The Biblical Approach to Evangelism

(The following is an edited email correspondence.)

Do you by chance have any books specifically focused upon missions and evangelism? I remember you mentioning that apologetics is a part of evangelism and was wondering if you had a more evangelism oriented work.

As you may have noticed by now, I am fond of addressing many topics by structuring my presentations around scriptural passages and skeletons.

Although I have commented on the different aspects of evangelism in various places, I have addressed evangelism mainly in my exposition of Acts 17, which you have probably already read. That chapter blends evangelism and apologetics (which are technically distinguishable, but often combined in practice) together in its discussion of the Mars Hill discourse. You might also want to read my short work, Preach the Word.

Evangelism should usually be done by preaching the whole counsel of God, instead of by the now common "hit-and-run" method. Evangelism is very much a "teaching" ministry (Matthew 28:19-20), so that when there is time, one must definitely follow Paul’s procedure in Acts 19:

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. (v. 8–10)

As J. I. Packer writes in A Quest for Godliness: "Evangelism must rather be conceived as a long-term enterprise of patient teaching and instruction, in which God's servants seek simply to be faithful in delivering the gospel message and applying it to human lives, and leave it to God's Spirit to draw men to faith through this message in his own way and at his own speed" (Crossway, p. 163–164).

But when there is no time, or when the person is already sufficiently taught and informed, God might perform a quick work, as in Acts 8:26-39:

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road — the desert road — that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."

The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

For more on this subject, you might look into the sermons of Jonathan Edwards, and Puritan teachings on evangelism and "seeking" salvation through the means ordained and provided by God.

And of course, to preach the whole counsel of God, you need to know the whole counsel of God. Therefore, you must constantly be improving in your understanding of the biblical faith, and in your ability to clearly and precisely explain it.

Recommended:

http://www.intoutreach.org/seeking.html

http://members.aol.com/jonathanedw/Seeking.html

The "Sincere Offer" of the Gospel, Part 1

The "Sincere Offer" of the Gospel, Part 2

Vincent Cheung, Presuppositional Confrontations

Vincent Cheung, The Light of Our Minds

Vincent Cheung, Preach the Word

Gordon Clark, Today’s Evangelism

Joel Beeke, Puritan Evangelism