What is Effective Evangelism?
“Does that method of evangelism really work?”
I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I have been asked that question over the years. It seems that whenever someone hears about gospel witness, one of the knee-jerk reactions is to immediately question the effectiveness of the methodology. Now, I must say that I don’t think asking questions about certain methods is wrong; however, I think we need to be careful with how we measure ‘effectiveness.’
When someone asks the question, “Is it effective?” What they are really asking is, “how many people have you seen converted?” At its heart this is a pragmatic approach to evangelism; it is a question that looks for results, and from there seeks to determine if someone is ‘effective’ or not. I would suggest that a fundamental danger with this approach of assessing evangelistic methods is that we end up taking on an ‘ends justifies the means’ mindset to outreach. We begin to look at methods of marketing and sales and then we try to sanctify that approach with a few Bible verses or Christian clichés. We see this demonstrated in different books and programs designed for church growth; many of which are built upon the ideas of the business world. How does a business attract new customers? How does a company get ‘buy-in’ for their product? These types of questions have become central in evangelistic ministry, but I would suggest that such worldly wisdom has no place in gospel work.
I have a radical idea on how we can assess the effectiveness of evangelistic methods… it is so revolutionary that you may want to brace yourself… here is how we can determine if a method is effective or not… ready?... Examine the method in the light of Scripture!
Now that you have caught your breath from that shocking statement, let me try to argue my case. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we are told that the Scripture is sufficient for all things; and that through the Bible we are “thoroughly equipped for every good work.” I am going to assume that you believe that evangelism is a good work; since that is the case, we should look at 2 Timothy 3:17 and see that it tells us that the Scripture is sufficient for that good work. This means we don’t need to run off to the business world or take a degree in marketing before we can become effective soul winners. Rather, what we need to do is take the time to open our Bibles and let our evangelistic methods flow from the wisdom of God.
Whenever we assess the effectiveness of an evangelistic method or outreach, what we need to do is examine what the Bible says; we must not become secular pragmatists in that we let the world determine what is effective or not. Rather, we are to let God determine our methods and message.
In the Scripture we are told to be witnesses to Christ (Acts 1:8), and to preach the gospel (Mark 16:15), but what we never see is the command for Believers to make people into Christians. We are called to be faithful in proclaiming the good news, but the results are up to God. He is the One who must save (Jonah 2:9) as it the Father who draws people to the Son (John 6:44). We cannot cause any person to be born again, rather that is a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit (John 3:8). We are just called to make known the good news of Jesus.
Effective evangelism is not determined by results, rather it is determined by the question, “Was the gospel proclaimed / shared?” If the answer to that is, “Yes!” then effective evangelism has taken place. Albert Mohler said, “Our responsibility is to get God’s Word to their ears. Only God can get the Word from their ears to their heart.”
I know it is tempting to be pragmatic in our approaches, I truly do understand. I would love to see thousands of people running forward to trust in the Saviour, and by God’s grace we will see that. But, if we want to see people truly saved then we need to cast off the worldly pragmatic approach, and instead we need to return to the Bible in our evangelistic methods. Let us all be faithful to proclaim the biblical message, then leave the results up to God.
As the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”
We are just called to plant or water; we cannot bring the increase. Effective evangelism takes place every time someone hears the gospel. Even if that person never repents the evangelism was still effective.
In fact, there may be many times when you share the gospel and you never see the increase; perhaps you will labour your whole life but not see much fruit – that is OK, there is nothing wrong with that, and it certainly doesn’t mean you haven’t been effective. What it means is that God is using the message in His way and according to His purpose.
For others, you may take many years to see the fruit of your gospel witness. I heard the other day of a Pastor who twelve years ago shared the gospel with a couple during door to door visitation: years went by and nothing more was heard. But one day they showed up in church, and told the Pastor that God used that gospel seed to bring them to trust in Jesus.
Effective evangelism doesn’t look at the number of people saved; effective evangelism looks for the gospel being proclaimed and heard. Let us learn to submit our methods and tactics to God’s Word and let us learn to trust in Him for the increase. Continue to make much of Jesus by proclaiming His good news.