A SAMPLE OF ENDORESMENTS The following are some of the endorsements for Julian’s 900+ page book called Evangelism: Strategies from Heaven In the War for Souls. Some people are daunted by such a big book so Julian made a small book out of each chapter of the 900+ page book. What you are about to read is just one of the chapters of the larger work.
David Cole, YWAM Campaigns Asia/Pacific Board of Regents Chairman University of the Nations.
“This book is one of the most in depth looks at what Evangelism really is (and what it isn’t) that I believe has been written in the last century. I have been so inspired in my own calling through its content and often use it as a text book for teaching and imparting to young leaders in YWAM training courses as well as throughout other parts of the Body of Christ. Thank you Julian not only for such a valuable resource as well as for modeling the outworking of its content in your own life over the past few decades.”
Pastor Mike Smith, Melbourne, Australia
“An incredible book that all pastors should read. I have been a Christian for 28 years and a pastor for many years, and when I picked up this book, I thought, I doubt this will teach me anything new about evangelism. I was so wrong. It has revolutionised my thinking. This is an incredible book that all pastors should read.”
Grant Buchanan LLB, B.Com, Auckland
“The best book I have ever read. I am a solicitor (54) and a partner in a law practice. I unhesitatingly give my endorsement for Julian s book. Indeed, I would rate it as the best book that I have ever read!” Grant Buchanan LLB, B.Com, Auckland
Michael Angulo, Pastor and Church Leader
“Truly a work of Ministerial art. I really like this book and every true evangelist will love it also. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO PUT IT DOWN, BUT WILL BE THINKING WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO READ IT AGAIN! A truly very well written book with good retrospective learning ideas. No true evangelist should be without this book. It is worth what it is worth and it will catapult you into great, deliberate PROVEN, ministry approach. Great book and I highly recommend it. Get this one, you won’t be disappointed!”
Julian Batchelor, M.ed (Hons), B.Th, Dip.T’Ching
THE EVANGELISATION OF THE WORLD IS THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH. 8 IRREFUTABLE REASONS WHY IT IS TIME TO PRIORITISE
Copyright Julian Batchelor Evangelism Strategies International Press Auckland New Zealand
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Acknowledgements I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people for the production of this Mini Series: Sheryl Kampenhout, who transferred a mountain of material from Power Point shows into Word documents and who served and encouraged me in such a loving and kind way; to Matthew Old, a faithful friend and fellow evangelist, who has been a Barnabas. He reached out his hands when the hills seemed steepest, loved me in spite of my failures, stimulated me with his sharp mind, and made me laugh when I wanted to cry; to Janice Teo, and her intercessory prayer team who are as vital to the ministry I direct as the heart is to the body; to the team of editors, including Ken Francis and Julie Belding; to all the financial supporters who have given so generously to me over the years. I especially want to thank Paul and Tina Richards, of Club Physical, owners of a gymnasium chain in Auckland, New Zealand, and Derek van Beynen, who have faithfully sponsored my ministry for over a decade. Few people have the privilege of being able to leave secular work to write and produce resources to further the cause of the evangelisation of the world, and to motivate and equip the Church to do the same. You, and all my other financial supporters, have made this possible; to those I live with who have not seen me for years because I have been locked away in my office writing, I give my sincere thanks. Special thanks to Neil Pollock. To Jenny Windeyer, the graphic artist, who designed the cover of the original 800 page book (which we’ve turned into this Mini Series), and to Jenny’s husband Drew for going beyond the call of duty so that Jenny could focus on this project; to faithful Bernie Anderson who has sacrificed and given way beyond what a leader would expect of a dedicated co-worker; to Eleanor Goodall and Sue and George Jeffrey who epitomise love and true friendship; to the team at ESI for keeping all the various aspects of the evangelism ministry moving forwards whilst I directed most of my time to write this Mini Book Series; for Dr Martyn Bowis who did all the programming for the electronic version of the gospel called “Proclaim it!”; for Henoch Kloosterboeror for producing all the brilliant
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drawings; Dr David Stewart, retired Principal of the Bible College of New Zealand for nearly two decades of encouragement and mentoring; Denise James and Anne Bartley, staff at the Bible College of New Zealand for helping with research; all those who have helped proof read the manuscript and given comment, particularly Dr Marie Sewell, Gill Donald, Gill Lukey, Donna Hansen, Ainslie Vines, Ann Hunter, and Miriam and Ted Martin; to the academic staff of the Bible College of New Zealand for giving me a grounding in theology; for all those who have given financially and sacrificially to pay for specific aspects of the publishing of this Mini Book Series; for my friend Ray Comfort, for his inspiration and encouragement. There are few evangelists today who have journeyed on the road of trial and tribulation to achieve breakthrough as Ray Comfort. For John Stott, the academic evangelist for his coaching and input via his many books. For all the people who we have trained in evangelism around the world who are out there doing it – you are the heroes in the battle for souls; for the many hundreds of pastors, leaders, and lay Christians around the globe who have contributed to my life as a Christian, and to this Mini Book Series; and finally, I thank Jesus Christ, whose amazing grace and love has inspired and kept me. All the revelations in this Mini Book Library about evangelism and the gospel were given by Him – to Him be all the glory.
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How To Read The Mini Books In This Library This Mini Book is one of a Library of 27 Mini Books. The Library is a detailed critique of the battle between light and darkness which is relentlessly raging all over the earth for the souls of men and women. The insights and revelations in each Mini Book are hierarchical i.e. Mini Book Two builds upon Mini Book One, Mini Book Three upon Mini Books One and Two, and so on. Hence, the ideal is to try and read all the Mini Books in the library in sequence. If you skip Mini Books, or even parts of Mini Books, you might miss something vital, and open yourself to misunderstanding or even defeat. Having said this, after you have read Mini Books One to Seven, which are the foundational books in the Library, each Mini Book is designed to stand alone. So, read Books One to Seven first. This is essential. With respect to evangelism, if you follow the advice I am giving here in the pages of each Mini Book, you’ll position yourself perfectly to be used by the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus in ways you’d not imagined possible. How so? Read the 27 Mini Books in the library and find out. Along with Mini Books 1-7, I suggest you also purchase Mini Book 27, which is the “Evangelism Fitness Test.” This is a diagnostic survey which will tell you the extent to which you have been unwittingly influenced by the devil with respect to evangelism. Sit this test before you read anything. Then do the same test again after you have read all the Mini Books to check to see if all his devices have been thoroughly purged from your mind!
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The Evangelisation Of The World Is The Ultimate Purpose Of The Church. 8 Irrefutable Reasons Why It is Time to Prioritise
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ne day I was talking with a pastor in his office and he opened up to me about what it was like being a pastor. “Julian” he said (sighing) “I have everyone come into my office telling me their ministry is the priority - the prayer co-ordinator, the worship leader, the intercession leader, the deliverance team, the Bible study co-ordinator, the men’s ministry, the signs and wonders and Holy Spirit group, the counsellor, the “seek God’s presence” leaders, the women’s ministry, the children’s church leader, the youth leader, the hospitality team, the ‘show people the Kingdom’ group - literally every one of them sits in the chair you are sitting in and explains to me why their ministry is the priority. And you know what, they all have good reasons and sound plausible. Who is actually right?” What are we to make of this? This pastor is confused. He is confused because he hasn’t taken the time to study diligently, at an academic level,1 to discover for himself what the priority of the Church really is.
1 Many pastors read books and articles written by a fellow pastor about a subject and take what they say as the whole truth about a subject. Is there anything wrong with this? Often there is. Too often the experiences, opinions and thoughts in these books and articles are just that - one man’s experiences, opinions and thoughts, not the findings of serious study of the Bible undertaken at the highest level. Hence pastors often only see part of the truth because they are so caught up in the life of their church and don’t have time to study widely and deeply on a particular topic. To find out the whole truth about a matter, one needs to study the whole spectrum of reputable, Spirit-filled scholars with proven and widely accepted ministries who have studied at the highest academic level. These men and women, filled with the Spirit, have the brain power and time to study at the level required to unearth and bring to us ‘the whole Truth’ about the Truth.
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If the devil can manoeuvre a pastor into a confused state, he knows he has won a great victory. The devil knows that most pastors run their churches like a spiritual smorgasbord - a little bit of everything in equal balance, hoping and praying that one day God will ‘break out’ and do something amazing i.e. bring a revival. The ‘a little bit of everything’ churches are not God’s ‘A’ plan for a church. Rather, it’s exactly how the devil wants it. He wants their eyes on everything except the main thing. This begs the question “Does Jesus even have a ‘main thing?’”2 Answer? Absolutely He does. Theologically, Biblically, objectively, something actually is the priority of the Christian Church, and therefore the priority of every individual in the Church. You see, something is our ultimate goal, the bull’s eye at which we are to be aiming. Jesus left us something to do, something to accomplish, something to complete, something which is measurable and definite and do-able, something of supreme importance. I am going to come right out with it: it’s to evangelise the world. This priority, and the plan for executing it, was given by Jesus in “The Five Great Commission Announcements” (John 20:21-23; Luke 24: 44-49; Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8). It’s on the basis of these five announcements that academics come to the conclusion that evangelism is the priority. By ‘evangelise the world’ I mean two things: (1) that every person on the earth actually hears or reads an uncompromised gospel message, delivered/written with great love and grace, and understands it, at least once, but preferably multiple times. This is our mission. (2) that every person in the Church is regularly spreading or proclaiming the gospel to ensure (1) becomes a reality. (1) above will only become a reality if everyone is active with (2) above. The fewer the number of Christians who are active in (2) the less likely (1) will be accomplished. Currently in the West, only 2% are active. 2 In answer to this question, many people say “Yes, He does have a main thing. It’s to love God.” This answer is right, of course. But what they have not considered is how this first and greatest commandment is outworked. That is to say, how do we show we ‘love God’? We show we love him by obeying His commands (John 14:21). And the priority of His commands, say the scholars, is to evangelise the world.
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Every person who is doing anything in a church, from making cups of tea to preaching sermons, needs to ask “Why am I doing what I am doing? What is supposed to be the ultimate end or outcome of all our Church activity?” The answer to both questions is ‘the evangelisation of the world for the glory of God’. Lutheran missionary Justinian von Welz (1621-1688) first coined the phrase “The Great Commission” to describe this mission. Legendary missionary Hudson Taylor (18321905) picked up the phrase and popularised it.3 Now this is where things get interesting. There was a time when I didn’t know what the scholars had to say about the priority of the Church. Yet, I had come to the conclusion that evangelism was primary just by reading the Scriptures myself and my study of Church history. When one reads the New Testament as a whole, from beginning to end, over and over, it becomes obvious that the evangelisation of the world is the main thing. Jesus, Paul, and the early Christians appear to have doing evangelism virtually the whole time. The New Testament is awash with accounts of people doing it. We know what their ultimate goal was – to “reconcile people to God”4 and “to seek and save the lost”5 for the glory of Jesus. Look what happened when they kept their focus on the priority – the Church grew like wildfire. For example, in the period A.D. 260-300, “Thousands, perhaps millions,” says church historian John Terry, “gave up their old gods and accepted Christ.”6 Eusebius7 (A.D. 275-339) was bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. He is often referred to as the Father of Church history because of his work in recording the history of the early Christian Church. “As soon as the gospel was heard,” he reports as he observed the Church evangelising, 3
The Great Commission actually has four parts: go, proclaim or spread the gospel, baptise those who are saved, and disciple those who are baptised.
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Ephesians 2:16
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Luke 19:10
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Terry, John Mark. Evangelism. A Concise History. Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1994, p36.
7 Eusebius of Caesarea (c263 or 265 to 340). As a Church historian, Eusebius spent much time espousing the Old and New Testaments as inspired writings that were commented upon by the successors of the apostles. He also wrote much about the canon of the New Testament in his Ecclesiastical History. It was Eusebius of Caesarea who was commissioned to make fifty copies of the Scriptures following the Council of Nicea (325AD).
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“men voluntarily in crowds, and eagerly, embraced the true faith, with their whole minds.”8 It is no fluke that Jesus’ last words were “…you shall be my witnesses”9 and “…go into all the world and proclaim the gospel,”10 or that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write the words “…the gospel is the power of God for salvation.”11 It appeared to me that the early Christians made evangelism the priority for at least five reasons: 1. Many of them had witnessed12 Jesus’ life (including all His miracles), crucifixion, and resurrection with their own eyes. Thus they were convinced He was God and that everything He said was true. This created tremendous excitement. This being so, nothing could shut them up. If you were one of them, what would you do? Obviously, you’d be so excited you would be unable to stop talking about it. This is exactly what they were like. 2. They “clicked” that He was the One whose coming had been prophesied in the Old Testament. This brought them to boiling point in their desire to tell others. 3. Because of 1 and 2 above, they wanted to glorify Him by telling others about Him - who He was, and what He’d done. 4. They were empowered by the Holy Spirit. Fizz, excitement and enthusiasm would not be enough. God knew they needed His direct involvement. The work of the Holy Spirit was the vital dimension in the mix. 5. Because of 1-4 above, they desired with all their hearts to obey His commmand to evangelise the world, even if it meant their death. After all, He was God. And being God, how else could they respond to his command ?! What other appropriate response could there be to a command to evangelise the world from the Supreme power of the universe? Now here is the point 8
Cited in: John Mark Terry. Evangelism. A Concise History. Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1994, p.34
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Acts 1:8 Please refer back to Device 10 for a discussion on the Biblical definition of ‘witnessing’. Witnessing and evangelism are the same thing.
10 Mark 16:15 11 Romans 1:16 12 The word ‘witness’ is crucially important. When the Bible talks about being a witness, it is as I have described it on this page.
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I want you to grasp - they didn’t need to be told ‘evangelism is the priority’ by Jesus. It was just an absolute given that they would go everywhere telling people what they had seen and heard, and the significance of what they had seen and heard. Not only were they under orders from their commander in chief, but it was simply the natural, logical thing to do. As I said, these were my personal observations of Scripture and Church history. But how could I be sure my observations and conclusions were accurate? They might be quite wrong. For example, I could be reading and researching in a biased way. I am an evangelist, so will have a strong bias to seeing things only from an evangelist’s point of view. This opens me to the possibility of seeing something in Scripture and history which is not really there. Or, I might be missing some vital information which would change my conclusions completely. What I needed to do was to put my conclusions to the test. How does one do that? What I am about to say now is really important. We test our conclusions and opinions about what we think the Bible is saying by comparing them with the conclusions and opinions of reputable, timetested, Spirit filled, proven, widely recognised Biblical scholars in the academic world13, especially (in my case) those scholars who do not have the Ephesians 4:11-14 gift of an evangelist. Well, this is what I did. My beliefs were confirmed in a dramatic way. The truth is, I couldn’t find a scholar who didn’t believe that the evangelisation of the world was the priority of the Church. You’ll see who some of these scholars are as we progress through this Mini Book. So how has the modern Church strayed so far from this priority?
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EVICE # 17 The enemy has scrambled our priorities.
One of Satan’s most potent devices to stop us evangelising the world is to scramble our priorities. He has worked hard to get us to put personal evangelism in last place because he knows things that are last on the ‘to do’ list simply don’t get done. 13 Some so called ‘scholars’ are not to be trusted e.g. Bishop Spong, who believed that when Jesus walked on the water, there were rocks just underneath the surface! So not all scholars are reputable and trustworthy.
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Christian scholars say that there are eight reasons why the evangelisation of the world is the priority of the Church: 1. Jesus established the idea. 2. Paul and the Early Church carried it on. 3. Scripture teaches it. 4. The apostles believed it. 5. Biblical scholarship supports it. 6. Spiritual giants from the past promoted it. 7. Significant contemporary leaders are advocating it. 8. The logic of the matter. Let’s look at each of these 8 reasons in turn.
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Jesus established the idea… Take a close look at the start, middle and end of His ministry. It is significant that Jesus quotes Isaiah’s prophecy about preaching the gospel just as He starts His ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel” (Luke 4:18). During His ministry, this emphasis does not lessen. For example, in Mark 1:35 Jesus withdraws to pray in a solitary place. When found by Simon and his companions, He announces, “Let us go to the nearby villages so I can preach there also. This is why I have come” (Mark 1:38). It was clearly His plan to ensure His followers maintained this emphasis. In fact, when Jesus appointed the twelve, preaching the gospel is listed first in their job description (Mark 3:14). Then, at the end of His ministry, His final words were, “preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8). The last words of great people are usually not just a summary of their life work, but a clear statement of what they consider to be their priority. In Acts 1:8, just before He ascended into heaven, it’s as if Jesus said “OK, I am going now. I want you to remember one thing above all others I have told you. Be my witnessess!” Jesus identifies “witnessing” as the very reason for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). I explained the meaning of the word ‘witness’ in the previous Mini Book because misunderstanding about it abounds. Just to re-iterate, it means to proclaim the gospel. And when a person is proclaiming the gospel, they are evangelising. In Acts 1:8, He could have said, “When the Holy Spirit comes on you, you 12
will be My worshippers, My prayers or My miracle workers.” He could have said, “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be My social action task force, My students of the Bible or My fellowshippers, My people who build friendships with non-Christians, My demon-deliverers, My lightshiners, My salty ones, My committee members, My tithers and givers, My cake stall organisers or my people who have gentle ‘God conversations’ with the lost.” Without demeaning these activities in any way, none of these are what He said in Acts 1:8.
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Paul and the Early Church carried on what Jesus initiated… “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the gospel that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 5:42). After Paul had received his call from Jesus, he didn’t take his foot off the gospel accelerator for one second. For him, reaching everyone with the gospel was his very reason for being. Listen to what he says: “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24). It doesn’t get much clearer than that. Why was he so committed to this task? Jesus had spoken to him audibly on the Damascus road, telling him to go and proclaim the gospel (Acts 26:1618). He never forgot these instructions nor did he waver from them. His passion was infectious. Even when social action begged to take top spot, the Early Christians did not succumb (Acts 6:1). ait a minute… Some have interpreted Acts 6:1 quite differently. They argue this passage teaches that when the group of believers was chosen to look after the widows, social action became their main thing. That is, the disciples’ main thing was preaching; the seven chosen believers’ main thing was looking after the widows. With this interpretation, the whole body of believers works together, each person focusing on what is their strength. What are we to make of this? orting truth from error… Truth and error are mixed. It is true that the seven who were chosen made care for the widows their main thing, while the disciples’ main thing was evangelism. The seven didn’t stop doing evangelism, nor did
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the disciples stop doing any social action. It’s a great error to think that anyone whose main concern is social action is exempt from the responsibility to evangelise. It is also an error to think that anyone whose main concern is evangelism is exempt from involvement in any social action. Each has a different emphasis, but both have common responsibilities as disciples of Christ.14 he radical commitment of the Early Church to evangelism … Dr Timothy George, Church Historian and Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, Alabama describes how enthusiastically all the early Christians devoted their lives to proclaiming the gospel: “Imbued with ‘glad tidings’ of new life in Jesus Christ, the early Christians fanned out from Jerusalem and Judea to carry this gospel into all the world. They went everywhere – into the arena, the academies of learning, and the marketplace, to faraway lands such as India and Ethiopia, into every nook and cranny of the Roman Empire. When, in the early fourth century, Eusebius of Caesarea set out to chronicle the course of Christian history from the days of the apostles up to his own time, he described the activity of those heralds of faith through whom the spread of the gospel was first carried out. ‘Leaving their homes, they set out to fulfil the work of an evangelist, making it their ambition to preach the word of faith to those who as yet had heard nothing of it, and to commit to them the books of the divine gospels. The last word in the Greek text in Acts is ‘unhindered,’ an adverb used to describe the unstoppable progress of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome.”15 Wow!
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Scripture teaches that the proclamation of the gospel ought to have priority… A key scripture is Mark 13:10. “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.” The context of this scripture is the second coming, and ‘first’ indicates a priority. That is to say, Jesus will not return until everyone on the earth has heard the gospel.
14 The next Mini Book is dedicated to showing how evangelism is the responsibility and privilege of all believers, irrespective of such things as their position in the Church, personality type, interest set, age, or spiritual gifting. 15 Cited in: Ravi Zacharias et al. This We Believe. The Good News Of Jesus Christ For The World. Zondervan, 2000, pp.232-233
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As I have said in a previous Mini Book, the word ‘nations’ here means ‘people groups.’ This verse therefore teaches we are to make a priority of reaching unreached people groups in the world with the gospel. Most mission leaders define a people group as ‘reached’ when an indigenous church, able to evangelise the group, is established.16 This is phase one. Phase two is for the indigenous church to make a priority of reaching every individual in the rest of that people group with the gospel (i.e. evangelise their group). I discussed these concepts in Mini Book Four. So, how is the Church in the West going with these two phases? he majority in the West has not heard the gospel once… Most people groups in the West are ‘reached’ Phase one is looking good. But what of phase two? The tragedy is that large percentages of people in the West, and I mean upward of 99 percent of non-Christians, have never heard the gospel even once. Cities in the West are peppered with churches, yet phase two, where the local church makes sure everyone in their neighbourhood or town has heard and understood the whole gospel at least once (let alone multiple times), has all but collapsed. In the Lausanne Covenant on Evangelism, Dr John Stott says that world evangelisation requires the whole Church to take the whole gospel to the whole world.17 “Unless the whole Church is mobilised, the whole world is not likely to be reached. Thus, God’s purpose and the world’s need together bring to the Church the insistent call to evangelise.”18 How are we ever going to achieve this? It will never happen unless we mobilise the whole Church for personal evangelism. In Mini Book Thirteen, I roll out detailed plans and strategies showing how a church can succeed with this. Ok, let’s get back to Mark 13:10. How do first-rank scholars and leaders interpret this verse?
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16 Dr John Piper. Let The Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy Of God In Missions. Baker Books, 2003, p.194 17 Some would protest by saying ‘How can we possibly reach every person in the world with the gospel?! What about babies, the infirm, those with disabilities who are not capable of hearing and understanding the gospel!?’ By ‘every person’ we mean everyone who is capable of hearing and understanding. At judgment, we are going to be held responsible before God for achieving what was possible, not for the impossible. The impossible belongs to God alone. 18 Making Christ Known. Historic Mission Documents From The Lausanne Movement.1974-1989, p.29
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ommenting on Mark 13:10, Dr Morna D. Hooker, Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University, writes: “This saying [of Jesus] becomes a reminder to the disciples that their primary task is that of evangelising.”19 Since Christians alive today are also disciples, it is our primary task as well. Citing the same verse, Dr William Lane, chair of Wesleyan and Biblical Studies at Seattle Pacific University, says, “The proclamation of the gospel to all men is an absolute priority.”20 Missionary statesman Oswald J. Smith asks: “Why did Jesus use the word ‘first’? Why did He not just say, ‘The gospel must be proclaimed among all nations’? That would have made sense. That I could have understood. But that is not what He said. He injected the word ‘first.’ He wanted to say that before we did anything else, we were to evangelise the world.”21 From Mark 13:10 then, we could conclude Jesus is saying to His disciples: “Of all the things I have taught you, make a priority of proclaiming the gospel to everyone everywhere. Start by targeting people groups who have never heard. Then, once you have reached a people group, go on to evangelise everyone in that people group with the gospel.” Conclusion? Jesus teaches in Mark 13:10 that we are to make a priority of evangelising the world. Other than Mark 13:10, are there any other scriptures which indicate we are to make a priority of gospel proclamation? esus’ last words, our first priority… These are the last words of Jesus just before He ascended into heaven: “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). Commenting on this scripture, and Matthew 28:1922, Dr Millard Erickson, who writes text books on theology for seminaries and Bible Colleges, states: “The one topic emphasised in both accounts of Jesus’ last
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19 Dr Morna D. Hooker. The Gospel According To Mark. A&C Black Publishers, London, 1991, p.310 20 Dr William L. Lane. (General Editor Gordon Fee), The Gospel Of Mark. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974, p.462 21 Oswald J. Smith. The Passion For Souls. Marshall, Morgan and Scott. London, 1950, pp.48-49 22 A disciple is principally a proclaimer of the gospel. Think about this - if evangelising the world was Jesus’ priority, then what would dominate His discipleship program for His disciples? You know the answer.
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words to His disciples is evangelism… this was the final point Jesus made to His disciples. It appears He regarded evangelism as the very reason for their being. The call to evangelise is a command. Having accepted Jesus as Lord, the disciples had brought themselves under His rule and were obligated to do whatever He asked. For He had said, ‘If you love Me, you will keep My commandments’ (John 14:15); if the disciples truly loved their Lord, they would carry out His call to evangelise. It was not an optional matter for them.”23 Conclusion: these last words of Jesus remain the priority of the Church today. aul’s challenge to us today to proclaim the gospel… At this point I must go back to Acts 20:24 again. “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” In this verse, which summarises Paul’s entire ministry, we notice: • Paul’s task came directly from Jesus. • This task was to proclaim the gospel. • Paul had many aspects to his ministry, but he never lost sight of his priority. • Paul’s goal was to proclaim the gospel. • He called it the task. It is as if Paul were saying, “In my other letters I taught you about family, love, intercession, service, ethics, church government, end times, dealing with conflict, prayer and fasting, caring for the disadvantaged, letting your light shine, being salt, living lives of honesty and integrity, and so on, but if, after all that, I have not proclaimed the gospel, then my efforts have been in vain.” on’t waste all the good works being done. See them as a means to an end. These scriptures challenge us too. If all our conferences, Bible College training, worship, church services, prayer meetings, home groups, studies, missions, relationships, outreach events, mothers’ groups, mens’ groups and so on (the component parts of our mission), do not end in our evangelising the world (our mission), then we are failing,
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23 Dr Millard Erickson. Christian Theology. Baker Book House, 1985, p.1052
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no matter how wonderful the component parts . At the end of this Mini Book I discuss in more detail this relationship between our mission and its component parts . The apostles believed the proclamation of the gospel was the priority of the Church. The apostles of the Early Church were commissioned by Jesus to carry on the work after He ascended into heaven. He told them how to grow the Church, establish the Kingdom and expand Christianity. Their instruction should be our template. Who says so? Listen to Church historian Dr Michael Green: “The essential qualifications of the twelve apostles of Jesus were that they should be with Him, and that He should send them forth to preach. They were apparently given a ‘trial run’ during the ministry itself 24 but after the death and resurrection of their Master, preaching the gospel became their main concern. We learn from Acts25 how they found themselves becoming choked with administration, and deliberately delegated this work so they could give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.”26 Eusebius the third century church historian, describes how the Early Church made evangelism the priority and describes what happened when they did: “By the power and assistance of heaven, the saving Word [i.e. the gospel]27 began to flood the whole world with light like the rays of the sun. In every city and village arose churches crowded with thousands of men like a teeming threshing floor.”28 How could the gospel have flooded the whole world if every believer had not made it a priority?29 If the proclamation of the gospel was the chief concern of the apostles and documented by Eusebius, what
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24 Matthew 10 25 Acts 6:4 26 Dr Michael Green. Evangelism In The Early Church. Highland Books, 1970, p.200. 27 The words in brackets are mine. 28 Cited by Michael Green. Evangelism In The Early Church. Highland Books, 1970, p.201 29 This is not merely hyperbole being used here. Later in this Mini Book , I show how the early Church literally evangelised the entire known world.
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reason could we possibly have, as leaders and pastors in the apostolic line, not to make it ours? Just imagine, for a moment, if today’s Church leaders were the first group to return to the pattern set by the apostles in Acts 5:41-42. For one thing, churches would re-structure so that administrative tasks were delegated to others,30 which is exactly what the Apostles did! Then leaders would not succumb to the business and busyness of church life. In the mix of all the other things pastors and leaders do, they would be seen out and about in the world of the non-Christians, giving the gospel just as Jesus, Paul and the apostles did. I have a vision to see a new breed of leaders setting aside time each day to go out onto the streets and shopping malls around their church, engaging non-Christians, giving the gospel. Seeing unfamiliar faces in the staff lounge of the church during the week would not be a rare thing. “Hey, guys,” the pastor would announce with a beaming smile, “this is Jimmy. We just met down the street. I have invited him back for lunch.” Pastors couldn’t, of course, be out there all day giving the gospel. To expect this would be folly in view of their many and varied responsibilities. But what about 30 minutes a day? The point is, this vision for the renaissance of a new breed of pastor evangelist is entirely possible, but only if we are willing to return to the pattern and priority for personal evangelism set by Jesus, Paul and the apostles.
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Christian scholars and leaders support the idea that taking the gospel to the whole world is the priority of the mission of the Church. I have already cited a sample of scholars who believe that the evangelisation of the world is the priority of the Church. Here are some more. Dr Derek Prince said, “The supreme purpose of every true Christian church, the chief duty of every Christian minister, the main responsibility of every Christian layman, is to present to all who may be reached, in 30 Those to whom administration tasks were delegated would have ‘release time’ built into their job descriptions so that they too could take time out for the priority.
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the clearest and most forceful way, the basic facts of the gospel of Christ, and to urge all who hear to make the definite personal response to these facts which God requires. To this, the supreme task, every other duty and activity of the church must be secondary and subsidiary.”31 Wow! Dr Prince was a brilliant man, wonderfully used by God. Do you know any church in the West which has made everything it does secondary and subsidiary to evangelism? Do you know any minister / pastor / church leader who has made evangelism their chief duty? They are extremely rare. I mean extremely rare. Can you see how far we have moved from God’s priority? Really, it’s tragic. By reading this Mini Book, you could become part of the solution! That’s my prayer for you. Dr John Stott put it like this: “Our first duty is to communicate this gospel, to use old ways and seek fresh ways of making it known throughout the whole world.”32 Historian Dr Michael Green is another scholar who contends evangelism ought to be our priority: “In these first two centuries of the Church’s existence, we find evangelistic zeal and effort exerted by the whole broad spectrum of the Christian community to bring other people to the feet of their ascended Lord and into fellowship of His willing servants. This is a permanent reminder of the Church’s first priority. ‘Day by day, the Lord added to their number those whom He was saving’ (Acts 2:46-47). It could happen again, if the Church was prepared to pay the price.”33 Dr William Abraham34 writes: “Consensus [among scholars] is emerging that evangelism must become the top priority for the modern Church.”35 Professor E.M. Blakelock said: “Evangelism is the end and crown of all Church activity, social, communal and in every other device of service or penetration of society.”36 What he is saying is that all the things we do in church (e.g. praying, worshipping, Bible study, meeting on Sundays, singing, giving, serving, fasting etc) were always and only meant to be means to one great end - the evangelisation of the world. 31 Dr Derek Prince. Foundation Series. Volume 1. Sovereign World Books, 1986, p.145 32 Dr John R.W. Stott. Guard The Gospel. The Message Of 2 Timothy. Inter Varsity Press, 1973, p.47 33 Dr Michael Green. Evangelism In The Early Church. Highland Books, 1970, p.339 34 Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. 35 Dr William J. Abraham. The Logic Of Evangelism. Eerdmans Publishing, 2002, p.12 36 E.M. Blakelock. The Answer is in the Bible. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1978, p.154
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Dr Bruce Milne, lecturer in Biblical and Historical theology at Spurgeon’s College in London contends that the major work of the Spirit is to empower the evangelisation of the world. “Significantly, the major Biblical account of the ministry of the Spirit in the Church (i.e. the Book of Acts) centres on the spread of the gospel through the world (i.e. on the evangelisation of the world).”37 If it’s the central work of the Spirit, and the Spirit is God, then the evangelisation of the world must be at the top of God’s ‘to do’ list. he Anglicans are adamant… Canadian Anglican heads concur. At The Essentials conference in Montreal, 1994, they affirmed: “The task [of evangelism], which is thus a matter of priority, calls for personal training and a constant search for modes of persuasive outreach. We sow the seed, and look to God for the fruit.”38 In 1948, the Anglican bishops of England circulated a letter which affirmed that the “supreme task of the Church today is… to take the Good News [he means the words of the gospel] to those who have not heard it.”39 Theologian and teacher Dr Wayne Grudem,40 who also writes text books for Bible College and seminary students, writes: “This evangelistic work of declaring the gospel is the primary ministry that the Church has towards the world.”41 The late Dr Francis Schaeffer, founder of L’Abri International Study Centre and Christian Community, wrote: “Because we love the Lord Jesus Christ and know Him personally as our Saviour, we must, through God’s grace, love our neighbour as ourselves. And if we love our neighbour as Christ would have us love our neighbour, we will certainly want to share the gospel with our neighbour… [therefore] evangelism is primary.”42 Dr Ray Ortlund, serving on the council of the Gospel Coalition, and President of Renewal Ministries writes “The gospel is a message to be proclaimed and believed (Mark 1:14-15). It is the point of the whole Bible
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37 Dr Bruce Milne. Know The Truth. A Handbook Of Christian Belief. IVP, 1982, p.207 38 http://www.stpaulshalifax.org/Essentials.html#11 39 Cited in: John Stott. Our Guilty Silence. The Church, The Gospel And The World. IVP, 1997, pp.63-64 40 Former Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and now Research Professor of Bible and Theology at Phoenix Seminary. 41 Dr Wayne Grudem. Systematic Theology. An Introduction To Biblical Doctrine. IVP, 2003, p.868 42 Dr Francis Schaeffer. The Great Evangelical Disaster. Crossway Books, 1984, p.39
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(Galatians 3:8). It comes from God above (Galatians 1:11-12). It is worthy of our utmost (Philippians 1:27-30).” 43
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and 7: Spiritual giants from the past promoted it and significant contemporary leaders are advocating it. Puritan leader Richard Baxter (1615-1691) was unyielding. “The work of conversion is the first and greatest thing we must drive at,” he insisted. “After this we must labour with all our might.”44 The Puritans knew that gospel proclamation not only preceded conversion, but conversion was dependent upon it. For the Puritans, evangelism was therefore primary. The late Dr Lewis Drummond, President of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and former Director of the Billy Graham Evangelism Centre, wrote: “There is no excuse for anyone not giving evangelism first place in individual covenant church life.”45 Evangelist Ray Comfort has noted: “Right from the beginning of His ministry, Jesus made it clear that His supreme mandate was to reach lost humanity with the gospel.”46 he Assembly of God: the Spirit was given for witness… In a review of the history of the Assembly of God movement in the world, Dr William W. Menzies47 wrote: “From the beginning of the Pentecostal movement, reaching the lost of this world for Christ (i.e. with the gospel) was the central passion. Early leaders recognised that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was an empowering for witness, not merely an experience for personal enjoyment.”48 nd the great Charles Spurgeon… Charles Spurgeon argued in the same way. Commenting on 1 Corinthians 9:22 (“I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some”) he said:
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43 Dr Ray Ortlund. The Gospel. How The Church Portrays The Beauty Of Christ. Crossway, 2014, p.15 44 Richard Baxter. The Reformed Pastor. Reprinted in Banner of Truth, Edinburgh, 1979, p.94 45 Dr Lewis A. Drummond. The Word Of The Cross. Broadman, 1992, p.293 46 Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. The Way Of The Master. How To Share Your Faith Simply, Effectively, Biblically, The Way Jesus Did. Tyndale, 2003, p.47 47 Long time educator with the Assemblies of God, and Chancellor of Asia Pacific Theological Seminary, Baguio City, Philippines. 48 http://www.ag.org/enrichmentjournal/199904/084_lessons.cfm
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“Paul’s great object was not merely to instruct and to improve, but to save. Anything short of this would have disappointed him; he would have men renewed in heart, forgiven, sanctified, in fact, saved. Have our Christian labours been aimed at anything below this great point? Then let us amend our ways, for to what avail will it be at the last great day to have taught and moralised men if they appear before God unsaved? Paul knew the ruin of man’s natural state, and did not try to educate him but to save him; he saw men sinking to hell, and did not talk of refining them but of saving them from the wrath to come. To compass their salvation, he gave himself up with untiring zeal to telling abroad the gospel, to warning and beseeching men to be reconciled to God... this was the crown for which he strove, the sole and sufficient reward of all his labours and self-denials. Dear reader, have you and I lived to win souls at this noble rate? O that the Lord would saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men.”49 “In those early days,” writes church historian Herbert Kane, “the Church was mission. The missionary programme of the Early Church was based on two assumptions: (1) The chief task of the Church is world evangelisation. (2) The responsibility of carrying out the task rests with the whole Christian community.”50 nd Church Growth experts… Church growth expert Dr Peter Wagner: “I would love to see membership declines in the mainline denominations bottom out and begin to soar upward. But I am afraid they will not unless and until the evangelist mandate is restored to its Biblical position as the top goal.”51 What does he mean by “the evangelist mandate”? Wagner refers to certain people (listed in Ephesians 4:11-12) who are ‘gifts’ to the Church. One of them is the evangelist, who is given to the Church to equip and motivate other members to evangelise. One reason most Christians don’t proclaim the gospel is that they don’t know how. If you lead a church, one of your goals should be to enlist the help of gifted evangelists to equip the congregation to evangelise. How
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49 December 7-Evening Reading. Cited in Morning and Evening Devotionals by C.H. Spurgeon www.esword.net 50 J. Herbert Kane. Christian Missions In Biblical Perspective. Baker Book House, 1976, p.65 51 Dr C. Peter Wagner. Leading Your Church To Growth. Regal Books. California, 1984, p.34
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can an army expect to win a war without thorough training? As the leader of your church, it’s your call to make this happen. Are many church leaders doing this? No, almost none. Research findings about the church in Britain are alarming. “Of the 1017 churches in Britain who were surveyed to ascertain how many had trained their people for evangelism in the decade 2001 to 2010, only a staggering 36 (3.5%) said they had done so.”52 This is solid proof the Church in Britain is very confused about its mission. But let’s not be quick to point the finger at Britain. I have no reason to believe any other Western country would fare better if it were probed in the same way. Put simply, evangelising the world is now not even on the radar of most churches in the West. It’s literally and actually gone. In most Western churches, something other than evangelism has become top priority – usually social action, prayer, worship, seeking God’s presence or teaching, miracles, teaching, fellowship, and so on. Without in any way devaluing the necessity of these aspects of our Christian witness and service, the scholars and leaders who met at Lausanne in 1974 concluded that if anything other than evangelism was the priority, it ought not to be. The covenant they wrote concluded: “In the Church’s mission of sacrificial service, evangelism is primary.”53 isten to William Booth, the king of good works. He considered evangelism primary… Social action, for example, is vital. But it should not be our number one focus. William Booth, Founder of the legendary Salvation Army, declared: “Take a man out of the slums, heal his body, give him decent clothes, provide him a home in the country, then let him die and go to hell? Really, it is not worthwhile.”54 For Booth, social service was a critical and indispensable part of his mission (as he put it, he wanted to eliminate hell on earth), but it was primarily a means to a greater end. How do we know this? He said so: “I must assert in the most unqualified way, that it is primarily and mainly for the sake of
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52 The Baptist Times, October 1st, 2010, page 1 53 Dr John Stott. Making Christ Known. Historic Mission Documents From The Lausanne Movement, 19741989. Paternoster Press, 1996, p.29 54 Cited in: Norm Lewis. Priority One. OM Literature, 1988, p.99
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saving the soul that I seek the salvation of the body.”55 Booth’s primary vision was, “One of hell, and salvation, here and hereafter.”56 And what did Booth use to save the soul? The proclamation of the gospel. For him it was the priority. great missionary speaks from experience… Missionary to Asia Dr K.P. Yohannan57 agrees social action should not be the number one priority, despite the appalling poverty in much of the world. “The trouble with the social gospel,” he says, “even when it is clothed with religious garb and operating within Christian institutions, is that it seeks to fight what is basically spiritual warfare with weapons of the flesh. A spiritual battle fought with spiritual weapons will produce eternal victories. This is why we insist upon restoring a right balance to gospel outreach. The accent must first and always be on evangelism and discipleship.”58 ven Christian counsellors see evangelism as the priority World-renowned counsellor and author Michael Wells gives the following account of how he came to view evangelism as one of the priorities of the Church: “Recently, after attending a program professing to spur participants on toward spirituality (i.e. going to church, scripture memory, Bible reading, prayer, fasting, etc), I returned home perplexed at how difficult it can be to live as a Christian. I decided to search the scriptures to discover for myself God’s priorities. I thought, rather than looking at all we are to do [i.e to be ‘spiritual’], I would focus on a more serious topic: the things we are never to neglect. I found five things in the Bible that are never to be neglected (God’s priorities): prayer and sharing the gospel, Acts 6:2-4; our spiritual gifts, 1 Timothy 4:14; so great a salvation, Hebrews 2:3; and doing good and sharing, Hebrews 13:16. To my amazement, not one of God’s priorities was featured during the program that claimed to teach how to be a dynamic, successful Christian.”59
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55 Major Malcolm Herring. Life Conference Workshop Paper. Auckland, New Zealand, September 2012, p.3 56 Major Malcolm Herring. Life Conference Workshop Paper. Auckland, New Zealand, September 2012, p.4 57 Please take the time to read Dr Yohannan’s excellent commentary on the interplay between evangelism and social action in Mini Book Twenty Six. 58 Dr K.P. Yohannan. Revolution In World Missions. GFA books, 2004, pp.105-129 59 Michael Wells. Problems, God’s Presence and Prayer. Abiding Life Press. 1993. p.76-79
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Michael Wells makes a telling point here. If evangelism is a priority to God (actually the priority), and a vital part of making dynamic, successful Christians, how can any church justify neglecting it? rayer must never become a substitute for evangelism… The place of prayer in the battle for souls cannot be overemphasised; the current rise of the 24/7 prayer movement around the world is timely and exciting, but prayer should never be a substitute for active participation in evangelism. As pastor and author Dr John Piper wrote, caution is needed. “I sense the danger of overstating the role of prayer in relation to the Word of God and the preaching of the gospel. I am not comfortable, for example, calling prayer the work of missions.60 The proclamation of the gospel is the work of missions. It is the weapon that God designed to use in penetrating the kingdom of darkness and gathering the children of light from all the nations (Acts 26:16-18). His whole redemptive plan for the universe hangs on the success of His Word. If the proclamation of the Word aborts, the purposes of God fail.”61 Spurgeon, too, warned: “Prayer and means [i.e. proclaiming the gospel] must go together. Means without prayer – presumption. Prayer without means – hypocrisy!”62 he Catholics agree on the priority... Pope John Paul II in a key document on mission described mission in this way: “Proclamation is the permanent priority of mission. The Church cannot elude Christ’s explicit mandate, nor deprive men and women of the ‘Good News’ about their being loved and saved by God.”63 astors who are leading the way… It is so exciting when modern day pastors catch on to what Christian statesmen through the ages have been saying. Here and there key churches are beginning to make proclaiming the gospel their number one priority. Mark Conner is one such pastor. He leads the 5000 strong Waverley Christian Fellowship in Melbourne, Australia.
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60 Dr John Piper. Let The Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy Of God In Missions. IVP, 1993 2nd ed 2003, p.63 61 ibid. pp.64-65 62 Charles H.Spurgeon. The Soul Winner. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1948, p.140 63 Roger P. Schroeder. What Is the Mission of the Church? A Guide For Catholics. Orbis Books. New York. 2008. p.2
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He writes: “If evangelism is heaven’s priority, then it must be the passionate priority of the Church here on earth... our top priorities can easily be replaced by other seemingly urgent or pressing matters. As we become busy with so many things in church life, we can begin to drift from our mission. That’s why the work of an evangelist also involves keeping the evangelistic passion of a church community alive and bright hot.”64 Bill Hybels is another pastor making evangelism the priority. Hybels is rightly “big” on Christians demonstrating love through acts of kindness. Willow Creek Church is renowned for this. Yet, he calls giving the gospel to a non-Christian ‘the ultimate act of goodness.’65 : The Logic Of The Matter. Imagine if Apple, the makers of the iphone, or Coke, the makers of the drink by the same name, never advertised their products. It’s a ridiculous thought. It’s even more ridiculous that the Western Church today does not advertise the real reason behind Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection i.e. share the gospel. We have a product infinitely greater than the iphone or Coca Cola, yet our product has become the world’s greatest secret. Apple and Coke spend more on marketing than any other company expense. It’s their priority. Once their product is designed and made, they pour everything into sales and marketing. Our product (the gospel) is ready and made, yet we spend close to nothing on sales and marketing i.e. training 100% of the people in our churches how to get the message out. We have a much larger sales force than Coke or Apple, yet we are not using it! What a tragic situation! How ridiculous!
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From the discussion so far in this Mini book, there are twenty two reasons why Christian scholars, leaders and historians conclude that the evangelisation of the earth is the mission of the Church i.e. the priority. 1. It is the greatest way to express love for our neighbour (Dr Francis 64 Cited in Bronwyn Hughes and John Bellamy (Editors). A Passion For Evangelism: Turning Vision Into Action. Open Book Publishers, 2004, pp.154, 161 65 Bill Hybels. Making Life Work. Puting God’s Wisdom Into Action. IVP, 2003, p.74
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Schaeffer). 2. Jesus gave evangelism priority. We are modelling Him and so we are to do the same (Dr Millard Erickson). 3. The gospel is our most powerful spiritual weapon (Dr K.P. Yohannan). 4. Words and works (i.e. social action) ought to be bracketed together Evangelising the world for the glory of God ought to be the ultimate end of all our Christian activity. (General William Booth). 5. Evangelism was Jesus’ supreme mandate (Ray Comfort). 6. Evangelism was the priority of the Early Church (Church historian Dr John Terry). 7. Evangelism is the key to church growth (Dr Peter Wagner). 8. Evangelism was the hallmark of everyone in the Early Church. Their example is our template (Dr Michael Green). 9. Evangelism, not prayer, is the work of mission (Dr John Piper). 10. Evangelism is heaven’s priority (Mark Conner). 11. Evangelism is on God’s ‘never to be neglected list’ (Micheal Wells). 12. To evangelise is to engage in the ‘ultimate act of goodness’ (Bill Hybels). 13. Evangelism is the priority of the Church’s mission (Pope John Paul II). 14. Evangelism is the surpreme task of the Church (Dr Derek Prince). 15. Evanglism is the primary ministry of the Church towards the world (Dr Wayne Grudem). 16. Evangelism must become the top priority for the modern Church (Dr William Abraham). 17. Evangelism is the end and crown of all Church activity (Professor E.M. Blakelock). 18. Evangelism is the primary task of a disciple (Dr Morna D. Hooker, Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University). 19. Evangelism is our first duty (Dr John Stott). 20. The evangelisation of the world is the mission of the Church (Historian Herbert Kane). 21. The evangelisation of the world is the point of the whole Bible. (Dr Ray Ortlund, council of the Gospel Coalition). 28
22. The evangelisation of the world is the central concern of the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Dr Bruce Milne). You’d have to agree, this is an impressive list of scholars and leaders. If you were in a room with these 22 people, I think you’d struggle to argue successfully that something other than the evangelisation of the world was the priority of the Church. Each of the leaders I have cited are all saying the same thing, but for 22 slightly different reasons i.e. what these 22 leaders and theologians have done is give 22 reasons why the evangelisation of the world is the priority of the Church. Now this is where this Mini Book gets really interesting! What I have not explained so far is that there are two hugely significant golden threads, woven into the fabric of the writing of all these leaders, which undergird the conclusions they have come to about the place of evangelism in the Christian life. These two threads ‘trump’ the 20 reasons given so far by these scholars. In this sense, I have saved the best until last! What are these two ‘golden threads?’ 1. The first is that these scholars and leaders believe that the ultimate point of the Christian life is to glorify Jesus, and that doing evangelism is the greatest way to do that.66 2. Second, they also believe that evangelism is the highest form of worship.67 These ‘golden threads’ are of such significance that I dedicate Mini book Twenty Five to discussing them. Really, these two truths alone are sufficent to warrant giving evangelism top spot! i.e. if to evangelise is the best way to glorify and worship Jesus, then these two reasons alone justify evangelism taking top spot in the Christian Church. Are there other reasons, aside from the twenty two cited so far in this Mini Book, which justify giving evangelism priority? Yes there are. The twenty third reason why evangelism ought to be primary is that it is one of the most potent sources of Christian joy, pivotal to becoming fully mature as a Christian. The twenty fourth reason is that so much of Church life depends upon evangelism and relates to it. Let me explain. The gospel, you 66 See Mini Book Twenty Five where I discuss why this is so.. 67 To know why evangelism is the highest form of worship, please see Mini Book Twenty Five.
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see, is a supernatural seed. As a general principle, if we do not sow, we will not reap.68 If there is no reaping, there will be no one to baptise. If there is no one to baptise, there will be no one to disciple. And if there is no one to disciple, there will eventually be no one to perform ministry, except those who are the products of biological growth. The Great Commission will shrivel and the Church will go into decline.69 As I outlined in the Mini Book One, there are strong signs in the West that this has already started to happen. It all started when we became confused about our priority. If you are a confused pastor, like the one I described at the beginning of this Mini Book, move out of confusion, and into clarity. Lead your church into the priority of Jesus. Extricate yourself from the devil’s grip on your ministry. As this point I want to make an extremely important point. Please listen carefully. Many pastors and leaders, particularly in the mega churches, have been able to grow their churches without doing any evangelism. They have grown their church through marketing, not evangelism. By marketing I mean things like having beautiful people on stage at Sunday services, stunning buildings, amazing bands, music and lighting, doing everything with excellence and professionalism, preaching exhortational / motivational messages, providing well run programmes for youth, children, and older people, etc etc. These churches are like the supermarkets of the Church world. The small neighbourhood churches can’t compete, and end up losing their people to the mega churches. The drawing power of the mega churches is just too powerful. Now this is where it gets interesting! Many mega churches have worked out that they don’t need to do evangelism, or mobilise their people to do it. Thus their goal has become not the evangelisation of the world, and mobilising everyone in their churches to do it, but how to improve their marketing so that more people will come to their 68 I recently met a businessman who said he had led many families to Christ through relationships without proclaiming the gospel. Is it possible for people to be ‘saved’ without hearing the gospel? . No, it is not possible. I discuss this issue in Mini Book Thirteen. 69 Yes, we could all throw our hands up in the air and just say, “Well, that will never happen. God is in control. He is sovereign. So let’s just rest and see what He does.” Such an attitude is hardly that of a committed disciple who loves the Lord, and the Lord’s purposes.
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church! Their goal becomes ‘how do we get more people to come to our church’ rather than ‘what do we need to do to mobilise 100% of our people to evangelise the world, the priority of Jesus!’ This is tragedy beyond words. But it gets worse. These churches often run large conferences on how to grow a church. Other pastors flock to these conferences thinking ‘these guys have grown a huge church. I want to grow a huge church so I will attend the conference to learn from them’. Thus this device of the devil propagates and spreads.
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eing part of the solution… With everything within me, I believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit and prayer, and through diligent study, the generation of Christian pastors and leaders alive on the earth today possess the calibre and character to beat the devil and his devices. They can bring evangelism back to its rightful place as the priority. In this respect there are basically three groups of pastors and leaders: 1. Those who know the priority but have been sidetracked (a tiny few). 2. Those who have never known the priority (the vast majority). 3. Those who know and who have already made evangelism the priority (virtually non existent). Let’s look at these three groups briefly.
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THE “I HAVE BEEN SIDETRACKED” GROUP Satan often sidetracks us away from the priority with the busyness of good, wholesome Christian programmes and activities. He knows that when we immerse ourselves in the sea of church activities, evangelism will be difficult to start, let alone maintain. There just won’t be room to fit it into the existing program. On this subject, Pastor Mark Conner, after growing a church of 5000, gives sound advice to other leaders: “We must decide that [evangelism] is a priority and begin taking steps to make it a reality. Over time, if we do not give up, a wonderful momentum will be created where the vision [of creating an evangelistic church] starts to stick and then become a reality.”70
70 Dr Bronwyn Hughes and Dr John Bellamy (Editors). A Passion For Evangelism: Turning Vision Into
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My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will work through this Mini Book to cause pastors to stop and audit all they are doing. Really, how successful is your church (or your life) if it is busy but neglecting the priority of Jesus? Is obedience better than sacrifice or not? (1 Samuel 15:22). You know the answer.
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THE “I HAVE NEVER KNOWN” GROUP: There are, however, leaders and pastors who have never known the priority. There is strong evidence that most are in this category. According to research by George Barna:71 • 90 per cent of American adult church attendees cannot accurately define the meaning of “The Great Commission.” • Nearly 70 per cent of American church attendees have no clue what “John 3:16” means. • Barely 30 per cent of all church attendees know the meaning of the expression ‘the gospel.’ (personally, I believe it would be a much higher percentage than this in reality). • Another 30 per cent described it inaccurately. • Just 4 per cent can accurately describe the meaning of the gospel, John 3:16, and the Great Commission. If the people in the pews don’t know these things, who is not telling them? It seems, from this research at least, that if we, pastors and leaders, don’t know what the priority is, how are we going to articulate it to those who follow? We can’t impart what we don’t know. Maybe many Christian leaders have never asked the question “what is the priority of the Christian Church?” You’d think it would be the first question they would ask as they seek God about plans and timetables for their churches, seminaries, paraChurch organisations, and Christian institutions. Governments, sports teams, corporations, businesses etc view asking this question as crucial for their success, but somehow we don’t. Dr John Piper said: “It continually amazes me how few people [in Action. Open Book Publishers, 2004, p.162 71 Dr George Barna. Evangelism That Works. Regal, 1995, p.35
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Christian leadership] ask and answer with conviction and passion the most important questions – ultimate questions.”72
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THE “I KNOW IT AND AM DOING IT” GROUP: This group is tiny, but as awareness of the issues in this Mini Book grows, so will the size of this group. To bring this Mini Book to a close, I want to focus on application, and in so doing raise two issues. (1) ISSUE ONE: The first is the relationship between our mission (i.e. our priority) and all the other ministries of the Church. For example, I have heard people say when they discover our mission: “Wait a minute. When Jesus came to earth He did a lot more than preach the gospel. Surely our mission is much wider and broader than simply evangelising the world?” How should we answer? Think of the mission of NASA73 which they accomplished on July 20, 1969. NASA had a mission, which was to make sure America was the first nation in the world to have a man walk on the moon. The mission had vital component parts . A component part is something that must be completed if the mission is to succeed e.g. building a rocket and a lunar-landing craft, training astronauts, undertaking reconnaissance of the moon, and so on. These component parts were vital for the success of the mission but they were not THE mission of NASA. Do you see the difference between the adjunct part and the THE Mission? THE Mission describes the overall goal. Likewise, all the component parts (i.e. multiple ministries) of the Church are vital and important, but they were never meant to be ends in themselves. They were always intended to be the means to one great end, which is the evangelisation of the world, the overall goal. Now here is the mother of all questions - if NASA had ticked all the boxes with respect to the component parts , but hadn’t been the first to land a man on the moon, how would you describe that mission? You know the answer. 72 Dr John Piper. Let The Nations Be Glad. The Supremacy Of God In Missions. IVP, 1993 2nd ed 2003, p.204
73 NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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It’s the same with the Christian Church. If we ‘tick the boxes’ with every ministry in our church (i.e. the vital component parts of our mission), succeeding gloriously with each one, yet fail with THE mission, brothers and sisters in Christ, we fail.
What you have just read in the paragraph above is a point of monumental significance and really encapsulates the entire message of this Mini Book Series .
When the component parts become ends in themselves, and those doing them never ask “Why are we doing this?, ‘church’ quickly degenerates into nothing more than a nice friendly club whose members meet for friendship, enjoying cups of tea and muffins, singing together, and listening to messages together which support their existing values. If THE mission is not being done, all the component parts ultimately become meaningless. And when church becomes meaningless, one of three things happen to the people in the Church. (1) They become bored and leave church altogether. (2) The resilient stay, toughing it out. To find fulfilment and purpose, they turn to taking up hobbies, making money, and other activities outside of church. For this group, Christianity becomes a compartment of their life, rather than something vital which effects all of their life. (3) They leave their church in search of another church which is more aligned with Jesus’ mission. In the Mini Book One I showed how most people choose option (1) above. What people who don’t do evangelism don’t realise is that doing evangelism injects excitement, thrill, purpose, and meaning into individual and corporate life. It’s the glue that holds all other aspects of Christian life together, giving them meaning, purpose, and context. God has designed it to have this effect (Mark 8:35). This is the twenty fifth reason evangelism ought to be primary. 34
When we lose sight of our mission, we become like two soccer teams playing the game without goal posts, golfers without the hole on the green, or basketball players without a hoop at each end of the court. The game can be a little fun for a while, but eventually it becomes meaningless. Eventually the players will stop and ask, “Errr.... excuse me...why are we doing this? What’s the point again?” Theologian and Scholar Millard Erickson, who writes theology books for seminaries and Bible colleges puts it like this. Watch out, this is sobering. “If the Church is to be faithful to its Lord, and bring joy to His heart, it must be engaged in bringing the gospel to all people...if it does not, it will become Spiritually ill, for it will be attempting to function in a way its Lord never intended.”74 Did you get that? ‘Ill’ was the word Erickson chose. If you are a pastor, and your church has not made the evangelisation of the world the main thing, its mission, then your church is ill. The dictionary defines ‘ill’ like this: unwell, sick, not very well, ailing, poorly, sickly, peaky, afflicted, indisposed, infirm, liverish. Canon Gordon Bridger, retired Principal of London’s Oak Hill Theological College and reader in theology at Cambridge had this to say about any church which makes the evangelisation of the earth central in all it does: “In my experience, when a church gives priority to evangelism, other things fall into place.”75 To try and stop people leaving church because they are bored, many churches, instead of focussing afresh on Jesus’ mission, putting it back on centre stage where it ought to be, turn to entertainment and ‘frills’76 . e.g. doing things like improving the lighting on the stage, improving the music, bringing in smoke machines, having only beautiful girls and guys singing, increasing the padding on the seats, putting on fun events, building cafes, starting businesses etc. Doing these things might result in a mega church and it might look successful, but if it’s not attempting to mobilise all its people to evangelise the world, and doing it, it’s a spiritually sick church. No entertainment will ever come near to replacing the deep inner joy 74 Dr Millard Erickson. Christian Theology. Baker Book House, 1985, p.1054 75 http://www.e-n.org.uk/1996-09/242-A-tribute-to-God’s-sovereignty.htm 76 I actually think professionalist and excellence are crucial, but not at the expense of the completion of the Great Commission.
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which comes from engaging in evangelism. Find one of the 2% who are doing it. They will tell you. No entertainment will ever replace the gluing, uniting, disciplematuring, vision-giving effect which making the evangelisation of the earth a priority will have on a local church. Entertainment and marketing do not fool Jesus. He knows and sees that His mission is not being done. The more you focus on the mission, the more you’ll see and feel a wonderful surge in forward momentum and the infusion of supernatural life into your church. Try it and see.77 (2) ISSUE TWO: The second issue is raised by a question: “Now that we know the mission of the Church, how must this effect all the other ministries of the Church?” Good question. The following are some examples. If my church had a prayer ministry, I would ask the prayer team the following three questions: • How much of the prayer team’s time and effort is given to praying for the evangelisation of the world? • Are the prayer team actually engaging in evangelism personally i.e. being the answer to their prayers? • Are they accountable to one another for their efforts in evangelism? • Are they praying for everyone in their church to be mobilised? • Are they praying by name for the people in their church who are already mobilised? • Are they praying by name for the people in their who are struggling to mobilise? If my church had a social action department, I would ask: • Are the social action team being trained to evangelise? • Are they accountable for their efforts in evangelism? • How much evangelism is going on as they go about their excellent social action? 77 If you’d like to connect with churches who are experiencing this right now as a result of putting evangelism centre stage, please contact me. julian@esisite.com
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I would ask the worship team: • How is your worship helping to motivate, encourage, and stimulate the congregation for evangelism? • Are the worship team being trained how to do evangelism? • Do they do it? • Are they accountable for their efforts in evangelism? These kinds of questions must be asked of every ministry in a church, including all the administration staff if we want to cause a resurgence in world evangelism. Someone might protest “Wait a minute. I run a pregnancy clinic. How am I going to evangelise the world and yet still be faithful to what God has called me to do?” How should we answer? The clinic’s ‘immediate priority’ is saving babies from abortion. This is what they have been called to do by God, and this is good and right. It’s the particular and personal will of God for those in the clinic. In this respect, don’t change a thing. But saving babies from abortion is not the mission of the Church. Those who run the clinic need to think how they can give the gospel clearly, lovingly, and appropriately to the people who use their services. To get the gospel to the people who use their services is the ‘ultimate priority’ of the clinic staff. In other words, the staff at this clinic must find the best way to synchronise the particular will of God for them (i.e. saving babies) with God’s ultimate will (i.e. the evangelisation of the world). When they find a way, and do it, they are operating a truly Biblical, faithful, Great Commission honouring, Jesus glorifying ministry. Wow! Furthermore, when they are not at the clinic, they can and should reach other people with the gospel. In the final two years of my career as a school teacher, I tried to present the gospel to each of the twenty six staff. I had to pick my moments carefully and wisely, waiting for the appropriate time. It took two years to get the gospel to twelve of the twenty six staff. After two years at that school, I left teaching as a
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profession and moved into ‘full time’78 ministry, doing what I am doing now. That is to say, I never did reach the other fourteen staff. But in those two years at that school, after school, I’d go to a local shopping centre and give the gospel to at least one person. My goal was to reach one person a day like this. I have kept to this goal, with a few very rare exceptions, for nearly 30 years. What am I saying? All of us are called and commanded to evangelise people inside our workplace, and outside of it. I am also saying that evangelising the lost at one’s workplace (i.e. giving the gospel to people we work with each day) requires a very different approach to evangelising the lost in a shopping centre (i.e. strangers), but both groups need to be evangelised. I actually find it a lot easier to reach people I don’t know, rather than people I do know. Family are hardest of all to reach because the prophet is not accepted in his own home town (Luke 4:24). Why is reaching strangers with the gospel so important? Well, it’s like this - if you reach strangers, you’d probably reach one of the staff of my school who I couldn’t get to, and members of my family who are difficult for me to get to. And if I reach strangers, I’d probably get to the staff at your place of work that you couldn’t get to, and your family members that you find difficult to reach. Do you get it? This is why Jesus said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15), not just to friends and family. All means all. The bottom line is this - everything that goes on in a church must be filtered through the lens of Jesus’ mission because...well... it’s Jesus’ mission! It’s His priority. It’s what He commanded us to do. It’s what He MOST wants to see completed. Therefore, it ought to be our raison d’etre. It ought to be our main thing as a Church. It ought to be the priority in the life of every Christian, at the top of our daily ‘to do’ list.79 78 Really, everyone who is a Christian is in ‘full time ministry’ no matter what they are doing. 79 After preaching about this in a church one day, a man came up me and protested “If you ask people in the church to make evangelism a priority each day, you are going to burn a lot of them out and make them miserable! For most people, this is just not their gifting. It will drain them!” First, I knew this man had never done evangelism, let alone mastered it, otherwise he wouldn’t be talking like this. Second, the Christian life is not all about us. It’s about Him. Third, if to evangelise is to proclaim or spread the gospel, and spreading the gospel can be as simple as anonymously putting a gospel booklet in someone’s letter box, which is a 3 second activity, how can this possibly burden people, and cause their burn out? This is an issue of the heart, not an
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Remember, if we succeed with all the component parts of our mission (e.g. prayer, fasting, social action, Bible study, serving, worship, raising healthy families, being a holy people, being a loving people, being used by God to work the miraculous, advancing the Kingdom on earth, etc) but fail with THE mission (evangelising the world), we fail. End of story. If to evangelise the earth is truly, Biblically, theologically, and objectively the priority of the Church, then let’s take whatever action is necessary to make it so in reality. If you as a leader are looking for the ultimate way to express your love for God, and help your people do the same, then make His mission your mission, and THE mission of your church (John 14:21). Loose yourself from the devil’s grip, reset the hard drive on your personal walk with Jesus, and the hard drive of your church, and get back to Jesus’ priority. Don’t be like a tumble weed, blown around by the wind of whatever ministry or visiting speaker rolls into your town or city, changing your priorities from week to week, month to month, year to year. Don’t be a smorgasbord pastor. Re-establish Jesus’ priority in your life, and the life of your church. Stay anchored, and watch what happens!
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ummary
The evangelisation of the world is the priority of Jesus. It’s our mission. How do we know this? • He established the idea. • Paul and the Early Church carried it on. • Scripture teaches it. • The Apostles believed it. • Biblical scholarship supports it. • Spiritual giants from the past promote it.
issue of time. Rather than drain them, it will give them life. How so? When they lie down at night, after doing some evangelism during the day, and they look back on their day, they will have peace in their heart that they have been faithful to participate in the evangelisation of the world, the priority of Jesus. And nothing brings more peace and life than doing His will (John 14:21). And if they don’t feel peace and life in their heart at this thought, much more so the reality, and some joy, maybe they don’t have the Giver of peace in their heart? What other conclusion can there be? Now here is the thing - for genuine believers, doing God’s will is, ultimatly, all that matters. If we die doing it, as was the experience of 11 of the 12 disciples, then so be it. The right perspective is to do God’s will and leave the results to Him, not predict that doing His will will burn us out, make us miserable, drain us, and for this reason never start. This is not Biblical thinking. It’s the way the flesh thinks.
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• Significant contemporary leaders advocate it. • To evangelise is to enter the highest form of worship. • It’s the fast track to one of the most potent sources of Christian joy. • It’s the greatest way to bring glory to Jesus. • It’s vital to distinguish between the component parts of our mission and THE mission. Think of the NASA analogy I gave. • All ministries must be filtered through the lens of our mission. • Every ministry in the church needs to be active in evangelism, and accountable for the same. • If we fail with the evangelisation of the world, no matter how successful we are in other areas of ministry, we fail. • It’s a device of the enemy to scramble our priorities. CTION POINT: You might ask “What can I do to help • get the truth in this Mini Book to others?” Start spreading awareness of the issues raised in this Mini Book to other Christians, particularly leaders. Email it to everyone on your address book and encourage them to do the same. Send them a PDF file by writing to julian@esisite.com. • CTION POINT: Go to the leaders of your church. Ask them to make changes to their mission statement so that evangelism becomes central. Ask them to bring evangelism back to centre stage in the life of your church. Pray for them. In the next Mini Book I am going to reveal another of the major devices of the enemy which has stopped Christians from doing evangelism.
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This is one of the dirtiest of all his tricks. Stay with me. I am going to take you right behind enemy lines. You are about to see some scenes I pray you will never forget. The war for souls is about to get hotter…
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Real Life Story WHEN OUR GOOD WORKS DO NOT GLORIFY JESUS Greg McDuff is a plumber who, along with his wife Bianca, run a successful plumbing business in Auckland, New Zealand. I was reading Matthew 5:14-16 last night and it reminded me of when I hear Christians say “if we just go around doing random good deeds we glorify our Father in heaven.� This is true only when it is paired up with other truths in the Bible. Let me explain. I have a wonderful Muslim friend who runs a business in NZ and spends 6 months of the year in Africa and alot of money on educating poor children so they can have better lives. He loves and glorifies his god by doing way more good deeds than I do. The people for whom he is doing the goods works know he is a Muslim and that he is doing them for the sake of the name of Allah. Today I was approached by an Indian man in the city for help jump starting his car. It took about 20 minutes of my time to get him going and he was so 41
grateful. Jesus was only glorified when I gave him a Gospel booklet as we shook hands and parted. I could have just said “God bless you”, but I could have been glorifying any number of gods, or even myself. I believe this scripture about our good works glorifying Jesus is only so when the gospel is given together with the good deed. If I had not given the guy a tract with the gospel message inside I would have: • been putting my lamp under a bowl. • left the Muslim guessing as to what motivated me i.e. I could have been just a nice atheist for all he knew. • been most certainly glorifying myself (something God hates. He says He will not share his glory with another - Isaiah 42:8) • Jesus would most definitely NOT have been glorified. But there is another great lesson here. When we interpret scripture, we need to do so in the light of all of what Scripture says about a subject, not just pick out random verses here and there and build a pet theology around them. ESI, thanks for your team making tools that make it so easy for anyone to share the gospel with people. Love Greg (the plumber)
Julian’s comments.
How can we argue with Greg? He is absolutely right of course. Good works, done for any other motive other than to glorify Jesus, have no eternal value. How will people to whom we do good works associate Jesus with those works, but that we tell them, and in so doing, deflect the any glory coming to us onto Jesus. This won’t happen in the fullest sense unless we give the gospel message with the works. 42
The Full List Of Books In ‘The Truth About Evangelism’ Mini Series Book One
Evangelism Lost! Exposing The True State Of Evangelism In Today’s Church
Book Two Seven Deadly Motives Exposing How The Enemy Is Shutting Down Evangelism.
Book Three
The Sorrowful Collapse Of The Great Commission- A Dangerous Redefining Of Evangelism
Book Four Evangelism Redefined? Six Subtle Yet Devastating Redefinitions Of Evangelism
Book Five Confusion Busters 7 Things You Should Know About The Gospel Message
Book Six
Six Ways To Move From Gospel Confusion To Gospel Clarity
Book Seven
The Evangelisation Of The World Is The Ulimate Purpose Of The Church. 7 Irrefutable Reasons It Is Time To Prioritise
Book Eight
A Gift, A Call, Or A Commission. Are All Christians Commanded To Evangelise
Book Nine
12 Keys To Fearless Evangelism In The 21St Century
Book Ten Take Them Down. 12 Road Blocks And How To Get Through Them
Book Eleven
The Key To Victory. Start Viewing Evangelism As An Event, Not A Process
Book Twelve
Confidence In The Gospel, Come Back! Four Essential Steps To Reclaiming Lost Ground!
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Book Thirteen Prepare To Be Amazed! What Jesus Really Taught About Evangelism!
Book Fourteen
What Leaders Must Do To Cause A Resurgence In World Evangelism
Book Fifteen
A Plan Of Action To Cause A Resurgence In World Evangelism
Book Sixteen
Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 1)
Book Seventeen
Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 2)
Book Eighteen
Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 3)
Book Nineteen
Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 4)
Book Twenty Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 5)
Book Twenty One
Climb On Board! 4 Reasons Why Doing Evangelism Will Help Create A Better World!
Book Twenty Two
Devastation! How Pseudo-Conversions Hinder Evangelism And What You Can Do To Stop The Rot!
Book Twenty Three
“Friendship evangelism.” What’s good about it, and what’s heretical?
Book Twenty Four
Unholy Grief! Five Ways Evangelists With The Gift Can Grieve The Holy Spirit
Book Twenty Five
The Highest Motive For Doing Evangelism? You’ll Be Amazed What The Bible Teaches! Conclusion
Book Twenty Six Appendix One : If We Fail To Evangelise, We Fail. Period. By Dr K.P. Yohannan
Appendix Two : The Pastor Evangelist. By Dr. Roger S. Greenway
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Appendix Three : True Gospel Must Be Heard, By Kevyn Harris
Appendix Four : This We Believe Signatories
Appendix Five : Device 84. “I don’t like being told to do evangelism!”
Book Twenty Seven The Evangelism Fitness Test
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