INTRODUCTION:
Christians in the western nations
have the idea that soul winning is done inside their church auditoriums and
executives-like meetings, while it is true that some people gave their lives to
Christ in those conditions but it’s actually the smallest minority of the
unreached whereas the largest majority are left to wallow in the unrepentant
lifestyle in preparation for the wrath of God. In the bible times, souls were
won to Christ where people lives, works or spend most of their livelihood, so
effective evangelism is actually all about getting to the majority of the
unreached with the good news of Christ which is the greatest aim and desire of
God. It involves sharing the good news with people in their own abode of
livelihood, Jesus Christ did not died in the temples or synagogues or cathedrals,
or headquarters, He died on a cross road, in between thieves, outside the city,
where thieves curse and soldiers gambles. The best place to preach the gospel
of the Son of God is exactly where he died years ago, the early church was born
out of effective evangelism(house-house, street, rural, less privileged,
hostels, mass etc evangelism) and this becomes their own personal way of life,
then what makes it impossible now. BRETHREN,
LET US GO BACK TO EFFECTIVE EVANGELISM AND STOP DOING THE RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES
THAT NEVER PROFIT CHRIST HIMSELF WHILE HE WAS HUMANLY LIVING. Within a
century of the Day of Pentecost, theological and intellectual discussions took
the place of soul winning in the church, spiritual “lukewarmness” and apostasy
resulted, the end of it is our ultra-modern auditoriums of great architectural
taste, discarding the mandate of evangelizing the world to building of
cathedrals and assemblies “….whose top may reach to heaven.” All those ideas
were born out of re-emergence of Nimrodic religion even in the Church today,
are we not in the Dark Age? We need light bearers in our generation who will go
back to biblical Christianity under godly leadership like you and I where
effective evangelism will be given its greatest priorities. Will
you make up your mind and pledge to join that style of leadership or continue
the Nimrod style of leadership. I am not against church physical
advancement in acquiring good structures but to whose glory are we doing it
now, is it not to satisfy our human ego?
WHAT IS EVANGELISM?
Evangelism is the sharing of the
good news of the kingdom of God which is all about the life, death and second
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to all souls. Evangelism is the same as soul winning, but with discipleship, it is
called MISSIONS, so effective evangelism is all about soul winning and
discipleship. It is of little worth to win a soul to Christ but to rather
disciple such a soul to also become a soul winner later on. Jesus Christ is the
greatest soul winner and we learn from him that He never left the apostles
without teaching them how to win a soul (becoming an effective soul winner) and
this is what He also instruct them to do to every convert won for the Lord. BRETHREN, CAN WE BOAST OF MEMBERS WHO ARE
SOUL WINNERS IN OUR FELLOWSHIPS, TRAININGS AND CHURCHES, EVEN THOUGH WE
(LEADERS, EXECUTIVES AND PASTORS TODAY) CLAIM TO BE A SOUL WINNER FOR CHRIST? I
doubt it. Eph 4:12, Acts 8:1-4. Every member shoul be instructed by the
church leaders in how to bring others to Christ
Evangelism is the only effective
method for church growth and expansion but it must never done for the sole or
primary aim of adding to the numerical strength of church membership and
branches but rather for primary inclusion in the book of life and secondary
integration into the church membership (whether our own churches/fellowships or
any of such that is bible based as the Lord leads and direct us). Effective
Evangelism can either be personal or Mass, both are equally effective as the
Lord leads and circumstances permit. Jesus the greatest soul winner taught
publicly and privately, the apostles and fathers of old engage in public
teachings and crusades as well as personal soul winning and discipleship. The
wisest person in Christianity is a soul winner, ARE YOU WISE? Prov 11:30, Dan 12:3. The Christian’s life motto is very
simple: ONE WAY! ONE JOB! The ONE WAY is JESUS and ONE JOB is SOUL WINNING. There
is no joy like giving the good news to everybody everywhere-winning souls-out
where the people are! Luke 19: 10
REASON FOR EVANGELISM:
1.
BECAUSE
JESUS IS A SOUL WINNER (Luke 19:10; 1tim 1:15, Luke 15:2 Act 5:42).
The first and
most important reason to be involve in soul winning is majorly because Jesus
our role model is one and even the greatest of all soul winner, He won the
whole world to God by his work of reconciliation on the Cross. His greatest
hunger was to save the lost and perishing, He did not station his goals and aim
to the temples/synagogues and the religious circle of His day, he went to where
the lost are, in their own very houses, hostels, classrooms, parks, shop,
villages, offices etc, he won their souls, He finished it by dying in such a
location where even the most corrupt gambling soldiers could have access to the
cross and His title have to written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin so that all the
nations passing by will not be confused but rather convinced of the essence of
the Cross. If we are truly children of God, this is exactly what He called us
to do daily (2Cor5:18-19, Col1:20, Romans 10:13-15)
2.
BECAUSE
THE HARVEST IS GREAT (MATT 9:37, Luke 10: 1-3, John 4:35, Act 6:3).
Jesus saw the
deserted, harassed and helpless multitude with compassionate eye as a field
that is very ripe to be harvest, Jesus being the living word of God is the seed
that has being sown into the world (matt 13:18-23) especially through his death
on the cross, he sowed the seed of righteousness into all life contrary to the
seed of sin sown by Adam, now the seed has grown to a big harvest in every
nation of the world, everywhere in the world today is an harvest field. If
Jesus look up and behold, I believe that our own sight with be myopic and
shabby until we also lift up our eyes to the very fields in our own rooms,
families, campus, rural areas etc and see how plenteous are the opportunities
to preach the gospel to at least someone daily. The increasing rate of smokers,
fornicators, cultists, thieves and all sort of sinner is nothing but an
indicator that the harvest of evangelism is ripe and ready. Will you lift up your own eyes today and
see what Jesus Christ is seeing in your environment while you are busy doing
irrelevances in fellowships and classrooms. Let us not be so much disturbed
by the reducing numerical strength but the reducing spiritual membership. Let us arise today and go into the great
harvest of time. Remember that the increasing crime rates and atrocities in
our generation today is just because…. A
RIPE HARVEST IS AN INVITATION TO UNWANTED PEST AND RODENTS….. BEWARE! Let
us go to mobilize our fellowship members and friends for effective evangelism
in our campuses and surrounding rural areas, let us prays for more labourers
and prayerfully select and sponsor brethren to go for evangelism. Every money
spent for soul winning is an investment in eternity.
3.
BECAUSE
THE LABOURERS ARE FEW (Isa 6:8, Amos 8:11, Romans 15:20, 2Cor 10:16, 1Cor 15:34, Matt 9:38)
A fellow friend
in mission work once asked a question during a stakeholders in evangelism
meeting that “ why are people only called to administrative and lucrative part of the ministry but were
never called to go and preach among the unreached, inmates, rural dwellers etc”
the world population is increasing at an alarming rate and only about 4% of the
increasing population are being reach with the gospel, yet we have the useless concentration of brethren in
the reach population doing nothing but competing and contesting for church
members and awards. Less than 1 of every
500 church leaders dedicate their life to reaching the unreached, yet this
alarming unreached population of the unreached will be lost eternal without
hearing the good news. From Apostle Paul statements in 1Cor 15: 34, it is clear
that:
a.
The church is sleeping: people are lost to
eternal damnation because you and I alongside with our members are sleeping
with different degree of snowing, shall we wake up from the useless sleep and
awake to effective evangelism to rescue to the lost in the ready to perish ripe
harvest (Prov 10:5)
b.
It is a sin: it is a sin that we have
opportunity to reach the unreached but we fail, James 4:17.
c.
It is a shame: Isn’t it worth more than a shame
that God could have supposedly called his own Children yet his effort and
investing to raise up great harvest of soul should perish due to our uncared
attitude.
4.
BECAUSE
OF THE GREAT COMMISION (Mark 16:15, 2Tim 1:9, Act 16:6-9)
The Lord has
commissioned all of us to go and preach the gospel to all souls, this is our
greatest responsibilities in ministering to the Lord, One another and the world
of the unreached and unsaved. Let us all go and spread the gospel for we have
all being called to do so and God promise to guide and protect us. My dear
brethren and leader of Gods people, this is what God has called us to do, let
us go and do it in our tenure of leadership and afterward (2Tim 4:2)
5.
BECAUSE
OF THE UNFULFILLED PROPHECIES CONCERNING JESUS RETURN (1Cor 15:19, matt 24:14,
Rev 7: 9 Mark 13:10)
Biblical
prophecies have given us some requirement for the end to come and they are:
a.
Gospel must be preached in all the world (Matt
24:14, Act 1:8). This include all nations and ethnics
b.
Saints from all Nations (Rev 7:9). In the last church
of the saints, every tribe and minorities must be represented in this angelic
host of saints, this can only come through evangelism.
c.
Preach the gospel to all creatures (Matt 23:23).
The gospel must not only reach all nations on earth but all creatures (souls)
the Arabian, Hindus, villagers, inmate etc. let us do something. UNTOLD Millions
will still die UNTOLD.
The early Christian were motivated to go and preach the
gospel, this concept of soul winning to bring back the KING so motivated the
early Christian that they spread the gospel testimony across most of their
known world. Before the church went into the Dark age to the extent that it
would take a prayer meeting that went on for 24 hours a day for 100 years to
break the death grip of the Dark age .
This lead to a
Hell assaulting prayer about 250 years ago through the influence of a little
known, nor highly regarded Bavarian Prince named COUNT VAN ZINZENDORF. The Moravian
church which he is credited with founding, deployed the first (and for many
years the only) evangelical missionaries of modern times. The Moravian prayed
with passion for the lost souls of men, but they not only prayed, they took
action to take the gospel to them. They gave the finest of their young men to
become soldiers in the Lord’s Army. Two of such young men like us heard of an
Island in the Caribbean Sea where 40,000 Africans were held in abject slavery.
No one was permitted on the Island unless they come as slave. They were moved
with compassion for these slaves realizing that the slaves will perish in their
sin if they did not take the gospel to them. The two young Moravians sold
themselves into slavery to reach these African slaves. As they sailed from the
docks in Hamburg, Germany, their last words echoed across the ocean tides: “WE GO TO GAIN FOR THE LAMB, THE REWARD OF
HIS SACRIFICE”
6.
BECAUSE
GOD WILL HOLD US ACCOUNTABLE (Eze 3:17-18; 33:6-8; Act 20: 18-21; 26:19; Roman
1:14-15)
Paul went to the
lost, the least and the last, He does not want the blood of the unconverted to
be on his hands; brethren, I think we do not want the blood of the unconverted
to be required on our hands also. So like the word of a soul winner that “We do
not pretend that we alone can win the world to Christ; but we are involve in
Evangelism as though God’s plan depend on us alone”. If we cannot win everyone,
we shall certainly win some and we shall minister as though the reaping depend
entirely on us.
7.
BECAUSE
OF WHAT WE HAVE EXPERIENCED (Heb 2:3-4; Matt 24:14)
The gospel can
never be effective until it is borne out of our personal experience with Jesus
Christ and the taste of His Kingdom of power. No one can claim to have
genuinely given his life to Christ without being passionate about saving the
lost soul and that is the power of evangelism. The gospel will be a shameful
assignment when we have not had a personal experienced of it but it is
unavoidable if we have genuinely encounter its power.
CRITERIA FOR EVANGELISM:
The criteria for
evangelism are:
1.
Genuine experienced of salvation
2.
Effective discipleship
3.
Baptism in the Holy spirit
4.
Strong passion for the Lost
5.
A godly life of continuous steadfast in the word
of God and prayer.
6.
A life of good testimony and honest report.
INSTUCTIONS FOR EFFECTIVE EVANGELISM:
1.
PRAY
FOR THOSE YOU WANT TO WIN OR REACH
Intercession is
the only way that leads to the winning of souls, no church or individual can
prosper without it, it is a life of reproduction and continuity as found in the
life of Jesus Christ (Isaiah66:8; 53;12). You begin to care for a man
spirituality when you begin to pray for Him. (Phil 1:4, Col 1:3)
2.
MAKE
CONTACT WITH THOSE YOU WANT TO WIN OR REACH
The movement of
Christianity in this world is scripturally based on personal contact. Anyone
who really knows Jesus will want others to know him, we all need to take a
further step of faith in identifying and making contact with the people or
locality we want to reach, and this may involve effective and strategic
planning aforetime. Evangelism is in locating one another and reaching out to
them.
3.
UNDERSTAND
YOUR ROLE
We are not the
current the light up the whole world but rather the cable or fore-runner of the
divine current that illuminate the lives of individual (John 1:6-13). Our duty
is only to ensure that we preach the gospel, the best of a soul winner is to
preach the word of God effectively, the best of Holy Spirit is to convince, do
not take the place of holy spirit! Let us do our own part and leave the rest for
God to perfect.
4.
BE
HIGHLY SENSITIVE TO GOD AND YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
To be successful
in evangelism, we need a high level of sensitivity first and primarily to God
for accuracy and utterance and secondarily to the environment as it may
determine our manner of speech, dressing and behavior. Learn to respect
individual and community cultures in the light of the scripture and seek advice
and counsel from elders or brethren who have information about the community or
individual we want to reach (but the most authentic information is the one the
Holy Spirit confirms as true and relevant). Never disrespect or people values
especially where it does not have contradictions in the scripture. Be highly to
avoid all forms of arguments and striving words, take your leave where
necessary.
5. PRESENT AN HOLISTIC GOSPEL AND NEVER ENTICE.
The gospel of
Jesus Christ is only effective when it is presented in such a way that it
caters for the spirit, souls and body of the hearer. Be wise. Material
welfarism, Counselling, Motivations, Encouragements, Financial and Medical
assistance, Education and Community development are essential and integral part
of the gospel that must never be never neglected but NEVER REPLACE THE GOSPEL WITH THEM. WITHOUT THE EFFECTIVE GOSPEL, ALL
THOSE THINGS ARE USELESS. Whereas they could be strategy of reaching out to
people and community, it should be subject to evangelism, even if evangelism
will not be the first offer.
6.
FOLLOW
THE LORDS INSTRUCTION ONLY AND DO NOT TAKE ANY RISK UNLESS YOU ARE CONVINCED OF
THE LORD TO DO SO.
Only the Lord’s
instruction and vision should be follow adherently to the last letter, but be
careful to avoid any risk that God is not convincing you to take yet EVANGELISM ON ITS OWN IS A RISKY AND
DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT, BE COURAGEOUS AND BOLD, GOD IS WITH YOU ALWAYS.
I LOVE YOU.
For further information and assistance, contact:
PASTOR
(DR) K. O OLUSOLA
National
Director,
Directorate
of Higher Institutions, NYSC and Teens Affairs, CACSA.
Dept.
of Building, Faculty of Environmental, Design and Mgt.
Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
OR THE SPEAKER
THROUGH HIM
ADEJOBI Daniel
Adepoju
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