I had to run around in the shower to get wet! I had the physique of Olive Oyl. My mom had to take up my pants, and when she did, I only had one back pocket! Maybe it wasn’t that bad, but I was extremely thin and insecure. During my eleventh summer, I met Jesus in a life-changing way. I have never gotten over it! I was so grateful that God would save a skinny little hick like me. But I soon learned that my relationship with Christ required discipline.

In fact, that is the way God made us in every aspect of our lives. We need discipline. Children beg for discipline because they need limits; it gives them security. Our bodies need discipline in our eating and exercise. Unfortunately, the older and more “successful” we become, the less disciplined we tend to be.

I require students to attempt to share Christ with a person each week during the semester. I say “attempt” because on the one hand I do not want to be a legalist and cause a student to force the gospel on someone, but on the other I have learned the more you attempt to speak about Christ, the more you have opportunities to share Him with others! I cannot number how many students have thanked me for that assignment. I have even had a few write me later and repent for their attitude about the assignment, realizing later what a great impact it made on their life.

If you were to describe your discipline spiritually, would you be comparable to an Olympic athlete in training, a weekly gym rat, or a couch potato?^*

* Willard, Spirit of the Disciplines, 1.

Although I was thin as a youngster, I started playing football in the ninth grade and began lifting weights. By the end of my junior year, I could bench press 300 pounds and was the strongest guy on my team—except for a teammate who played for Bear Bryant’s national championship teams in 1978 and 1979. I can’t lift that much now. I was much more disciplined as an athlete then. One reason I was disciplined was that I had a coach who encouraged me. What if all believers had a group of believers who held them to a high standard in the arena of personal evangelism? Who is holding you accountable to speak to others about the best news ever known?

You cannot win until you begin. So start where you are, disciplined for the glory of God. It is not where you are but where you are headed that matters.

Donald Whitney’s writings in my opinion are must reading on this subject. His excellent little book Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health can help you to examine where you are in your own spiritual formation: