Tim Spencer

Serve. Grow. Lead.

Evangelism Redux

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wheatOver the last several decades, influential witness training methods like Evangelism Explosion (1962), Continuing Witness Training (1982), Becoming a Contagious Christian (1995) and FAITH Evangelism (1999) became a key driver of church growth.

Across America and around the world, a fresh Acts 1:8 history lesson was learned: Develop an intentional witness training plan, maintain a growing prospect list and build a sustained churchwide evangelism focus.

The influence of these programs continues in churches that have made them a part of their vision and DNA. In other churches, they ran their course and petered out, leaving exhausted pastors and congregations in their wake.

It seems likely that some of us (and I count myself in this group) over thought and over complicated what should have been a simple proposition: Mobilize as many believers as possible to live a lifestyle of sharing.

More than ever, I believe that mobilizing more people with simplified evangelism “handles” is the best way forward. If you’re a believer, then you can share your faith. Let’s return to basics and embrace KISS methodology: “Keep it short and simple.”

At First West, our evangelism plan asks for 3 commitments:

  • 1 Story – Learn to share your 1 story.
  • 1 Verse – Memorize 1 verse to share the gospel.
  • 1 Person –  Identify and share with your 1 person.

1 Story. Experience tells us that a person’s testimony is the easiest way to share with someone else. Every believer has a story! Teaching believers to share about their life before they met Jesus, how they came to accept Jesus into their life and about their life since they met Jesus is the best foundation for sustained lifestyle evangelism.

1 Verse. We use Romans 6:23 to equip all ages to share the gospel. It’s easy to use key words from this one verse to present God’s plan to save the world:

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23 (ESV)

Key words like “wages,” “sin” and “death” illustrate that our sin has earned us a death sentence. That’s the bad news. The word “but” offers some good news. “Free gift,” “of God” and “eternal life” tell us that God’s gift is the eternal life alternative to the death we deserve.

1 Person. We lead our church to know who their one person is. We ask believers to pray for their one person. We ask them to start faith conversations with their one person. We ask them to invite their one person to a weekend service or special community event. And we ask them to share the gospel when the relational chips have been earned to do so.

So what’s the Big Idea?

Provide evangelism “handles” like 1 story, 1 verse, 1 person to keep witness training short and simple. Mobilize as many believers as possible to live a lifestyle of sharing.

Resources

Live an Everyday Life on Mission

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roadWho among us doesn’t want to live a life with eternal significance and purpose? Put aside the trappings of earthly success in business or ministry and recognize that real impact happens only when you surrender everything to God.

Over the last two months, our staff has studied Life on Mission by Aaron Coe and Dustin Willis. Here’s how they describe the everyday life believers are called to live:

A life on mission is a calling of abandonment. It is the confession of our willingness to set aside—to abandon—our preferences to follow God’s mission. Like a bungee jumper diving off a platform, we must relinquish our selfish hopes with total abandon to spread the true hope we have found in Jesus.

What does it mean to live life on mission for God? I’ll answer that question with 4 words:

  1. Wait
  2. Abide
  3. Watch
  4. Go

Here’s the full detail of the spiritual truths Coe and Willis present:

1. WAIT on the Lord. Perhaps you spend too little time considering what God is saying in the quiet moments. If so, the watch word is “wait”—create some space in your day to pray, study the Word and worship. Your purpose is to glorify God in everything you do. If you don’t do that, you won’t achieve much that matters.

In the morning, Lord , you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. – Psalm 5:3 (NIV)

2. ABIDE in the Vine. A total realignment takes place when you follow Jesus with abandon. Your life is defined by doing and saying that bears witness to your faith in Christ. More than a head knowledge of who Jesus is, “abiding in the vine” is about living a life in love with the Savior. It translates into doing what God says instead of doing what culture says.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5 (NIV)

3. WATCH for opportunities to share. Seeing the world with new eyes is the big result of waiting and abiding. Once you’ve prayed, worshiped and focused your heart and mind, it’s amazing how sensitive to the Spirit you become. Your new eyes make it easy to identify people who need the gospel.

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. – John 4:35 (NIV)

4. GO and make disciples. For a Spirit-sensitive person, seeing people who need the gospel leads naturally to sharing a verbal witness. Whether it’s a personal faith story, testimony or life lesson, missional living demands sharing. You are called to invest your life in others as you share the gospel and invite others into disciple-making relationships. Then, you send others out to share their faith.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. – Acts 1:8 (NIV)

So what’s the Big Idea?

Wait, abide, watch and go. Live out radical obedience to God. Live an everyday life on mission.

Resources


Source

Dustin Willis and Aaron Coe, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2014), 59.