How To Win Souls

seeker I have not read nor seen Ray Comforts book on winnning souls.....so can't comment on it

But have bought numerous books on, how to win souls...and have been disapointed with every one. Have come to the conclusion, that the bible is our best example of spreading the gospel and how to tell people about Jesus Christ. Each person is different and different aproaches are required to get the Gospel to them (we can see this by the masters handeling the lost in His earthly ministry....so I strickly rely upon the Holy Spirit to guide me when talking to the lost about Jesus and His salvation. I have found this is the best way to approach soul winning....So I have found it to work.....after all He promised us His guidance in all things.

By the way I have heard Ray Comfort preach....and have been thourghly blessed....maybe he needs to stick to preaching.

 

well seeker in my humble oppinion a bar is not the best place to witness....oh sure they need it but my experience is that most in bars are thinking only one thing.....drinking and having fun.....plus even though your intentions might be good going into a bar...but one must remember people who know your a christian see you going into a bar might not know what your intentions are......and believe me people talk and your testimony might be harmed.

Your idea of standing oout side on the side walk and handing out tracts might be a much better idea.

 

Few people are won by tracts. Most are won by a personal encounter with another Christian.

I will never forget the time that I came to a home where a bunch of men were drinking. The person who opened the door invited me in and I was surprised. Their living room had a large number of men standing theer drinking and enjoying themselves. They were motorcycle buddies. One of them knew i was a preacher and he asked why I was there and invited me to say what I wanted. So I realized it was time to not shrink from declaring the truth. Each man listened and you could have heard a pin drop other than what I was saying. I want to be their friend who leads them down the right path, not one who wilts like a flower in the sun when it is dry and there is no water. Psalm 1 teaches that well.

 

The best way to win people is to do the work of praying and studying the Bible ahead of time. A thorough knowledge of the Bible is the best way to combat error.

The best way to tell a crooked stick is to lay a straight one next to it.

 

Originally posted by arkie pastor:

Amen, Bro. Steve!

Originally posted by gb93433:

I agree--just leaving tracts in a bar without the leading of the Holy Spirit won't win many souls. Like arkie pastor said, "most in bars are thinking only one thing.....drinking and having fun....." Personal encounter is by far the best way to witness to the lost--making sure you are being led of the Holy Spirit. Use of good gospel tracts in personal encounters is better than just leaving tracts in bars or somewhere else.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (1 Peter 3:15)

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:2)

 

I had a pastor one time- a METHODIST pastor, mind you- (Yes, it was a long time ago, but I digress) who would go to the local bar, throw the door open and yell at the top of his lungs, "If there is anybody in this God-forsaken place who wants to know the way to Heaven I will be outside waiting to tell you."

He got a few converts that way.

And I must say that I disagree with those who think tracts minus a personal witness are ineffective. To me that is akin to saying that a person who just picks up the Bible and starts reading it could not get saved without a personal witness. Granted the majority of those who accept Christ do so by a personal witness, but that does not mean that tracts do not have their place. (Although there are probably tracts that would be better off unwritten that are a poor witness of the Gospel.)

On the mission field tracts are one of our most valuable tools. Very few people will turn down a tract here in Mexico, and many will stop whatever they are doing and begin to read it right away.

 

Hi all. I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth. I do a lot of personal evangelism and I also train Christians in how to share their faith. Rather than try to summarize what everyone said so far and jump all over the place I’ll just toss out some thoughts.

But first, not that you need my approval, I think ya’ll have a good handle on what it means to evangelize.

I think there are two important aspects to the presentation of the gospel – the unbeliever needs to hear the Word of God and they need the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Tracts do work and I know people that have been saved through them, I do think they are not the most efficient way of presenting the gospel. However, I have to tell you, I give out dozens of tracts every week – there are tons of opportunities to leave tracts when you may not be in a position to stop and talk with someone.

I think the more we know about God’s Word the better we can be used of Him to spread His truth. But, I also think that even a day-old believer (with no knowledge of the Bible) can be an effective witness. I think a good middle ground is just to have a thorough knowledge of how to lead someone through what they need to know to get saved – the Roman’s Road (though not the only method) is good. And that’s really all you need to lead multitudes to the Lord. It’s amazing how many people right here in America have never heard a clear presentation of the gospel.

But, the two most important tips I can give someone that wants to witness but isn’t sure what to do would be:

1. Go with someone that knows what they are doing and watch them present the gospel over and over again (in real life situations, not just the classroom) until you think you want to try. Then try with them watching you. This, I believe, is the Bible model and the one we use in our training. There is nothing like seeing the real thing with the Holy Spirit at work and God’s Word being listened to for you to get an understanding of what to do.

2. Handling questions. When I am presenting the gospel I keep in mind that it is my job to present the gospel, period. As a rule of thumb, I try to never answer extraneous questions while I am presenting the gospel to someone. In other words, if they ask a clarification question (What is sin? Can you repeat that?) then I will address it. If they ask a distracting question (Where did Cain get his wife? Is evolution true? Where is heaven?) I figure that it is the devil asking the question and the person who’s mouth it comes out of wouldn’t understand the answer without the Holy Spirit living in them, anyway. So, I gently say something like, “That was a good question, let me set that on the side and, if you’d like, we’ll come back to it later after I finish telling you what I want to tell you. Would that be alright?” In hundreds of encounters no one has ever said “no” or asked me the question after they got saved.

Finally, I do think training is priceless. I know there are some out there that just picked up the Bible after they got saved and went out and started to win the lost. But that is the exception and not the rule. Most of us (me included) need guidance and direction. A road map through training is a great way to get started. After you learn a plan and become comfortable with it then you can experiment and try new things. However, I know a longshoreman that I go out witnessing with sometimes and he does the same thing every time – he has won almost 2,000 people to Christ.

Some good programs for churches are David Wood’s Operation Go and Sword of the Lord’s Soul Winners’ Club. Each program takes about 12 weeks to get through and they really work.

God bless and don’t give up. God rewards the faithful!

 

Oh yeah, and stay out of bars.

 

I agree with you Mexdeaf. We have six people in our church who either got saved or just started coming through tracts. Plus we had a number of people saved in Yokohama through tracts when we worked there for 13 years.

I have several great books on the literature ministry, and they all tell about folks getting saved through tracts. In particular, the Sword of the Lord book, Amazing Power of the Gospel in Print, is a compilation of letters sent to the Sword of the Lord Foundation from folks who got saved through their literature or Christians who saw good results through the literature.

I've read that the Chinese Communists flooded China with their literature, and considered that one of the reasons they were able to take over the country. In the meantime, many of the Christians stood by and watched as they lost their country.

 

I'm positive you are wrong here. I have read a number of Nee's books and his biography, and there was nothing about tongues anywhere.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled thread. For witnessing, when we first came to Japan I chose some verses in John, "John's Map to Heaven," which are appropriate for folks who know nothing about Jesus or His resurrection:

John 1:1-3, to teach about the existence of God.
3:16, to teach about God's love.
3:19-20, to teach about sin.
19:17-18, to teach about the cross and the substitutionary atonement.
20:6-8, to teach about the resurrection.
1:12, to urge the sinner to trust Christ alone for salvation.
10:27-30, to teach assurance of salvation.

 

Amen, Dr. Bob. You can even use a Bible in another language. It will have the same verses!

 

Sorry, Seeker, I wouldn't be convinced unless I saw the quote (not given in the article), preferably incontext, knew it was not Watchman Nee joking (Chinese do love a good joke, you know, and that does read like a joke!), and knew the writer was not a Charismatic trying to make Nee a fellow tongues speaker. If Nee was one, it should have been in his The Normal Christian Life, and it is not.

So, with that out of the way, what is your method of personal evangelism?