Evangelism & Missions, Part 1

Part I: Communicating the Gospel

“And this Gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”—Matthew 24:14

My first real attempt at evangelism involved handing out tracts in a poor neighborhood. We spent hours practicing what we would say. With a cracking voice and a weak feeling in the knees, I methodically went to each house repeating the same lines to whoever opened the door as I handed them the tract with my sweaty hand. At the end of the day, I honestly felt like a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, not an evangelist. I now know why I felt that way.

No sentence in the Bible brings together evangelism and missions better than Matthew 24:14. This article is the first in a series of five that will explore the phrases of this verse. All you need to know now is that Jesus says this to his disciples. We’ll look at the context more closely in the final article. Today’s topic involves the message of evangelism and missions: the Gospel.

If you are reading this article, then my guess is that you already have some idea of what the Gospel is. You also have some sense of the importance of the Gospel. But if someone ran up to you out of nowhere and asked you to summarize the message of the Gospel for them, would you be able to answer? Without a clear understanding of the Gospel, our evangelism is powerless.

When trying to explain evangelism, teachers will often start with describing a particular method. Evangelism is a practical thing. It is something we do. It involves communication, so methods are important. However, there is a principle that we should always keep in mind concerning method: theology comes first. Every method we develop for anything in the Christian life should flow from our theology. When we let our theology flow from our methods we create problems.

Many well-meaning Christians enter into evangelism with a fire in their bellies. They want to get “the Gospel” to as many people as possible in as short a time as possible. After all, isn’t that what Jesus wants us to do, according to Matthew 24:14? But all too often, the content of the message suffers because they focus more on numbers and less on truth. In an effort to make the Gospel more user-friendly, it has been packaged as a few simple statements that people should put faith in, demonstrating their faith in a simple prayer, walking down an aisle, or in some other quick action. It is not surprising that these brief encounters rarely seem to have a lasting impact on people’s lives.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple only in the sense that it is not beyond the intelligence of any human. But communicating the Gospel is not a matter of a few brief statements and a quick prayer of commitment. A method driven by numbers will always suffer from a message weak on theology. Our first concern in evangelism should be the purity of the truth we are trying to convey. Is the gospel I am sharing the Gospel of Scripture? Am I more concerned with the number of responses or with the depth of response? If we get this wrong, we are not helping people come to Christ. In fact, we could be hurting them. People who have come to believe a false gospel, or even a half-gospel, can be difficult to reach and can be harmful to the life of the church. We should take the call to evangelism seriously enough that we stop to consider the message we are sharing.

Having said that, let me now encourage you. I’m not saying that you have to get everything right in order for God to use you to spread his Gospel. We will often say the wrong things. We will often be incomplete. Some attempt at evangelism is better than no attempt at evangelism. All I’m saying is that we cannot expect God to bless any form of evangelism that has failed to take his Word seriously in its message.

So, what exactly is “the Gospel”? The short answer is that the Gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ. The word “evangelism” comes from the same word we translate as “Gospel” from Greek. Evangelism is sharing the good news. But why is the news good? Who is Jesus and why is he so important? Any real encounter with a thoughtful non-believer will result in these questions and a lot more. We should be prepared to answer most of them. Some possible questions non-Christians may ask include: Is the Bible trustworthy? Is Christ the only way to God? What about the people who have never heard this? Isn’t one person’s opinion as good as another’s in religion, since no one can really know what is true? I try to do my best, so won’t my good efforts get me to heaven? Is Jesus God? Doesn’t science contradict the Bible? Why does a good God allow suffering and evil? Life is meant to be meaningless; why bother trying to find answers? Why do I need religion? Why don’t Christians do something about the needs of people in this world? Why can’t Christians agree among themselves? Who am I? Who can I trust? Why am I so lonely? Is there a group that will accept me as is? What will make a relationship work? How is Jesus Christ real in your life?

I know that’s a lot of questions, but we must not forget that evangelism means talking to real people. These people may be ignorant of the truth, but they are not usually ignorant in general. I must admit that I have even met many atheists who can quote more Scripture than most Christians. Non-believers think. They have feelings. Answering their questions is what you will usually spend most of your time doing in any evangelistic encounter, and doing so involves knowing a lot of Scripture and theology.

At this point, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed. It probably sounds like I’m telling you that only seminary-trained preachers are equipped to share the Gospel effectively with other people. This is far from the truth. Evangelism can and should begin now, and it can be done by any believer (not just preachers). All you need to start is a basic Gospel outline. You will spend the rest of your life studying God’s Word and developing the theology of this outline, but a basic understanding of the themes of Scripture is all you need to begin telling people the truth they so desperately need to hear!

Here’s the outline I suggest:

I. Who is God?

God is Creator and King. (He owns us.)
God is loving. (He is Father to His people.)
God is Holy. (He is the perfect law-giver and Judge.)

Read the following passage: Acts 17:22–34

Illustration: Think of an inventor who makes an invention, gets a patent on it, and writesan instruction manual.

We are God’s invention. He has rights over us. We don’t own ourselves and we don’t get to decide what is best for ourselves. There is an owner’s manual to follow.

II. What does God require of us?

God requires us to perfectly love Him.
God requires us to perfectly love other people.

Read the following passage: Mark 10:17–27

Illustration: Your teachers give you learning objectives to meet and test you to see how well you do.
God’s law gives us a standard by which to measure all our thoughts and actions. Noneof us measures up to the standard. We all fail the test.

III. Why do we fail?

Failing to keep God’s standard is sin.
We sin because we think only of ourselves instead of God and others. (Self-centered)
Sin separates us from God.

Read the following passages: Romans 1:18–32; Mark 7:14–23; Ephesians 2:1–3

Illustration: They say that the first step to recovering from alcoholism is admitting the problem, but that it is also the hardest step.

All humans are born in bondage to sin. We live self-centered lives in rebellion to God and his law. If this doesn’t change, we will face a life of misery and an eternity in hell. The first step to recovery is admitting the problem.

Do you admit you are a sinner?

IV. How can we be saved?

God provides salvation for his people.
Jesus perfectly obeys all God’s rules.
Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin.
Jesus was raised again and offers salvation to us through trust in him.

Read the following passages: John 19:16–20:31; Romans 3:20–26; 2 Corinthians 5:17–21

Illustration: Imagine owing a credit card company a million dollars, but you have no way to pay the debt. One day you go to the bank and they tell you that you now have an unlimited account full of money in your name that you didn’t earn!

Jesus pays the sinner’s debt and God credits the sinner with the righteousness of Jesus,
something we can never earn. Faith in Christ is the only way to restore our relationship with God and escape the power and effects of sin in our lives.

V. How should we respond?

We are commanded to respond to this message in two ways:
We must turn from our sin. (Repentance / Turn)
We must trust in Jesus. (Faith / Trust)

Read the following passages: Isaiah 55:7; Luke 15:11–32; Acts 16:31

Illustration: When a lifeguard saves someone from drowning, the person being saved is totally dependent on their rescuer. They cling to the lifeguard, but it is the lifeguard who does all the work. In fact, trying to help often makes it more difficult to be rescued.

We are called to respond to the Gospel by completely trusting Jesus and his work to save us. This means admitting our sin and need of him and turning from our sin. We do not earn salvation or contribute to it in any way. “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.”

Now that you have an outline to get you started, I have a few last points of advice. First, try and keep the conversation basic. It’s easy to let yourself be taken down rabbit trails, but these will not help the person understand their need of Christ. Keep your comments focused on God’s claims and follow your outline. Second, remember to pray for the person and seek others to pray as well. We cannot change anyone’s heart. That is God’s work. Asking God to convert someone is the most important thing we will ever do for them. Third, be clear and direct, but humble. People know when they are just a project to you. We need to love people enough to tell them the truth, but making people into a project does not demonstrate love. Finally, wait for the person to respond. Hopefully, you’ve been able to take them to the end of the outline, the part where their response is important. Now you need to give them that opportunity. Listen to them, pray with them if the opportunity arises, and continue to be there over time as they struggle through the message of the Gospel. Rarely will someone fall to their knees and beg God’s forgiveness on the spot.

I hope this article has been helpful for you. Evangelism and missions are important tasks. This article has given you some tools to get started, but more must be said about the reasons for evangelism and missions. What does Jesus mean by the rest of the phrases he uses in Matthew 24:14? These issues will be addressed in the remaining articles.

If you would like to read further about evangelism, I recommend the following practical guides, which were used heavily in writing the content of this article:

Will Metzger, Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People, 3rd ed. Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2002.
C. John Miller, Powerful Evangelism for the Powerless, 2nd ed. Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 1997.

Mike Winebrenner is Director of Student Ministries at Christ Presbyterian Church in Olive Branch, Mississippi.