How Many Kinds of Evangelism Are There?

[John of Japan]

We're going to be off line for a week, since we're flying out in the morning to be at a missionary fellowship down South. I'll probably have to go cold turkey on the BB for a whole week -- unless we find an internet connection in a motel room after the fellowship when we stay in Sapporo for a couple of days.

Aarghlll. I have a tight feeling in my chest. I'm having trouble breathing.

In the meantime, I hope someone furthur defines IE (Internet Evangelism). What are the different kinds of IE? Are any of them active or are they all passive? What is the most effective kind of IE?

Also in the meantime, here is something else to ponder. Some classify evangelism as direct and indirect. Direct evangelism is when the Gospel is presented to a prospect who is present, such as in personal evangelism, mass evangelism, etc. Indirect evangelism is when a way is made for the prospect to get the Gospel without personal contact: some kinds of tract distribution, radio evangelism, etc. :type:

 

[Rick The Evangelist]

Hi there,

I am more old school however we do get results my kind evangelism and where I feel the good Lord has called me for is to reach the mases. That is to reach as many folk as possible with the gospel and that for me is i.e. standing on a wall in the market place and preaching the gospel loud enough that as many folk hear the gospel as possible. I don't know if that is called confrontational or just simply doing what God has asked off me. All I know is this works for me as I do feel the anointing to do this before I go out. I pray that what I preach is Gods words not mine. Anyway after I have let folk know the gospel folk come up to me and ask what church I attend so I give them a track with info on and folk do come along and we are growing.

Anyway this what evangelism means to me because it does say in the bible go into the world and preach My gospel.

Well this is my thoughts on this one, I hope I have not offended anyone.
from rick

 

[John of Japan]

Hi there,

I am more old school however we do get results my kind evangelism and where I feel the good Lord has called me for is to reach the mases. That is to reach as many folk as possible with the gospel and that for me is i.e. standing on a wall in the market place and preaching the gospel loud enough that as many folk hear the gospel as possible. I don't know if that is called confrontational or just simply doing what God has asked off me. All I know is this works for me as I do feel the anointing to do this before I go out. I pray that what I preach is Gods words not mine. Anyway after I have let folk know the gospel folk come up to me and ask what church I attend so I give them a track with info on and folk do come along and we are growing.

Anyway this what evangelism means to me because it does say in the bible go into the world and preach My gospel.

Well this is my thoughts on this one, I hope I have not offended anyone.
from rick

Hi, Rick. Welcome to the Baptist Board and thanks for your good post in my thread. :wavey:

Praise the Lord for your street evangelism and street preaching. Keep on doing what the Lord leads and empowers you to do. :thumbs:

I define street evangelism as any form of evangelism done outdoors in public places such as streets or city squares. To me, street preaching is one kind of street evangelism, vocally proclaiming the Gospel on the street.

Here in Hokkiado my co-worker and I go out on street evangelism every Saturday night except during the winter. Our winters are very harsh, with lots of snow, wind and cold. We go down to a place called the Kaimono Koen ("shopping park"), which is a closed off street with shops, kind of an outdoor mall. We pass out tracts and witness, and God has blessed.

 

[Gold Dragon]

I am of the view that there is a lot of overlap between mission and evangelism.

A few other classifications of evangelism that I'll throw out there are:

1. cross-cultural vs. intracultural
2. local vs. international

The traditional view is that mission is cross-cultural and international while evangelism is local and intracultural. However the two other combinations are also interesting to consider.

Cross-cultural local evangelism (ie Hispanic Christians reaching out to asian kids in their neighborhood)
Intracultural international evangelism (ie Arabic Christians from Iraq reaching out to Arabs in the US)

 

[John of Japan]

I am of the view that there is a lot of overlap between mission and evangelism.

A few other classifications of evangelism that I'll throw out there are:

1. cross-cultural vs. intracultural
2. local vs. international

The traditional view is that mission is cross-cultural and international while evangelism is local and intracultural. However the two other combinations are also interesting to consider.

Cross-cultural local evangelism (ie Hispanic Christians reaching out to asian kids in their neighborhood)
Intracultural international evangelism (ie Arabic Christians from Iraq reaching out to Arabs in the US)

Thanks for a good, thoughtful post, Gold Dragon. These are good classifications and definitions. As a missionary I do cross-cultural evangelism all the time, of course, so these comparisons speak to me.

 

[John of Japan]

Literature evangelism has come up a couple of times on this thread. This is my favorite kind of evangelism. It might be described as: "using the written word to spread the Gospel." I first became burdened about this when I was a teen and heard someone say that the Chinese Communists bragged that they took over China through the written word.

This is a very Biblical method of evangelism, since the book of John was written for the purpose of helping people believe in Christ (John 20:30-31).

Here are some types of literature evangelism: tract passing, distributing Bible portions, mailings, a book table at an event or on the street. Some ways to get out tracts are: passing them out in street evangelism, passing them out at a public place such as a train station, giving them to business people or store workers, passing them out to casual contacts (on a train, plane, etc.), going house to house with them. Here in Japan it is legal to put them in mail boxes, but in the States we used to stick them in doors or door handles. :type:

 

[steveo]

" Here in Japan it is legal to put them in mail boxes, but in the States we used to stick them in doors or door handles."


We had some groups from our church go out and hand out church stuff with the gospel on it this past summer and one of our youth unknowingly put one in a ladys mailbox. I got to church that monday and on my answering machine was a nice little message from this lady.

From now on, we will have a do not leave in mailbox talk before going out.

 

[John of Japan]

" Here in Japan it is legal to put them in mail boxes, but in the States we used to stick them in doors or door handles."


We had some groups from our church go out and hand out church stuff with the gospel on it this past summer and one of our youth unknowingly put one in a ladys mailbox. I got to church that monday and on my answering machine was a nice little message from this lady.

From now on, we will have a do not leave in mailbox talk before going out.

Uh oh!! A little matter of a federal statute there, eh what?!

:laugh:

 

[tank1976]

" Here in Japan it is legal to put them in mail boxes, but in the States we used to stick them in doors or door handles."


We had some groups from our church go out and hand out church stuff with the gospel on it this past summer and one of our youth unknowingly put one in a ladys mailbox. I got to church that monday and on my answering machine was a nice little message from this lady.

From now on, we will have a do not leave in mailbox talk before going out.

I had this happen before with a youth also. I seen it happening and was able to take care of it before any problem arose.

When we got back in the van we had the no mail box talk. I had not thought of it before, but now I always remember it.:thumbs:

 

[John of Japan]

I had this happen before with a youth also. I seen it happening and was able to take care of it before any problem arose.

When we got back in the van we had the no mail box talk. I had not thought of it before, but now I always remember it.:thumbs:

"The talk" is a great tradition! :thumbs: I'm dating myself, but I remember getting "the talk" about mail boxes when I was a little boy in about 1958 or '59. Our church, Calvary Baptist Church of Wheaton, IL, was getting out leaflets for special meetings coming up. It was fun to stick them in the doors or the door handles, but I remember looking at those mail boxes and thinking, "What if...? Naw, too dangerous!" :laugh:

 

[Rippon]

Off-topic humor break

I would never date myself John . There are too many incompatibility issues .

 

[Rippon]

Double post

 

[John of Japan]

I would never date myself John . There are too many incompatibility issues .

Hah! I wondered if anyone would pick up on that. :laugh: :laugh:

 

[skypair]

We're going to be off line for a week, since we're flying out in the morning to be at a missionary fellowship down South. I'll probably have to go cold turkey on the BB for a whole week -- unless we find an internet connection in a motel room after the fellowship when we stay in Sapporo for a couple of days.

Aarghlll. I have a tight feeling in my chest. I'm having trouble breathing.

In the meantime, I hope someone furthur defines IE (Internet Evangelism). What are the different kinds of IE? Are any of them active or are they all passive? What is the most effective kind of IE?

John -- an interesting opportunity almost happened to me, maybe still could.

I was in a pilot prayer group at FedEx. You know, we were "top of the heap" career-wise and yet reached not enough people. One member had been reserving a website and domain name and we thought to offer pins much like my avatar for CHRISTIAN pilots --- those who would read through the plan of salvation and agree that they had been born again. We began deciding on content and ran upon a dilemma. Why would pilots visit regularly.

We already had one pilot involved who had a website everyone went to -- a weather site (www.dixwx.com if you would like to visit). Had all kinds of weather info the pilots need -- and he put a Bible verse at the bottom (perhaps a small "inroad"). He was going to link our site to his but what then (we're pilots -- not internet "geeks").

Why this offer the pin? It seems that pilots who actually will identify with Christ (I wore a fish tie tack) actually will get asked about their faith or at least respected for what most believe is behind the symbol. And I would offer this to others as a kind of evangelism -- maybe call it "visibility evangelism" :laugh:

Anyway, except for the plan of salvation, what would you put on such a website to keep pilots coming back? I guess it is the same thing you have with church -- fellowship (ergo, message board?), good AND desired teaching (things pilots think they uniquely run into especially the hazards of long absences from home. I actually found that message boarding was a GREAT distractor from opportunities I otherwise would have had to sin.).

Answers would be appreciated though I don't know if God has me in a place now to go forward with that.

BTW, one of our members offered his method of evangelism -- "highway evangelism." It's closely related to "visibility evangelism." He has a bumper sticker that says "Honk if you love Jesus." In order to carry our his ministry, he cuts people off in traffic and says, "You'd be surprised how many people love Jesus when they see His bumper sticker!!" :laugh:

skypair

 

[John of Japan]

John -- an interesting opportunity almost happened to me, maybe still could.

I was in a pilot prayer group at FedEx. You know, we were "top of the heap" career-wise and yet reached not enough people. One member had been reserving a website and domain name and we thought to offer pins much like my avatar for CHRISTIAN pilots --- those who would read through the plan of salvation and agree that they had been born again. We began deciding on content and ran upon a dilemma. Why would pilots visit regularly.

We already had one pilot involved who had a website everyone went to -- a weather site (www.dixwx.com if you would like to visit). Had all kinds of weather info the pilots need -- and he put a Bible verse at the bottom (perhaps a small "inroad"). He was going to link our site to his but what then (we're pilots -- not internet "geeks").

Why this offer the pin? It seems that pilots who actually will identify with Christ (I wore a fish tie tack) actually will get asked about their faith or at least respected for what most believe is behind the symbol. And I would offer this to others as a kind of evangelism -- maybe call it "visibility evangelism" :laugh:

Hey, I like it--"visibility evangelism!" thanks for the good testimony. May God bless your efforts.

Anyway, except for the plan of salvation, what would you put on such a website to keep pilots coming back? I guess it is the same thing you have with church -- fellowship (ergo, message board?), good AND desired teaching (things pilots think they uniquely run into especially the hazards of long absences from home. I actually found that message boarding was a GREAT distractor from opportunities I otherwise would have had to sin.).

Answers would be appreciated though I don't know if God has me in a place now to go forward with that.

Pilots being smart folk, I would have some good articles on the website, preferably by other pilots. Apologetic articles would be good: proving the resurrection of Christ, showing the good Christians have done down through the years, proving the inspiration of the Bible through fulfilled prophecy, etc.

The plan of salvation should be a good, detailed one for such folk, not just the short ABC type. John R. Rice's "What Must I Do to Be Saved?" is on several websites.

BTW, one of our members offered his method of evangelism -- "highway evangelism." It's closely related to "visibility evangelism." He has a bumper sticker that says "Honk if you love Jesus." In order to carry our his ministry, he cuts people off in traffic and says, "You'd be surprised how many people love Jesus when they see His bumper sticker!!" :laugh:

skypair

Whoa! In these days of road rage he could become a martyr for Jesus! :saint:

Have a wonderful Christmas!

 

[John of Japan]

Here's a method of "highway evangelism" I've heard of. One man would cruise the Interstates looking for folk in trouble. He would then stop and help them in whatever way he could. This would then often give him an opportunity to present the Gospel. :thumbs:

 

[skypair]

Here's a method of "highway evangelism" I've heard of. One man would cruise the Interstates looking for folk in trouble. He would then stop and help them in whatever way he could. This would then often give him an opportunity to present the Gospel. :thumbs:

Yeah -- a guy at Bellevue did that. It's been awhile though. Do you think door-to-door and highway evangelism like this are getting dangerous? I don't mind talking to people that are outside at home but "cold calls" -- I don't know.

More of a question -- do you believe that believers have a "glory" that is supposed to be "on display?" The life that others want to have given to us by God to contrast with the darkness and defeat of the world?

I am big into this idea that we have a "terrestrial glory" -- maybe like Moses had to hide with a veil. But nonetheless, a glory of just being with God every day and having Him live in us.

skypair

 

[John of Japan]

Yeah -- a guy at Bellevue did that. It's been awhile though. Do you think door-to-door and highway evangelism like this are getting dangerous? I don't mind talking to people that are outside at home but "cold calls" -- I don't know.

I find that fewer and fewer are doing door-to-door evangelism. I don't know if that is good or bad--maybe just a sign of the times. I go door-to-door with tracts because I believe that fulfills the "every creature" of Mark 16:15. And we do have folks in our church from that. But the one-on-one contact is the most important element of winning folks to Christ in Japan, and I'm sure in the States, too.

More of a question -- do you believe that believers have a "glory" that is supposed to be "on display?" The life that others want to have given to us by God to contrast with the darkness and defeat of the world?

I am big into this idea that we have a "terrestrial glory" -- maybe like Moses had to hide with a veil. But nonetheless, a glory of just being with God every day and having Him live in us.

skypair

That's an interesting idea. I would say it is not wrong theologically unless we forget to say that our glory should glorify God (Matt. 5:16). If people see our "glory" and realize that it comes from God, then amen! But usually in the Bible when it talks about human glory it is a negative mention (Hos. 4:7, Phil. 3:19, 2 Cor. 11:12, etc.).

Have a wonderful 2008! :wavey:

 

[John of Japan]

Door to door evangelism, house to house visitation--there are various names for it. Sometimes it was called a census, an easier method to talk to people door-to-door than, "I'm here to save your soul...." The idea is to try and knock on every single door in the community, getting the Gospel to "every creature" as Mark 16:15 says to.

Though this method is often considered strictly fundamentalist, in years past many different groups practiced this form of evangelism. To give just one example, there was the "Every Home Crusade," which in Japan and many other countries tried to get a tract in every home in the country.

There were many books written on this method in years past, too. How to Have a Soul-Winning Church by Gene Edwards (SBC), House-to-House Soul Winning, God's Way, by Toim Malone (IFB), etc. Whatever the method, I believe we need to have some method to reach every soul in our community with the Gospel. :type:

 

[LeBuick]

" The idea is to try and knock on every single door in the community, getting the Gospel to "every creature" as Mark 16:15 says to.

<snip>

I believe we need to have some method to reach every soul in our community with the Gospel. :type:

We have a Church here that put speakers in the steeple. It has brought in a few even if just to ask them to turn the volume down.