Chapter 17

Personal Evangelism: The How

Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.¹

—C. T. Studd

How can a church move believers forward in their witnessing knowledge and action? How can they engage and equip believers to share Christ both missionally and intentionally to those around them? How do we get the prepared laborers off the front porch and into the harvest field? How do we not only teach personal witnessing but also actually get believers to put their knowledge into practice?

Ways to Engage Believers in Witnessing

Personal evangelists have traditionally been released into the lost world in three different ways:²

1. Assignment visitation/planned evangelism. This approach consists of regular, reoccurring, and scheduled evangelism opportunities. Jesus commanded this intentional approach to evangelism, saying, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). Weekly visitation and follow-up of guests to church provides one opportunity. Weekly door-to-door surveys of neighborhoods offer another.

2. Lifestyle/spontaneous evangelism. This approach consists of witnesses sharing the gospel as they go through their lives. Jesus said, “As you go, preach” (Matt 10:7 NKJV). In this approach, witnesses start conversations with a friend, a stranger, and an acquaintance with the intention of sharing the gospel. This may happen at a convenience store, a grocery store, a hair salon, a laundry mat, or when a delivery person delivers a package or a pizza. Jesus often practiced this approach to personal evangelism.

3. Missional/relational witness. This approach consists of witnesses sharing the gospel intentionally with family, friends, and neighbors. Because they have the opportunity to see these persons often, witnesses can demonstrate a holy and resurrected life in front of these persons. They must guard themselves against allowing the relationship to hinder personal witnessing, and they must guard themselves against delaying the sharing of the gospel for weeks, months, and years for fear of ruining the relationship. Andrew demonstrated this approach early in Jesus’ ministry. Immediately after meeting Christ, Andrew found his brother Peter and brought him to Jesus (John 1:39–42). The latter approach takes more of a posture of a missionary and is needed to a greater extent in an increasingly unreached culture.

While training and modeling of all three should take place in a local church, and while different believers may be more effective at one than another, there is a simple way to learn all three approaches. This can happen through the concept of servant evangelism. It is the simplest, most transferable, and most enjoyable approach for moving believers closer to a biblical lifestyle marked by consistent witnessing. My friend David Wheeler, who describes it in detail, introduced me to the concept:

Understanding Servant Evangelism¹

David Wheeler

The Biblical Example . . .

When Jesus met His first disciples along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, He called them to do more than simply leave their nets behind. His call was an invitation to be involved in both evangelism and discipleship. Ultimately, this same call would become an entreaty to live a radical new life. This life demanded total commitment to the servant example of Christ.

Thus, the disciples’ spiritual rebirth was so profound and joyful that they could not possibly keep it to themselves. As new creations, their faith overflowed into every aspect of their lives. Both their relationship with the Heavenly Father and the way they viewed the unredeemed around them were forever transformed.

The disciples spent three years walking with Jesus learning what it meant to be channels of His love, grace, and servanthood. In His role as both evangelist and mentor, He modeled for them, and for us, what it meant to be His agents of hope in a misguided, sinful, and hurting world.

Through His witness, Jesus demonstrated that every dimension of life was included in the Father’s redemptive concern. While He was primarily concerned with the salvation of one’s eternal spiritual souls, He forbade us to ignore physical and emotional needs.

Think about it, Jesus’ model of evangelism combines both a ministry of compassionate servanthood with a strong verbal witness. This is why Jesus is most commonly recorded in the Gospels proclaiming the good news of salvation and forgiveness, then moving into the crowds to touch and to heal (see Matt 4:23–25).

Probably His greatest verbal expression of this concept is found in Mark 10:42–45. In response to the entitlement mentality of James and John, who desired to sit at the “right” and “left” of Jesus when He came into His glory, He responds, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (NIV).

Every Christ follower should be deeply convicted by the instruction to become a “servant” and “slave of all.” Just as Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, Christians are to do the same for a hurting world that is dying to see authentic examples of a loving Savior! In the end, Christians must understand that an unbelieving world will not believe what we say about Christ and faith until they first see the truth manifested through His followers. In a sense, we are implored by the biblical example to wrap our faith in the flesh of daily living.

What Is Servant Evangelism . . .

Servant evangelism is a combination of simple acts of kindness and intentional personal evangelism . . . it involves intentionally sharing Christ by consistently modeling biblical servanthood.

The concept is as old as the New Testament. Like many profound truths, this one is so simple it is easily missed: Get a group of believers, say for instance at a local church, and begin practicing simple acts of kindness with an intentional aim toward evangelism. In many cases, such acts of kindness open the door for the greatest act of kindness a Christian can give: the gospel.

Understand what kindness means. It does not mean telling people what they want to hear so they will feel good about themselves. Servant Evangelism involves more than mere acts of kindness. There are valuable ministries, such as taking a loaf of bread to newcomers and others, which are helpful, but they are not explicitly evangelistic. Servant Evangelism is intentionally evangelistic, though by no means does it seek to coerce in a negative sense. When doing an act of kindness, the witness says, “I am doing this to show the love of Jesus in a practical way.” Then, as the Holy Spirit opens the door, usually through the individual responding, “Why are you doing this or that?” the one performing the act of servanthood has a captive audience and proceeds to share their conversion testimony coupled with the gospel presentation. If the other person is not open for discussion, the witness goes no further, except to offer a gospel tract, literature, or prayer. However, experience reveals that Servant Evangelism allows a presentation of Christ more than twice as often as simply presenting Christ to a stranger. Think about it, wouldn’t it be a cruel gesture to offer to wash someone’s car and fail to tell him about the Water of life? To give a lightbulb without telling of the Light of the world? To clean a toilet without telling about the only One who can cleanse a person’s heart from sin?

Both Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, use this approach in its personal evangelism classes. Part of class is used as a laboratory with the students venturing out in small groups to evangelize. Some students have chosen to purchase sodas and give them to passersby in the town’s business district or using umbrellas to escort people into the mall on rainy days. Others go door-to-door in older communities with nine-volt batteries to check residents’ smoke detectors. One student doing this was able to lead a person to Christ for the first time in his life—was he ever excited! Another group may have a free car wash (FREE—no money accepted) at a local church, mall, grocery store, or the parking lot of a department store such as Wal-Mart or K-Mart. Patrons will usually try to give money, but the students refuse. Their response is always, “We’re simply showing the love of Christ in a practical way.” At one of the car washes, a man from a Hindu background was saved.

Keep in mind, Servant Evangelism means intentionally sharing Christ by modeling biblical servanthood.

Some believers have gone door-to-door, giving away free lightbulbs: “You’ll probably have a lightbulb go out sometime, so here’s one,” they say. “By the way, did you know that Jesus said He is the light of the world? It is amazing to see how responsive people become as the result of a simple gift or act of servanthood.

The same testimonies can be multiplied one-hundredfold across America and the world by congregations, student ministries, denominational agencies, youth groups, and many others who have adopted Servant Evangelism as a mode of intentionally sowing and reaping the gospel seed. Whether feeding quarters into a washing machine at a Laundromat to share the gospel, washing car windshields at the mall, giving away coffee or sodas at local stores, going door-to-door with packages of microwave popcorn with the note attached “Pop in and see us sometime,” or providing free gift wrapping for a local store at Christmas, Servant Evangelism provides an effective, if not essential, approach to intentionally share one’s faith in today’s contemporary culture. As mentioned earlier, it is “the biblical example to wrap our faith in the flesh of daily living.”

Three Servant Evangelism Projects that Work . . .

Gas-buy-down. Secure a local gas station and buy-down every gallon of gas that is sold from 11 am to 1 pm by 25 cents per gallon up to 20 gallons. If the gas is $3.00 per gallon, it would be sold for $2.75 per gallon and the church will make up the difference. Church member will pump the gas and wash windshields.

Adopt Local Public Schools. Take fresh donuts to the teacher’s lounge each week. Volunteer to take up tickets for sporting events, or feed the teachers for free on in-service days.

Use Intentional Connection Cards. The connection cards can say something as simple as, “We just wanted you to know that we care.” On the back is a small map to the church and any pertinent information. The cards are good for any servant evangelism activity; however, when utilized by Christians in cases like anonymously paying someone’s bill in a restaurant, or being in the drive-through line at a fast food restaurant and paying for the car behind you, it is an effective way to plant seeds. This also works in Starbucks, Sonic, or any number of other opportunities.²

NOTES

1. Used by permission of D. Wheeler.

2. Go to www.innovatechurch.us under “outreach” for more information and ideas on SE. Also go to www.servantevangelism.com for numerous ideas; or go to www.namb.net and secure the Servanthood Evangelism Manual by A. Reid and D. Wheeler. See also J. Falwell, Innovate Church (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2008), 139–40.

Assignment Visitation/Planned Evangelism

Servant evangelism is an exciting and effective way to mobilize believers to witness, but it is only one way. Servant evangelism can be used with other effective methods.

The early believers went “house to house” (see Acts 5:42; 20:20). This approach is biblical, and it is also effective. Kirk Hadaway discovered that 76 percent of Southern Baptist churches that are growing conduct weekly visitation.³ This approach is conducted in two primary ways. First, it occurs through local churches that develop a list of prospects, systematically sending witnessing teams to see these persons. Churches that conduct ongoing evangelism training are effective with this method. Second, it occurs when individuals plan out times of witness to those they know who are without Christ.

Jesus, in a general way, assigned the church to witness, beginning in Jerusalem (see Acts 1:8). He was also more specific (see Matthew 10). The angel assigned Philip to witness to the eunuch (Acts 8:26). Ananias was “assigned” to talk to Saul (Acts 9:10). Although Philip had been in Caesarea (Acts 8:40), the Lord planned instead to send Peter to Caesarea to share Christ with Cornelius (Acts 10).

Assigning believers to witness to individuals in a planned manner is systematic in its effect. An up-to-date prospect file, easily maintained on computer, is essential for an effective assignment-based evangelistic ministry. Such an approach helps to evaluate whether or not the gospel has been shared in a given area. The first rule of cultivating prospects is to be among unsaved people. Following are six proven ways to discover prospects.

1. Annual church survey. Use a FRAN card (friend, relative, associate, or neighbor).⁴ Distribute these cards once a year in the worship service. Encourage members to note unchurched people whom they know.

2. Door-to-door prospecting. Some churches go door-to-door annually, primarily to discover prospects. Some churches actually pay college students during the summer to do this work. First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Florida, takes their young people by busloads during the summer through the community to discover prospects.

3. Register guests at all services. Some churches have effective events that may not win many people to Christ, but they are an excellent way to discover prospects. Many people will attend a Christmas presentation or an Easter music special. Register everyone, and then note the guests.

4. Telephone survey. This is similar to a door-to-door survey. Some churches call every home in their church field periodically to discover prospects.

5. Sunday school or church roll. You can sometimes find unchurched prospects on the Sunday school or church roll, particularly by discovering relatives of those already enrolled.

6. Newcomer or utility lists. These lists can be purchased in most communities.

One way to conduct assignment visitation is by sending witnesses to visit specific people. While the goal of a church should be to bring believers to the point of discipleship where they are living missionally in the culture like the early church, you can still focus on specific people in your community through planned personal witnessing. Door-to-door evangelism serves as an example. Jesus sent His disciples to homes (see Matthew 10). He stipulated they were to visit the houses inhabited by Jews (Matt 10:5–6). He also warned them of the difficulties they would face. The early Christians preached Christ “in every house” (Acts 5:42 NKJV). Paul testified that he witnessed house to house (Acts 20:20).

Perhaps no evangelistic approach has been attacked more than this one. I would simply like to introduce the “experts” who say door-to-door evangelism is dead to people whom I have led to Christ “cold turkey” by using this method. Many churches have been started this way. The reason this method doesn’t work for many is because they don’t try it!

That being said, going door-to-door is not the only way to reach a community, nor is it necessarily the best way. Some who do practice door-to-door witnessing often do very little to build relationships or be incarnational in their community. Further, some gated communities won’t allow such an approach. But too many have given up on it too quickly. It remains a biblical, effective method. Why has this method fallen on such hard times? One reason is the false assumption that people are turned off by anonymous visits.

I led a Mormon to Christ once simply because I had been more consistent going door-to-door than the Mormons in that area had. The woman was impressed by our efforts.

The older I get, the more sophisticated I want to be. Too many of us want to avoid the grunt work of ministry. But many people won’t hear about Christ unless we knock on their door. Let me state this positively: Everyone, sooner or later, thinks about God. When they do, you want them to think of you. By consistently saturating your community, through door-to-door witnessing, servant evangelism, incarnationally living out the faith, and a variety of other ways, you can increase people’s God-consciousness.

A final reason many people have overlooked this approach is that it is not the latest thing going. It is old news. We want the latest, most effective, most helpful approach that will get the gospel to people.

Sharing Christ, impacting eternity, can become a joyful experience for many. In 1989 I worked with several other people to assist a church in Oklahoma City on a door-to-door campaign. I was teamed with two women in their seventies who were lifelong members of that church. They were nervous, telling me they had never done this before. But did we have fun! The women were so encouraged by this experience that they made a commitment to do the same thing once a week from then on. Imagine, they were almost octogenarians and were lifelong church members, but they had never done that. God help us to teach people the joy of serving Christ through evangelism!

We never know whom we might meet behind the next door. In 1992 I was responsible for helping lead the Crossover Indianapolis effort prior to the SBC. Prior to the major door-to-door emphasis just before the convention, during the spring we had teams come from all over the country to this pioneer area to go door-to-door witnessing with our churches.

One church in Indianapolis had a team go out door-to-door. They met a lady who was open to the gospel and came to Christ. The next day the team went by to see her on a follow-up visit. She told them that the very afternoon they came to visit her, she was considering suicide. She had already made plans for her kids, she was going to purchase the gun, everything was in order—and then the group came by to lead her to Christ. “My circumstances haven’t changed,” she told them, “but my attitude has.” This illustrates the urgency of getting out and telling people about Christ.

Here are seven ways to increase your success at door-to-door witnessing or other times of assigned visitation.

1. Smile, smile, smile, always smile. A pleasant face begets a pleasant response.

2. Be polite, regardless of the response. You cannot tell how the Holy Spirit will honor your efforts.

3. Use an effective survey tool. Here are some examples.

Personal Opinion Poll

• Are you currently active in a church? YES NO

• What do you feel is the greatest need in this area?

• Why do you think people go to church?

• If you were looking for a church, what would you look for?

• What advice would you give me or a pastor of a new church?

• Can I share with you how Jesus Christ has changed my life?

If answer is no, say thank you. If answer is yes, share your testimony, and then ask, “Has anything like this ever happened to you?”

If answer is yes, say, “Great!” and ask them to tell you about their testimony.

If answer is no, or if they give an unclear testimony, say, “God loves you.” Then go into a presentation of the gospel.

How Saddleback Began: “A PERSONAL Opinion Poll”⁵ (Five Questions to Ask)

• Are you currently active in a local church?

• What do you feel is the greatest need in this area?

• Why do you think most people don’t attend church?

• If you were looking for a church, what kind of things would you look for?

• What advice would you give me? How can I help you?

4. Offer a gift, as in servant evangelism—free lightbulbs, carnations at Mother’s Day, a Christmas ornament, and so on.

5. Have clearly designated areas, good maps, and instructions to avoid overlap and confusion. The folks going out are nervous enough; so don’t add to their anxiety.

6. Train the surveyors to take good, clear information. I wish I had a nickel for every survey form filled out in such a way that no one could use it. The surveyors should ask themselves, if a total stranger picked this up in a month, would it help him or confuse him?

7. Cover an area well. It is better to survey half of your church field well than to cover the entire area poorly.

There are significant strengths of door-to-door evangelism.

• It is biblical.

• It saturates the community.

• It requires little training and therefore allows greater involvement.

• It will win some people to Christ.

• It will uncover excellent prospects.

• It recognizes that some people are ready to receive Christ.

• It will honor God and be blessed by Him.

Many pastors have told me about door-to-door witnessing efforts that seemed to bear no fruit, but it planted a seed that eventually led to a rich harvest. God is looking for people who are anxious to tell others his good news!

We must admit that door-to-door witnessing also has certain weaknesses.

• It allows little time to build rapport.

• Follow-up is much more difficult.

• Not every community can be reached this way.

Missional/Relational Witness

We were created to worship. Out of that context we proclaim the good news of the One we worship so that others can join that movement. Ultimately the goal of growth in Christ in this life is to become a daily, moment-by-moment Christ-follower who shares His gospel not out of compulsion or from an assignment but because it is our very nature. If every believer in a nation lived that way, many nations would be different in a few years.

Missional witness means we witness in the context of our lifestyle with people we know and have a relationship. It is more holistic—unlike knocking on a door of a stranger, being missional means there may be times when you will not talk about Christ explicitly with the other person but are always seeking to demonstrate a changed life. I have neighbors I want to see saved. I do not share Christ every time we have a conversation. In some cases they would never talk to me. I try hard to be a good neighbor and a good friend. The remarkable thing is that by doing this, most of the time the neighbor brings up spiritual matters! My goal is to see all my neighbors saved. In the meantime, I want to be their friend. But friends do not let friends go to hell.

When Paul described how the gospel came to the Thessalonians in 1 Thess 1:5, he said it came through words, power, the Holy Spirit, and assurance. But then he added, “You know how we lived among you for your sake” (NIV). The lifestyle of the apostle helped his witness. Read 1 Thessalonians 1–2 and see the missional life of Paul. Read Acts 20:17–24 and see how Paul got to know the Ephesians and shared the good news in the context of living it out before them. We must be intentional, but we must also be missional.

Missional witness means we will build relationships with others who do not know Christ to love them to Him. It means we will appreciate (though sometimes not embrace) their interests and cultural distinctives. I was part of a research team who surveyed pastors in a western state about their personal witness. We asked a couple of questions that nailed several of those surveyed. First, we asked how many meals they had shared with an unbeliever in the past year. Second, we asked how many times they had an unsaved person in their home. Pastors began to realize they had given little time to building relationships with others outside the church. The institutional church has devoted so much effort to getting people into the building that it fails to value missional living adequately. If it means reducing the number of events at the church building in order to give believers time to build relationships with neighbors, so be it.

Relational evangelism consists of ongoing witnessing encounters with people we know—family members, coworkers, and friends. Relational evangelism allows repeated opportunities to witness. Andrew shared Christ with Philip (John 1:40–41), and Philip shared with Nathaniel (John 1:45). Many people will be won to Christ only after a significant relationship is built up over a period of time.

Lifestyle/Spontaneous Evangelism

Spontaneous evangelism is sharing Christ with people whom you may never see again: a waitress in a restaurant, a passenger on an airplane, a plumber repairing your sink. Jesus often encountered people in this manner, as did Paul. Sharing Christ with waiters and waitresses, especially when the restaurant is not too crowded, can be very effective. Sometimes, after building a little rapport, I will ask the waitress, “Has anyone told you today that God loves you?” Generally, nobody has! I have been able to share Christ this way on many occasions.

I will never forget an occasion during a national witness-training seminar in southern Indiana. Three participants in the seminar were having lunch, laughing, and having a good time. Their sweet spirit made an impression on the waitress. She enjoyed serving them so much she offered them dessert on the house. One of the pastors said to her, “The reason we are having such a good time is because of Jesus.” They began to share Christ. When he neared the place of offering her a chance to respond, she was called to another table. After serving them, she came back, pulled up a chair, and sat down! One member of the group began to serve tea to the other tables, and they led her to Christ!

R. A. Torrey gave two important rules to remember when witnessing in public:

1. Obey the Holy Spirit. If you feel led to witness, it is more likely the Holy Spirit is leading you than the world, the flesh, or the devil.

2. Never embarrass the person to whom you are witnessing. Don’t get him in trouble with the employer, for example, when you share.

Every person saved by the power of God has a commission to invite others to join that movement, to become worshippers of the one true God. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, reminds us of the call to tell others of the Savior’s love:

“Not called!” did you say? “Not heard the call,” I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face—whose mercy you have professed to obey—and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.⁶

Questions for Consideration

1. Have you ever attempted to witness through the means of servant evangelism?

2. Can you name at least two people with whom you have developed a relationship who do not know Christ? What are you doing to share Christ intentionally with them?

3. Have you thought about how you can be missional in reaching your neighbors or coworkers?

NOTES

1. http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2008/01/evangelism-quotes-and-quotations (accessed October 27, 2008).

2. I am indebted to D. Mills for his thoughts on these three terms. The latter term in each category is the term he uses, while I use the former. The concepts are virtually identical, however.

3. C. K. Hadaway, Church Growth Principles (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1991), 21–22.

4. elmertowns.com/books/resourcePkts/FRANtastic/FrantasticDays%5BETOWNS%5D.pdf - (accessed April 23, 2009).

5. Taken from Rick Warren, “The Purpose Driven Church Conference,” notes, May 15–17, 1997, at Saddleback Community Church, Lake Forest, California.

6. http://www.tentmaker.org/Quotes/evangelismquotes.htm (accessed October 27, 2008).