Evangelism

Evangelism is "the proclamation of salvation in Christ to those who do not believe in him, calling them to repentance and conversion, announcing forgiveness of sin, and inviting them to become living members of Christ's earthly community and to begin a life of service to others in the power of the Holy Spirit" (Bosch 1991, 10-11).

Some distinguish evangelism from missions, associating evangelism with the personal aspect of sharing Christ, and missions the global aspect.

Multimedia

Types

E-1

"E-1 Evangelism is monocultural. It is the shorthand term that refers to winning those of your own culture to Jesus Christ and assumes that they will feel at home in your own kind of local church. It includes both expansion and extension growth." [1]

E-2 and E-3

"Both E-2 and E-3 are cross-cultural. They are actually subdivisions of bridging growth. E-2 is evangelization in cultures different from the culture of the evangelist, but only slightly different. E-3 is evangelism in vastly different cultures. The difference between the two is in degree, not in kind, since they both involve starting churches in different cultures. Note that geographical distances have nothing to do with this. People at an E-3 distance can often be found in the same city." [2]

E-0

"To complete the picture, E-0 evangelism means winning people to Christ who are already church members. Some churches in [North] America have large members who are not born again or committed to Christ, people who obviously need to be evangelized." [3]

Styles

Initiative/active evangelism

Tracting

Tracts are a great resource for evangelism. They are able to speak when one is absent, be where one is not, and even communicate the message people sometimes have trouble articulating. God can use tracts to reach people, but it takes someone to distribute them. Even the most shy and inexperienced Christian can sow more seeds for the Gospel in an hour using tracts than many churches do in a year. With American society growing ever more face-paced and less personal, tracts offer the seed-sower a unique opportunity to share the gospel in a medium that has been proven effective.

Open air preaching

Open Air Preaching is a powerful tool used by Jesus, Peter, Paul and many other Christians down through the ages. It is the presentation of the Gospel to a group of people. A form of open air preaching is street preaching. Many famous sermons were given out of doors including the Sermon on the Mount as well as much of the great awakening preaching. Futhermore, many Protestant reformers preached in forests away from the cities in order to avoid persecution.

Relational evangelism

Life-style evangelism

There are two distinct views on life-style evangelism. The first is popularly phrased by Francis of Assisi who said, "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." The idea behind this style of evangelism is to live the Christian walk with the hope that people will see Christ through your actions.

The second view of life-style evangelism is to make sharing the Gospel a life style. Those that follow this second view contend that actions are important and indeed necessary, but to think that one can live a life so holy that the world will see Christ in you and then fall over converted is sometimes seen as arrogant. If the most holy Man who ever lived had to fill the scriptures with red text, why do we think we can share without words? This view is best phrased by evangelist Mark Cahill who said, "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use actions."

The goal for the balanced Christian is to share the Gospel through both actions and words. Believers should not use their holiness as an excuse not to explain the Gospel verbally. Nor should they vocally share their faith and then discredit their words with their actions or lack thereof.

See also

External links