Essay about Methods of Evangelism

In their book, The Great Commission to Worship, Vernon Whaley and David Wheeler takes an in depth look at commandment from Jesus for His followers to go out and spread the Good News of salvation. Today’s Christian seems to have a misconception about their role in evangelism. As the authors stated, “many times in Scripture it appears

The person whom I intend to share the Gospel with is my friend Drew Harmatz. We have been friends now for over three years and over that time grown to be really good friends. Even though we are good friends we do not share the same beliefs. Drew is Jewish and has chosen to stick with his birth religion because he likes the Jewish moral compass. Basically, he has expressed that he feels the Jewish culture is more peaceful and presents a better moral basis than that of any other religion. While we have talk of God, Christ, and the Bible; I have never tried to relay the Gospel to him.

The Art of Personal Evangelism: Sharing Jesus in a changing culture By Will McRaney, Jr. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Academic, 2003, 268 pp., $19.99 paper.

The Romans road method of evangelism is a clear and effective means of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This technique is called the Romans road because it takes the hearer through certain passages in the book of Romans that explain the main points of the Gospel. The first reference in the Romans road is Romans 3:23 which states “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. This verse establishes the groundwork that shows the need for the good news at all. It shows that every person has failed to measure up to God’s perfect standards. The next pit stop on the Romans road explains why being sinful is such a problem. Romans 6:23 reads “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Summary of Method – The Romans Road is an intellectual method of evangelism. It utilizes the book of Romans to illustrate to a nonbeliever the steps necessary in order to be saved. This method walks the evangelist and the nonbeliever through specific verses in the Bible. These verses have been selected because they call attention to the need for salvation, they state the good news that a way to salvation has already been prepared, they warn nonbelievers of what will happen if the nonbeliever remains in the sinful state, they inform the nonbeliever that there is no other way to salvation except through Jesus, and they proclaim that confessing this truth is the action which needs to be taken. Dr. Jack Hyles preached the original Romans Road list on Sunday morning, June 28, 1970. During his sermon, Dr. Hyles said, “I came up with a little plan of presenting the plan of salvation called ‘The Romans Road’ whereby you take verses contained in Romans and show people how to be saved using Romans 3:10, and Romans 3:23, and Romans 5:12, and Romans 5:8 and on and on”. Since the time that the original plan was proposed by Dr. Hyles, variations have arisen. When an evangelist sits with a nonbeliever he or she need only to read though these selections from the book of Romans. Depending on which specific Romans Roads plan is chosen, there could be variations in the numbers of verses or the order in which the verses are read with the nonbeliever.

didn’t she want more out of her life? Or more precise a life after death? This gave her a means of

Borg is adamantly against the idea that Jesus is the only way to God. Borg believes that we have misunderstood passages such as John 14:6, in which Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” According to Borg, “the way” embodied in Jesus is the path of death and resurrection”, which, he says, is an idea common to all religions. In context, however, John 14:6 is not discussing some abstract philosophy of “the way” as the path of metaphorical death and resurrection. The passage asserts, rather, that Jesus Himself is the way. The text says that no one comes to the Father “but through me”.

He alone is the way to eternal salvation, and the foundation of eternal life. He is a refuge to those who are in distress; a support to the afflicted, hope and defence to those who are hopeless; and, in a word, all those who do not believe on him, shall not live, but suffer eternal death.

John 14:16-17 ~ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

There is only one way to god and that is threw Jesus Christ. We have to go through Jesus because we are sinners and sin cannot be in God’s presence. Sin is falling short of Gods glory and since we all fall short we need Jesus to bring us back. To have Jesus we must accept him.

All three of the methods of evangelism I have discussed; Four Spiritual Laws, Lifestyle Evangelism and Evangelism Explosion are extremely effective and can be used by anyone under just about any circumstance. If I were to pick which one of these would be best for me I would choose the relational Method of Lifestyle Evangelism. The reason I would choose this method is partially due to my top two spiritual gifts of teaching and exhortation and partially due to my sphere of influence. Sharing the Gospel of the long term of a family or co-worker relationship seems like it would

There are many barriers that could hinder us from spreading the gospel but if we are willing to overcome these barriers, God will definitely use us to spread the gospel. Some of these barriers include fear and conditional obedience. Fear comes when may be spreading the gospel means traveling to new areas or countries and the fear for our own safety may hinder us from traveling to those areas for example travelling to Mandera to evangelize. We may also fear how the people in such areas will receive our message or react to it. Conditional obedience could mean having a willingness to spread the gospel as long as God keeps us at a particular place where we feel comfortable evangelizing but would not be willing to take the message where we would feel uncomfortable or where we would face difficulties.

Summary of Method – The Romans Road is a method of evangelism and is considered an intellectual method. It is a plan of salvation that utilizes various verses derived from the book of Romans. These verses are often memorized and used by evangelists to form a cohesive explanation of the need of salvation.

There are many different types of evangelism including mass evangelism, personal evangelism, evangelistic preaching, literature evangelism, church evangelistic crusades, evangelistic counseling, radio and television programs, entertainment, Sunday school evangelism, and evangelistic bible study. By mass evangelism is meant the preaching of the message in open-air meetings or in very large gatherings. The first mass meetings are described in the New Testament as occurring spontaneously. Since the time of the Reformation open-air meetings have been used to reach large numbers of people. Mass evangelism reaches large numbers of people at a time when there has been extensive prior preparation, as occurred in the New Testament among the Jews

No matter what path God calls a missionary to, the initial goals are the same. These goals are: 1) Build and edify the church, 2) Meeting needs, and 3) Spread the Gospel. The task of utmost importance is that of building the church, a community of believers. It is through evangelizing that men come to hear, know, and accept the redemptive plan of God through Jesus Christ. This is done by preaching and teaching this message when opportunity arises. It is also done by living out your faith in the day to day of mission life. We are to make the book of Acts our living example in growing and edifying a body of believers (Warren 26-31) (Hodges 61-62)