Evangelism E-Book

J. Mack Stiles

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Building Healthy Churches
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 153

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Christians often struggle to know where to start when it comes to telling others about God, Jesus, sin, and salvation. In this short book, J. Mack Stiles challenges us to view evangelism as something we do together instead of something we do alone, helping churches cultivate a culture of evangelism that goes beyond simply creating new programs or adopting the latest method. The seventh volume in the 9Marks: Building Healthy Churches series, this book will help Christians joyfully embrace evangelism as a way of life as it equips them to share their faith with those who don't yet know Jesus. Part of the 9Marks: Building Healthy Churches series.

Leseprobe

BUILDING HEALTHY CHURCHES

EVANGELISM

J. MACK STILES

Foreword by David Platt

Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus

© 2014 by J. Mack Stiles

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Dual Identity, Inc.

Cover image: Wayne Brezinka for brezinkadesign.com

First printing 2014

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway. 2011 Text Edition. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

Scripture references marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-4465-1ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-4468-2 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-4466-8Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-4467-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stiles, J. Mack, 1956-

   Evangelism : how the whole church speaks of Jesus / Mack Stiles.

        1 online resource. — (9Marks: building healthy churches)

   Includes bibliographical references and index.

   Description based on print version and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

   ISBN 978-1-4335-4466-8 (pdf) – ISBN 978-1-4335-4467-5 (mobi) – ISBN 978-1-4335-4468-2 (epub) – ISBN 978-1-4335-4465-1 (hc)

   1. Witness bearing (Christianity) 2. Evangelistic work. 3. Missions. I. Title.

BV4520

269'.2—dc23            2013050311

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

To my children: Tristan, David, Isaac, and Stephanie Psalm 127:3–5

CONTENTS

CoverNewsletter Sign UpEndorsementsOther 9Marks BooksTitle PageCopyright PageDedicationSeries PrefaceForeword by David PlattIntroduction 1 Of Altar Calls and Laser Lights 2 A Culture of Evangelism 3 Connecting Church and a Culture of Evangelism 4 Intentional Evangelists in a Culture of Evangelism 5 Actually Sharing Our FaithAppendixNotesGeneral IndexScripture IndexBuilding Healthy ChurchesLet me hear from you9Marks: Building Healthy Churches SeriesBack Cover

SERIES PREFACE

The 9Marks series of books is premised on two basic ideas. First, the local church is far more important to the Christian life than many Christians today perhaps realize.

Second, local churches grow in life and vitality as they organize their lives around God’s Word. God speaks. Churches should listen and follow. It’s that simple. When a church listens and follows, it begins to look like the One it is following. It reflects his love and holiness. It displays his glory. A church will look like him as it listens to him. So our basic message to churches is, don’t look to the best business practices or the latest styles; look to God. Start by listening to God’s Word again.

Out of this overall project comes the 9Marks series of books. Some target pastors. Some target church members. Hopefully all will combine careful biblical examination, theological reflection, cultural consideration, corporate application, and even a bit of individual exhortation. The best Christian books are always both theological and practical.

It’s our prayer that God will use this volume and the others to help prepare his bride, the church, with radiance and splendor for the day of his coming.

FOREWORD

I remember the first time I met Mack Stiles. We were speaking at a conference together in the United States, and while I and other conference speakers spent most of our time talking with each other, Mack was rarely to be found among us. I wondered why not, until I discovered that Mack was spending most of his time talking about Jesus with the people who worked behind the scenes at the facility where the conference was being held. From that first interaction with this brother, I knew I had much to learn from him.

Not long thereafter, I had the privilege of being overseas in the location where Mack leads a ministry to college students and serves as one of the elders of a church. I was preaching at the church one morning, and after I finished, Mack started introducing me to all sorts of people. Here’s the general gist of how those conversations went (though I’ve changed the names).

“Hi, my name is Abdul,” one man said to me. “I grew up as a Muslim, but a couple of years ago, God graciously saved me from my sins and myself through Christ.”

“That’s wonderful,” I responded. “How did you hear the gospel?”

“Through my friendship with Mack,” Abdul said. “He asked me one day if I wanted to read through the Gospel of Mark with him. I told him I was willing, and within a few months, the Holy Spirit had opened my heart to believe.”

Then I turned to another man, who introduced himself. “Hey, I’m Rajesh. I was a Hindu all my life until someone invited me to this church. I didn’t know anything about Christianity until I got here, but Mack and others started meeting with me and showing me who Christ is and what Christ has done. I was overwhelmed, and after exploring all sorts of questions that I had with Mack, I trusted in Christ for my salvation.”

Behind Abdul and Rajesh was Matthew. Matthew said to me: “I grew up a nominal Christian devoid of any relationship with Christ, but last year God opened my eyes to what faith in Christ truly means. I repented of my sins and believed in him.”

“Let me guess,” I said. “Mack led you to Christ, right?”

“No,” Matthew said. “Abdul and Rajesh did. They spent hours with me in Scripture, showing me what it means to follow Christ.” Then Matthew asked me: “Can I introduce you to Stephen? He’s a friend of mine who is exploring Christianity right now, and he came with me to the church gathering this morning.”

These conversations went on and on with person after person. I stood literally amazed by the grace of God, not just upon one Christian passionate about sharing the gospel, but upon an entire community passionate about sharing the gospel. As I looked around, I observed a contagious culture of evangelism across the church. It is a culture of evangelism that is not ultimately dependent on events, projects, programs, and ministry professionals. Instead, it is a culture of evangelism that is built on people filled with the power of God’s Spirit proclaiming the gospel of God’s grace in the context of their everyday lives and relationships.

As a result, I truly cannot think of anyone better to write a book not just on cultivating the discipline of evangelism as a Christian, but on creating a culture of evangelism in the church. When I read through this book, I found myself highlighting sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, praying all along about the way the Lord might use me to create such a culture of evangelism in the church I pastor.

This book is biblical and practical. It’s good for church members and leaders, and ultimately it’s glorifying to God. May the Lord see fit to bless it in your life and church—and in multitudes of lives and churches—to the end that his church might see more and more Abduls, Rajeshes, Matthews, and Stephens come to saving faith in Christ here and around the world.

David PlattSenior pastor, The Church at Brook HillsBirmingham, Alabama

INTRODUCTION

“And what is your book about, dear?”

So asked the elderly woman who was picking up my mother-in-law for their weekly game of bridge. As I put the walker in the back seat of her car, I pondered what to say. I wanted to say, “It’s not just a book on evangelism, but a book on developing a culture of evangelism.” She sensed my hesitation, glanced at my mother-in-law, and said, “Well, what is the title, dear?”

Again I paused, looking up at the sky. My mother-in-law came to the rescue: “It’s about evangelism.” She said this in that tone reserved for people whose hearing is not quite what it used to be.

“Oh,” said her friend. There was a bit of a question mark after her “oh.” I shut the car door.

“Well, it’s more about getting the whole church to share their faith,” I said.

The friend looked even more puzzled. “Hmm,” she said. Then she turned to my mother-in-law. “Well, Ann, I know you’re so proud,” she said as she patted my arm. Never mind that the author himself couldn’t seem to figure out what his book was about.

Let me try to do better for you. This book is about biblical evangelism. Now I don’t think that Christian people set out to write books on evangelism based on unbiblical principles. But it happens. It happens because there are wrong ideas about the critical components of evangelism. Usually the wrong ideas are based on marketing principles or on human understandings about how to argue someone into the kingdom. If we don’t have biblical evangelism nailed down, we may not be doing evangelism.

For example, a housewife meeting with a friend over coffee may be evangelizing, while a brilliant Christian apologist speaking to thousands in a church sanctuary may not be. Few see it that way, but that’s because we have false understandings of what evangelism is. Defending the faith is a fine thing to do, but it is easy to give apologetics for Christianity without explaining the gospel—and we cannot evangelize without the gospel.

We need to know what we’re talking about when we say “evangelism,” “conversion,” or even “gospel.” Those words raise different definitions in people’s minds and often come with question marks. If Christians don’t understand those basic concepts, we will quickly spin out of the biblical orbit. So we’ll spend some time wrestling with definitions in chapter 1.

By the way, many might want to use the word missional for what I am calling a “culture of evangelism.” I understand why they might, but I want to retain the word evangelism. It’s an important biblical word, and that’s the word I use throughout the book.

This book is about evangelism, but more than that, it’s also about developing a culture of evangelism. That’s chapter 2. When I say “a culture of evangelism,” I don’t mean lots of programs for evangelism. In fact, it may surprise you that I would encourage many churches to cut their evangelistic programs. I’ll tell you why later, but it’s enough to say here that I want to explore how we can integrate the responsibility that every Christian bears to share the faith into the life of our church fellowships, multiplying individual efforts.

Much of our problem with evangelism is that we don’t have a big enough view of the church. I believe that God loves the world and has a wonderful plan for evangelism: his church. That is chapter 3.

Since this book is about evangelism and a culture of evangelism in church life, it also describes the platforms—often neglected—that Christians must build for healthy evangelistic efforts. This is the topic of chapter 4. Examples:

Intentional evangelism preparationA gospel-shaped way of lifeNot assuming the gospelEvangelism as a spiritual disciplinePrayerEvangelistic leadership

Then, of course, we need to explore basic principles that shape the actual practice of sharing our faith, those things we need to do to live as Christ’s ambassadors to a sin-sick world. That’s chapter 5.

I have good friends who think of me as an evangelist; I’m not so sure. I do long for people to know Jesus. And I feel as though I am someone seeking to be faithful in evangelism. But I want people to know that I really face fears of what others think of me when I talk about spiritual issues. I’m very aware of my failings and limitations in evangelism. And looking around, I see many others who are much better evangelists than I. If I’m an evangelist, I’m a mediocre one.

But there is one thing that I think, by God’s grace, I am good at: I believe God has used me to develop cultures of evangelism. Over the years, as I’ve helped to establish student ministries or plant churches, I’ve wanted to make sure that those communities had evangelism in their DNA, as their ethos and culture.

That is a driving passion for me, and that’s why I’m excited about this book. It’s a way to take those things I’ve loved putting together and share them with you.

1

OF ALTAR CALLS AND LASER LIGHTS

I was a freshly minted 1970s-era Jesus freak. During the first months of my first year in college, I led my friend and roommate, John, to Jesus. One Sunday, not long after, we decided to attend the large Baptist church in downtown Memphis.

I cut quite a figure: I sported a huge red Afro, bell-bottom jeans, and a purple wool trench coat. We were amid crew cuts and suits.

The preacher preached, all stanzas were sung, and then came the invitation. The preacher announced sternly that he would rather have someone leave during his sermon than during the invitation, “the most important part of the service.”

The appeal came for people to give their lives to Jesus. Hands were raised. We were thanked and then told to “just slip out” of our seats and come forward. “If you can’t publicly stand up for Jesus in church, you won’t ever stand up for him outside these walls,” the preacher said. The logic seemed ironclad to me.

John, whose head was bowed but whose eyes were opened (against instructions), whispered to me, “Do you think I should go forward?”

“Well, it can’t hurt,” I whispered back, “I’ll go with you.” John popped up from the pew and I followed.

Dozens “slipped” out of their seats and streamed forward. Unbeknownst to us, they were mostly ushers. Up front, the semicircular rows of pews surrounded us. The congregation, more numerous than had appeared from our back-row seats, seemed to lean forward and focus on us, smiling.

In a flash, the preacher was by my side. “Son,” he said to me in a kindly voice, “why are you here today?” He held his mike down against his leg and curled the long speaker cord behind his feet with a practiced flick of the wrist.

“Well,” I said, “my friend John here accepted Jesus a couple of weeks ago, and he wanted to stand up for Jesus.” The pastor glanced over at John, whose life was a mess, but who dressed conservatively. He nodded to John, “That’s wonderful, son.” Turning back to me, he said, “And what brings you forward?”

I was gazing up at the balcony and the bright Klieg lights with a sort of gee-whiz, country-boy-in-the-big-city look on my face. “Well, I . . . wanted to support John,” I stammered.

“I see,” he said, nodding, his arm now draped over my shoulder. “Are you a Christian, son?”

“I am,” I said.

“And would you like to rededicate your life to Jesus?” The theological complexities of this question escaped me, so I said, “Well, sure, I guess.”

The preacher then pressed the microphone to his lips and stared up at the balcony, too. He located the recently installed TV camera and pointed to it with his hand, fingers spread. “I’d like to say to all you in TV land, these two young men have come to give their lives to Jesus. You can do that in your home, right now, where you sit . . .”

It took me years to figure out what had just happened.

WHAT IS EVANGELISM?

When I think back to that service so many years ago, I want to ask: Did evangelism happen that morning in that church?

We should be careful how we answer. Many people have become Christians when they walked an aisle after hearing an altar call. Recently, at a pastor’s convention at Southeastern Seminary, the president, Danny Akin, noted that the gathered pastors were culturally sophisticated, well educated, and theologically robust. None of them would think of leading an altar call such as the one I experienced in Memphis. But then Akin asked, “How many of you came to faith in a church that evangelized in ways you would now reject?” Almost every pastor raised his hand.

This response should give us pause. There is much room for humility when it comes to evangelism. We need to acknowledge that God is sovereign and can do as he wills to bring people to himself. There is no formula that dictates how God must work in evangelism. And though we may disagree with the evangelistic practices of individuals, ministries, or churches, we must also recognize that when people develop good-hearted commitments to evangelism, God can produce true fruit.

I, for one, will take people practicing evangelism as best they can over those who forgo evangelism until they have the perfect practice. Remember how gently Priscilla and Aquila instructed Apollos in his evangelistic efforts (Acts 18:26)? Paul even rejoiced over selfishly motivated evangelism that caused trouble for him (Phil. 1:17–18). So when people come to faith through strange means and methods, we should first take heart that God can take the smallest seeds of gospel truth and grow them into the great fruit of gospel reconciliation in people’s hearts.