Tag Archives: Evangelism

How The Gospel Fuels Evangelism

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This is a simple, but important, post.

What Fuels Evangelism?

Why do you believe you should share the gospel? Is it out of guilt? Do you feel like it’s expected of you and you need to share it so you can fit in at church? Is it out of pride? Will bringing newcomers to church make you look good? Is it out of habit? Do you do it because that’s what your church has always done?

These are not healthy motives for evangelism. To look at the only healthy motivation for evangelism we need to look at what evangelism actually is. Continue reading →

Gospel-Centered Means Being Evangelism-Centered

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This article, as part of my sabbatical, is a reminder of content you may have missed in 2012.

Holding God and his gospel in high regard is the center of the gospel-centered movement. What does that mean? It means we declare the news of “the good news”:

Bottom Line: If we aren’t evangelism-centered we aren’t gospel-centered.

Read Gospel-Centered Means Evangelism-Centered.

Mission New England 2013

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Mission New England ConferenceIf you live in New England and you believe that being gospel-centered means evangelism-centered, listen up.

The Gospel Alliance New England is bringing in pastor Rob Burns, who has been really effective in evangelism in Philadelphia, for a conference discussing how he’s seen success sharing the good news on “hard ground.” The conference is being held at my home church, Norwich Alliance Church, in Norwich, CT.

The three sessions of this conference are titled:

  • “A Gospel Worth Proclaiming” – What is the Gospel? Why would we proclaim it?
  • “What is Proclamation?” Declaration and Demonstration (Words and Deeds)
  • “Everyday Living” – What does it look like to live the everyday with Gospel Intentionality

Cost for this whole-day event will be $12 ($15 at the door) for individuals or $10/person for groups of 5 or more. Also, lunch is included in that price! Be honest – you were going to spend that much on lunch alone.

Sign up now!

If you plan on attending please let me know in the comments below (email subscribers please click through to the website) so we can meet up during the conference!

The Gospel And Personal Evangelism

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The Gospel And Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever

You need to read Mark Dever’s preposterously good book on evangelism.

This short book gives the who, what and why of evangelism. It’s a short read and a good one. Dever does an excellent job of making important distinctions that aren’t often made in our churches:

  • He explains the difference between the gospel and good truths which aren’t themselves the gospel.
  • He differentiates between evangelism and the results of evangelism.

Following are a few quotes I highlighted:

What isn’t the gospel?

The Good News is not simply that we are okay… The Good News is not simply that God is love… The Good News is not simply that Jesus wants to be our friend… The Good News is not that we should live rightly.

What is the gospel?

The good news is that Continue reading →

Use Words If Necessary

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Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.

It’s a very popular phrase. It’s typically (and falsely) attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. I understand the thought behind it – “Let’s live lives that indicate the truth of the gospel. Let’s show the world the results of the gospel.”

I know that this phrase receives a lot of criticism and even scorn heaped on it. It is, interestingly enough, a true statement in many respects:

  • We should preach the gospel.
  • We should preach the gospel as often as we can.
  • We should use words when it is necessary to do so.
  • Here’s the kicker: It’s always necessary to use words to preach the gospel. Continue reading →

Gospel-Centered Means Evangelism-Centered

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Breaking News

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “gospel-centered”?

If you’re like me, you’re thinking of sermons and Bible studies that find their conclusion in Jesus. Gospel-centered means our message has its foundation and focus in the gospel. I am zealous to both recognize and rest in the message that God rescued his enemies, freed them from bondage and reconciled them to himself.

We’ve reduced “gospel-centered” to mean “we preach the Bible in a certain way.”

When we do this we miss a big part of what it means to be gospel-centered. ”Gospel” means “good news” but we focus on the “good” part and not the “news.”

News is… new.

News is… new. If we never proclaim the good news to an audience for which it’s new we aren’t acting out the gospel in the way it’s designed.

This not only separates the gospel’s doctrine from the gospel’s action, it also robs us of joy – the joy that comes from seeing God work miracles.

I’m not going to give you a model for evangelism. I’m not going to tell you how to identify and reach the lost. I’m just going to tell you to do it.

Bottom Line: If we aren’t evangelism-centered we aren’t gospel-centered.

_________________

Further Reading:
An Evangelistic Strategy For Postmoderns
How to Evangelize to Someone Who Doesn’t Believe in Sin
How Can We Use the Theories of Atonement for Evangelism?

An Evangelistic Strategy For Postmoderns

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Confusion

Confused?

The Problem

It seems that many westerners assume they understand the message of Christianity when they really don’t. If you asked a random US citizen what the message of Christianity was, my guess is that the most common answer will be something like, “If you are good enough and believe in Jesus you’ll go to heaven.”

That misunderstanding is primarily the fault of Christians because we allow ourselves to be known for what we are against instead of what we are for.

Add to that, this postmodern generation dislikes being lectured and it’s very hard to share the message of Jesus with anyone.

The Idea

Because of these two issues, I’ve been thinking lately that it might be a useful evangelism tool to simply Continue reading →