15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:15-18
The word ‘evangelism’ comes from the Greek word translated as gospel in Mark 16:15. It is also translated as good news in Romans 10:15 and Matthew 4:23 and good tidings in Luke 2:10. The Greek word for gospel appears more than 15 times in the New Testament. What is evangelism? Evangelism is the proclamation and the preaching of the gospel. It is about pointing people to Christ. We are sent forth to bring good tidings. When we proclaim the word of the Lord, we bring good news and not bad news. There is a lot of bad news in the world today and the church has been given the role of bringing hope to the people of the earth.
Jesus preached the good tidings of the Kingdom. The good news is communicated both orally and written. The gospel is a strong message that all have sinned but also that Jesus has brought salvation. It includes a clear call for repentance to believe in Jesus Christ and to live for Him. Evangelism is not a method and it is not a programme. Many people think of evangelism as someone who has a booth or someone who goes from house to house. However, the heart of the gospel is building relationship between God and man. The heart of the gospel is that God sent His only Son into the world to give eternal life.
There is a command given to the church to evangelize. We have been commanded to spread the good news. It is our responsibility and our assignment. It is an obligation for us to evangelize. If it is an obligation, why then don’t we do it?
Why don’t we evangelize?
Most of us are afraid to evangelize. We are afraid of people of rejecting, cursing and threatening us. In the early church, many were stoned and accused but they got back up and continued the work of the Lord. Paul was stoned but he didn’t give up, he pressed toward the mark for the high calling in Christ Jesus. We have to understand the calling that we have on our lives and when we do, nothing will stop us.
We don’t evangelize because we don’t know how to do it. We don’t know what to say to persons and we don’t have the time. We think that it is for a select few and for the pastors and the apostles. Evangelism is not a department or a specific area in the church but rather it is for all of us. We think that the calling of pastors and apostles is to win souls but rather their calling is to equip the church and send them out. We don’t evangelize because we think that we have a choice. Evangelism is not a choice but an obligation. We are not concerned about lost souls and sometimes we just can’t be bothered.
It has been stated that only 2% of the church in the western hemisphere is involved in evangelism. It can then be said that 98% of the church is living in disobedience. They are not following the command of the Lord. It is not enough for us to bring them to church for the apostle to preach to them and they get saved. We have to be going out and seeing souls saved for ourselves.
Why then should we evangelize?
– Proclaiming the gospel is at the heart of what we do. If we think that evangelism is important then our lives would reflect it. The church was completely focussed on evangelism 20 years ago. 80% of the church was doing it. Now the church has lost sight of what they have been called to do.
– We have been commanded by Jesus to do it (Matthew 28:19-20). When we follow this command, we are planting and watering seeds in the lives of others. Then God will give the increase.
– Salvation is found in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). Salvation does not come through Buddha, Allah, or Confucius. It only comes through Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16-17). Power is released when we preach the gospel. Something happens when the gospel is released.
– If we don’t preach the gospel, the sinner will not hear (Romans 10:14-15).
– We have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). We’re the ones who have to reconcile men to God.
– We are ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). Our role is to represent Christ in the earth and to speak on His behalf.
Jesus was a witness unto God (Acts 1:8). He proclaimed and preached the word. He built friendships with people. He provided for the multitude who then saw the goodness of God. He healed many and He spoke the word of God. He was involved in proclamation evangelism (Mark 1:35-38). He proclaimed the word. He also was involved with peer evangelism. He influenced the unsaved through friendships (Luke 19:1-7). As Christians, we have to impact the lives of those in our workplaces and in our businesses. We can’t be influenced by the unsaved but we have to influence them.
Jesus was also involved in provision evangelism. He ministered to the needs of the people (Matthew 14:15-21). We have to do acts of love and show them the kindness of God. This type of evangelism may become dangerous when the sinner only comes for natural food rather than spiritual food (John 6:22-29). We can give them food but we have to tell them about Jesus, the bread of life. Jesus said that His flesh is food and His blood is drink (John 6:53-55). We have to take from Him. True discipleship is not about what you can’t get from the church but it is about how much you can learn about Jesus.
Jesus did prophetic evangelism (John 4:5, 16-19). Sometimes when we are prophetic, it opens a door for the gospel. Jesus healed and did many miracles. He did power evangelism (Matthew 4:23-25). Evangelism is not just about telling people about the word but also demonstrating the power of God. To bring change to the nation, we need to pray and displace every demonic power.
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