Featured What is not evangelism?

Who are you quoting? Please give credit where credit is due.

 

You must have very limited experience. Pretty much most everyone I know who does this sort of thing speaks of the gospel to the person they are serving.

 

Have you ever considered this may be the reason you have not won a soul to Christ in 8 years of doing it your way?

 

It's actually a cop out to stand on a street corner and yell at people. It's MUCH harder to get dirty and get working with the people and actually ministering to them as you bring them the gospel. Remember in each case when Jesus had contact with people, He met a need they had as well as spoke truth to them. Take an elderly widower food shopping and bring him home and cook him dinner then clean up and sit with him for the evening goes WAY farther than shouting words.

 

Often time you must first make a friend before you make a convert.

 

I think of the story of Rosaria Butterfield and her AMAZING testimony of a pastor who stepped out and befriended a very liberal lesbian and eventually had the privilege to lead her to the Lord. It took a lot of time, a lot of prayer and a lot of meals but God used this faithful pastor and his wife and their friendship to make a difference in the life of one woman and from her, MANY other people.

 

Some years ago a career Navy Chief and his two sons attended our church in San Diego. His wife never attended. I asked him about her and he said he married her before he was saved, and that she had been raised a Jehovah's Witness, and her strong Jehovah's Witness mother lived with them and had a great influence on her.

He invited us to their home for dinner and we met his wife, and talked to her about spiritual things. She refused to listen. But we all became friends and went over there a lot and they came to our house, and we went out together several times.

One morning she showed up with her family, minus her mother, and when I gave the invitation she rushed down the aisle and said "I need to be saved." My wife took her aside and showed her from the bible how she could know for sure she was saved and on her way to heaven.

That evening they all came back for the evening service and when we were taking prayer requests she raised her hand and said "Pray for my mother. She is a Jehovah's Witness and lost."

We made a friend and God made a convert. What a blessing, doing it God's way.

 

Oh, John, you couldn't be more wrong.

Why does it have to be either/or in your opinion? Why can't it be both/and.

Yes, there are Biblical instances of what I call the "cold" evangelism of complete strangers. Cold not being a negative word, but meaning the evangelism of someone you've not met. The woman at the well had no clue who Jesus was. To her, he was just some stranger who shouldn't have been talking to her. Peter, in that great sermon of Acts 2, was speaking to thousands of complete strangers.

And, there are Biblical instances of lifestyle and relational evangelism. Matthew organized a social event and his friends came to a party and met Jesus. In fact, one of the complaints against Jesus was that he was a "glutton and a winebibber" BECAUSE of his relationship methodology with some sinners, harlots, and publicans.

No one evangelizes to the fullest that they should - no one. No matter which method - we all fail at truly doing what we should be doing for the Lord.

I believe that both cold evangelism and relational evangelism have their place in the work we do for God. And to dismiss all other methods except our own personal preference is not wise. That type of opinion exalts a program and puts the power of the Holy Spirit to change people's lives in the background. Not intentionally, but only defending one solitary method naturally leads to depending ON the method and not the Holy Spirit.

John, being overly programatic can be just as foolish as being overly pragmatic.

 

and the point being that lifestyle and friendship - is a pre-requites to the oral presentation of the gospel - and that could take days, weeks - even months.

 

And I guess that's what I'm trying to say to you.

Your personal preference based on your own study is contact evangelism. And that's fine - for you.

What if someone on a public board said to you that you are "copping out". That's what you are saying to those who find other styles of evangelism to be the method that they have found works for them and that the Lord leads them in.

No one is copping out.

Not you.

And not others who evangelize with a different method based on their own study and their own life's direction, talents, abilities, and daily circumstances.