Contact evangelism vs. Friendship evangelism

[evangelist6589]

When looking closely at the life of Christ & the apostles in the four gospels & Acts there are at least 89 instances of Christ and his associates doing evangelism. 77 took place in the context of contact evangelism. Some notable examples are Matt 5-7, & Matt 9:35. Also when Christ sent out his followers he sent them out as contact evangelists (Mt 10; Lk 10:1-16). Also not to forget his explicit command to preach the gospel to those that they did not already know (Mk 16:15, Acts 1:8). The puritans also were big on contact evangelism because they studied the life of Christ in depth as mentioned in the book Puritan Evangelism, 43. Other examples are Charles Spurgeon, & George Whitefield who were open air preachers and encouraged others to do the same.

Contact evangelism takes great courage and one will usually experience lots of rejection while doing it. The problem with the modern church is that they misinterpret what it means to be effective. Effectiveness can be measured by the following standards.

Was the gospel proclaimed?
Was the gospel understood?
Was Christ glorified?
Was the attitude of the christian Godly as he communicated the gospel?

Biblically speaking if the above is true then the evangelism was effective regardless of the results of evangelism. It is not our job to win souls, it is only our job to proclaim the gospel and let God draw people to salvation (John 6:44).

Next we will look at the book of Acts and make a case for Contact evangelism from there.

 

[Revmitchell]

Please define your terms

 

[evangelist6589]

Please define your terms

You do not know what contact evangelism is? Its evangelism with strangers, sometimes called confrontational evangelism. Tracts, open air preaching, and talking with strangers is contact evangelism.

 

[Baptist Believer]

When looking closely at the life of Christ & the apostles in the four gospels & Acts there are at least 89 instances of Christ and his associates doing evangelism. 77 took place in the context of contact evangelism. Some notable examples are Matt 5-7, & Matt 9:35. Also when Christ sent out his followers he sent them out as contact evangelists (Mt 10; Lk 10:1-16). Also not to forget his explicit command to preach the gospel to those that they did not already know (Mk 16:15, Acts 1:8). The puritans also were big on contact evangelism because they studied the life of Christ in depth as mentioned in the book Puritan Evangelism, 43. Other examples are Charles Spurgeon, & George Whitefield who were open air preachers and encouraged others to do the same.

Contact evangelism takes great courage and one will usually experience lots of rejection while doing it. The problem with the modern church is that they misinterpret what it means to be effective. Effectiveness can be measured by the following standards.

Was the gospel proclaimed?
Was the gospel understood?
Was Christ glorified?
Was the attitude of the christian Godly as he communicated the gospel?

Biblically speaking if the above is true then the evangelism was effective regardless of the results of evangelism. It is not our job to win souls, it is only our job to proclaim the gospel and let God draw people to salvation (John 6:44).

Next we will look at the book of Acts and make a case for Contact evangelism from there.

I can't help but notice that you are plagiarizing Jon Speed's, Evangelism in the New Testament for your posts.

If you are going to quote sources, especially word-for-word, you need to cite your source(s). Otherwise, you are:

(1) Being dishonest.
(2) Not learning anything by actually studying scripture for yourself.

I don't have a direct link to Speed's work, but he is cited in the following places with PROPER attribution:

http://goodmessengers.org/handouts/coursehandouts/lesson7/Contact Evangelism.pdf

Measuring Evangelism by Pragmatism

 

[Don]

Evangelist - you've defined contact evangelism and effectiveness; what you haven't defined or explained--or more importantly, contrasted--is friendship evangelism.

Also, I feel I must point out, you've started out with a faulty premise in terms of how you've named this thread: vs

Why "versus"? What is the goal of this thread?

 

[evangelist6589]

Evangelist - you've defined contact evangelism and effectiveness; what you haven't defined or explained--or more importantly, contrasted--is friendship evangelism.

Friendship evangelism is evangelism with someone that you know over a period of time.

 

[Don]

Friendship evangelism is evangelism with someone that you know over a period of time.

Okay; and the scriptural contrast?

 

[evangelist6589]

Okay; and the scriptural contrast?

Is that this is not the dominant form of evangelism practiced by Jesus, yet its the form of evangelism popular on this board and in many churches. We need to follow Jesus (The Way of the Master) and not ourselves and what "brings results to our pragmatism."

 

[Don]

By the way: thank you for starting the thread.

Now, what's the basic premise that the thread will strive to prove or support?

 

[evangelist6589]

Evangelist - you've defined contact evangelism and effectiveness; what you haven't defined or explained--or more importantly, contrasted--is friendship evangelism.

Also, I feel I must point out, you've started out with a faulty premise in terms of how you've named this thread: vs

Why "versus"? What is the goal of this thread?

To prove that contact evangelism is the way of Jesus (The way of the Master).

 

[Revmitchell]

Is that this is not the dominant form of evangelism practiced by Jesus, yet its the form of evangelism popular on this board and in many churches. We need to follow Jesus (The Way of the Master) and not ourselves and what "brings results to our pragmatism."

Which is a continued denial of a portion of the Great Commission which is to make disciples of converts. That is not pragmatism its Bible.

 

[evangelist6589]

Which is a continued denial of a portion of the Great Commission which is to make disciples of converts. That is not pragmatism its Bible.

Making disciples comes after someone is saved. A lost person wants nothing to do with the cross for he is lost and in the darkness. People cant be discipled unless they are first evangelized. Your problem is that you do not understand John 6:44.

 

[InTheLight]

To prove that contact evangelism is the way of Jesus (The way of the Master).

Why would the method that you claim was used in the first century, when NNE knew what the bare basics of the Gospel was, be the preferred method today?

Sent from my Motorola Droid Turbo.

 

[evangelist6589]

Why would the method that you claim was used in the first century, when NNE knew what the bare basics of the Gospel was, be the preferred method today?

Sent from my Motorola Droid Turbo.

Jesus is the master and we need to follow the way of the master.

 

[evangelist6589]

Lets look at Matt 9:35 (NIV)
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Jesus is doing open air preaching with strangers here and he does it everywhere. If gospel tracts were around then I am sure he would also have been passing them out.

 

[evangelist6589]

I can't help but notice that you are plagiarizing Jon Speed's, Evangelism in the New Testament for your posts.

If you are going to quote sources, especially word-for-word, you need to cite your source(s). Otherwise, you are:

(1) Being dishonest.
(2) Not learning anything by actually studying scripture for yourself.

I don't have a direct link to Speed's work, but he is cited in the following places with PROPER attribution:

http://goodmessengers.org/handouts/coursehandouts/lesson7/Contact Evangelism.pdf

Measuring Evangelism by Pragmatism

Yes thanks for the correction. I forgot to cite my source at the end of the post.

 

[Revmitchell]

Making disciples comes after someone is saved. A lost person wants nothing to do with the cross for he is lost and in the darkness. People cant be discipled unless they are first evangelized. Your problem is that you do not understand John 6:44.

Just stop, you have no understanding how to determine what anyone understands. I am trying to help you here. The Great Commission says to win them and disciple them. Your attitude is who cares if they are won to the Lord I have done my part to now I dust my hands off job over. You never win any because you do not want to.

We should have an expectation of the gospel actually working and then we will see some fruit. As far as pragmatism goes it was Paul who I suppose was very pragmatic when he said " For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." I Corinthians 9:19-27

So you can isolate the behavior of Jesus as if you know he only engaged in confrontational evangelism (which by the way you cannot know) but you cannot ignore the Great Commission or Paul.

Your point is no debunked.

 

[evangelist6589]

Just stop, you have no understanding how to determine what anyone understands. I am trying to help you here. The Great Commission says to win them and disciple them. Your attitude is who cares if they are won to the Lord I have done my part to now I dust my hands off job over. You never win any because you do not want to.

We should have an expectation of the gospel actually working and then we will see some fruit. As far as pragmatism goes it was Paul who I suppose was very pragmatic when he said " For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." I Corinthians 9:19-27

So you can isolate the behavior of Jesus as if you know he only engaged in confrontational evangelism (which by the way you cannot know) but you cannot ignore the Great Commission or Paul.

Your point is no debunked.

I never win any because I do not want to? So its all on me heh? What hogwash!

 

[Revmitchell]

I never win any because I do not want to? So its all on me heh? What hogwash!

Yes you do not want to,because then you know you would be responsible to disciple them and that scares you to death so you come on this board and try to justify your personal preference like always. I never said it was on you but I see you refused to address Paul's words. How convenient.

 

[InTheLight]

Lets look at Matt 9:35 (NIV)
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Jesus is doing open air preaching with strangers here and he does it everywhere. If gospel tracts were around then I am sure he would also have been passing them out.

Teaching in the synagogues is open air preaching? Seriously?

Sent from my Motorola Droid Turbo.