Soul-winning vs Evangelism

A man I led to Christ in 2002 within 30 minutes was calling his employees to come to his home to have a barbeque because he had just come to Christ. Within the next week he had told many outside of his company.

 

I was just looking again in my library and found the term "soul-winning" in a 1907 book by famed preacher Charles Trumbull, Taking Men Alive. He was the editor of the inluential "Sunday School Times" for many years. This book actually describes the personal evangelism method of Charles' father, well known preacher H. Clay Trumbull (1830-1903).

 

Praise the Lord!! :thumbsup: :applause: :jesus:

 

If only they all did that . . . kind of discipleship!

 

I have a KJV Bible--read it every day. I also have a Shinkaiyaku Japanese Bible that translates it "deshi to shinasai," or "make them disciples." This is translated directly from the Greek "matheteuo," meaning, "make disciples," which I suppose you will try to correct from the KJV. I challenge you if you dare to head over to the Bible translations forum and start a thread teaching me how to choose a Bible in Japanese, since we have no KJV in Japanese.

While I agree with you that this is what we are supposed to do, and that Prov. 11:30 means to bring folk to faith, you are really cramming a lot into that verse if you expect it to include "training them to get other people saved." That part just isn't in there--it is your "private interpretation."

 

Soul Winning vs. Evangelism

I have a question, a few weeks ago I helped a gentelman change a flat tire on the side of the road, while doing so I began to share Christ with him, before we parted he had repented and asked Jesus to be Lord of his life, I will most likely never see this man again, so did he get saved, will he start going to church, I dont know, I was told to witness to him what he does next his between him and God. Right or Wrong.

 

Praise God, Servent! That's awesome! Now someone else will get the opportunity to disciple him and hopefully he'll find a church and get in it. Thanks for being obedient! :thumbs:

 

i have another question. an unbeliever asked me a question about something he read...something like how can a believer be 'free' and a slave at the same time. i did my best to explain that : we are free since we are bought witha high price (that included the God-required blood shed), and since we are bought with such a high price we are (or should feel obligated) to be a slave to the one that paid that price.

we has some small talk after that. and then i just left it. i did not try to seal the deal. win his soul. just presented a gospel message.

right or wrong?

 

Paul said that he was a bond servant, that is a servant or slave that was set free but does not want to leave his master, so he becomes a bond servant, still a slave but free at the same time.

 

thank you servent. but what i meant by "right or wrong" is was i right or wrong to present the gospel without trying to win a soul? More specifically, am i obeying the 'command' in Matt 28:19?

 

It is not up to us to win souls.. that is the Holy Spirit's job.
We are not salesmen trying to close on a sale.

Our job is to witness, to tell about Christ.
The Holy Spirit will draw them to Christ. If you were following the Holy Spirit's lead, then you may have just watered the seed someone else planted...

Someone else may come along and harvest that fruit.

 

TT, I (obviously) agree, but I know many (maybe some on this thread) that seem to have a problem if 'close' is not at least attempted.

 

There is no way any of us could answer this question. You have to know yourself: did you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in this matter or did you not? Since the Holy Spirit is the "Lord of the Harvest," it is up to Him whether we should press the issue or not. He will always lead us aright.

 

exactly JoJ. Sometimes He says to close, sometimes He says to back away.

 

I agree here, tinytim.

However, there are some who like to totally deemphasize the human side. We are in a partnership with the Holy Spirit. That partnership is taught very clearly in every one of the five versions of the Great Commission, though it is very often ignored by all sides in discussions of the Great Commission.

Note in Matthew: "Lo I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." This is obviously referring to the indwelling Holy Spirit.

In Mark the Holy Spirit's partnership is evidenced by the "signs."

In Luke 24--"48 And ye are witnesses of these things. 49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."

In John 20:22--"And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost."

In Acts 1:5--"For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence."

So soul-winning is a partnership. We do the witnessing by the power of the Holy Spirit, and God saves the soul. However, if we are not careful, we throw out the baby with the bathwater by de-emphasizing the human role. God in His infinite wisdom decided to use us human tools to do His work.

So in the passage on sowing and watering that you referred to: "5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building" (1 Cor. 3).

It is very clear that though God does the saving, the believer is a minister through (dia with the genitive) whom the new convert believed, and God rewards the believer for witnessing. :type: There are many other clear passages on this, too.

 

:thumbs: :jesus:

 

but we DO "win" souls, in the sense that the word "win" can mean "convince" or "persuade" a person to agree with the message being put forth. We do NOT "SAVE" a person's soul, as that is only Christ. And so, the ultimate conversion is only and completely being done by Christ through the Holy Spirit unto reconciliation with the Father.
But the Bible does call us "soul-winners".
I do not understand some people's seemingly obsessive problem with the term or phrase "winning souls". We do not "win" (or convince) them to US, we "win" them to CHRIST. But it is still our duty to go out there and actively seek to win the lost.

I too was glad to see an OP from this author that I could pretty much agree with.

 

No soul winner ever says, "I saved a person today." We say, "I won a soul to Christ," meaning that through the Holy Spirit's power we gave the Gospel in a convincing way, the Holy Spirit convicted of sin, and the person came to Christ to trust Him as Savior.

I love the last command in the Bible. It teaches that the Holy Spirit and the bride (the church) are saying, "Come to Christ," and we are to say the same thing. It is right to invite a person to trust Christ as Savior after giving them the Gospel. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17).

The term "soul winning," as proven on this thread, is a Biblical term, and has an honorable history, having been used by evangelicals and fundamentalists for well over 100 years. :type:

 

Soul-winning is one way of saying one witnessed to a lost person. But wouldn't it be better to say, "The Lord saved so-and-so today"?

JofJ, it's a blessed thing to be able to say "I won a soul for Christ," but doesn't doesn't that tend to give too much credit to our human efforts? Not that we want credit, for we agree that it is God who saves from start to finish. I'm talking mainly about the way it comes across, like bragging.

Seems to me if make God the actor then we can give more glory to Him. I suggest something like, "The Lord gave me an opportunity to witness to someone today. God opened his heart and saved him."

We have enough man-centered preaching and evanglism anyway, and we ought not to use expressions which aid and abet them.