Methods of Evangelism (Evangelism Series 6 of 6)
Preaching Evangelism
John Stott writes, “When we contrast much of contemporary evangelism with the Apostle Paul's, its shallowness is immediately shown up.”
Years ago, Tim Keller did a very helpful study of the evangelistic methods of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts. We’ll draw from some of these key insights below.
Let's start with what Keller calls Paul’s “preaching evangelism” seen in Acts 17:17 where Paul is shown reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks. We see a similar evangelistic method of Paul used by him in both Athens and Corinth, where he always began in synagogue worship because of his core commitment to win his people, bringing the gospel to the “Jew first” (Rom 10), and also where he focused on winning the God-fearing Greeks who converted to Judaism. These were the religious seekers of Paul’s day.
The application that's often missed today is the significant role of public corporate worship and preaching in evangelism. Many are understandably hesitant to see the public worship of believers as a primary evangelistic methodology because Lord’s Day worship is primarily for believers.
This often raises controversial questions regarding whether we should be more seeker-oriented or believer-oriented in worship? But the real question is whether or not the Gospel is being faithfully presented in the worship and preaching.
This is because the biblical gospel is good news for both believers and unbelievers. To unbelievers it’s good news that they can be delivered from sin's penalty. It's also good news for believers that they can be delivered from sin's domineering power over their lives. It's fundamentally the same message. The gospel presents a person, the person and work of Jesus, and we invite all our hearers to come and trust in him, that that they might be delivered, as they draw near to him in repentance and faith.
This is why the call for us to decide whether we are seeker-oriented or believer-oriented in worship and preaching is illegitimate. If our worship and preaching are truly gospel-centered, they will transform both seekers and believers.
The question is often asked, “What does a sermon look like today with both the believer and the seeker in the public worship?”
Let’s look at a brief example in preaching Ephesians 6, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, but raise them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.” When preaching this text our task is to communicate God’s expectations of fathers. What is God’s standard for fathers? It’s perfection. God calls fathers to love their children perfectly. Examples from the text include they don't exasperate their children but raise them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.
When both believers and unbelievers hear this same message, they are crushed by the depth of their failure to love their children according to God’s standards. They become aware of the sin and need for God’s forgiveness and grace.
But we don’t just stop there in our preaching. We go to the sin beneath the sin. Why are these fathers not loving their children like God commands? It’s because they are idolaters. They are worshipers of success in their work. They have no time for their children not just because they need money, but because they need affirmation they get at work. They find their whole life and identity in their work
The gospel sermon then presents them, not mere principles to live by in terms of their attempts to try harder to be a good father through their prayerful self-effort. No. We present to them the good news of a person, a Savior. In the sermon we present to them a person who will not just forgive them, but as they continue to draw near to him, he will empower them to love their children in a way they’ve never loved them before.
And so we invite all fathers, believers and unbelievers, to come to Jesus in repentance and faith. And we promise them that he will deliver them, he will forgive them, and he will empower them to change.
Now, let's say the Holy Spirit is really at work through this preaching of Ephesians 6. What happens to the unbeliever when he repents and draws near to Christ in faith? He's converted. He’s justified.
But what happens to the failing father who similarly repents, the one who is a believer, someone who has already been converted and justified? Is he converted and justified again? No. He has already been saved from sin’s penalty and forgiven. But now, as he draws near to Christ in ongoing repentance and faith, he is being saved from sin’s domineering, idolatrous power of his life that is keeping him from being a more loving father.
What’s exciting about this is that, as a preacher, you are totally free from having to discern and focus on either believers or unbelievers. Instead your primary focus is on preaching the good news of the gospel to both the lost and the found.
We must recover the biblical concept of preaching as a primary means by which the lost are meant to come to faith in Christ. This doesn't deny that all believers are responsible to be personal witnesses in all their relationships in life. But this helps us understand that evangelism is also meant to be very communal. And it can help us recapture the practice of intentionally bringing lost people we know and love to worship with us so they’ll be under the God-ordained means of grace called the preaching of the gospel.
Preaching evangelism is usually a vital part of what Ed Clowney used to call “Doxological Evangelism.”
Using 1 Corinthians 14, Clowney calls us to recognize that it’s appropriate for the unbelieving seeker to come into our worship services, even when they don’t understand everything we do and say as believers in worship. And we should not feel that we need to alter all our words and practices so everything makes sense to the unbeliever.
Clowney’s encouragement is for believer’s worship to always be authentic and God-centered. So that, even if unbelieving seekers do not understand everything we do in worship, they become deeply impressed with the existential reality that God is in our midst, even with much mystery to them. Clowney calls this doxological evangelism.
So, on a practical level now, be careful about trying to dumb everything down in worship to appeal to lost people. If the worship is authentic, if the nature of the gospel is faithfully proclaimed to both believer and unbeliever, it is okay for there to be degrees of mystery. Don't fall prey to dumbing everything down into contemporary jargon. Instead, focus on authenticity and transparency in your worship.
As you do, recapture the richness and the beauty of the preaching of the word and doxological evangelism as a primary means of reaching people who are outside of Christ.
Contact, Friendship, & Public Forum Evangelism
Having studied Paul’s method of preaching evangelism, we turn now to take a brief overview of his other methods, including what Keller calls “Contact Evangelism,” “Friendship Evangelism,” and “Public Forum Evangelism.”
Note these texts of Scripture:
“He (Paul) reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.”
It’s clear by the phrase, “with those who happened to be there” that one of Paul’s evangelistic methods is what is often called today, “Street Evangelism.” The same man who focused on preaching in synagogues on the Sabbath could also be found in the marketplace on other days sharing the gospel with total strangers.
The New Testament also reveals that Paul’s focus on evangelism was much more outside the synagogue than inside the synagogue, and most often in people’s homes he knew. In Acts we find these kinds of descriptions: “Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.” And Paul writes, “You know that I have taught you publicly and from house to house I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance in our Lord, Jesus Christ.”
We need to rethink the power of hospitality in our homes as an evangelistic methodology. It’s amazing how people who hardly know each other are often willing to join you in your home for a meal and talk for hours to you and total strangers sharing their lives.
Have you noticed that in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, that one of the requirements of an elder, a pastor and church planter, is being hospitable. This is because there is great power in a home that is warm and open, displaying the welcoming love of God to unbelievers.
If we can get over the need to turn “every conversation to Jesus” with people we invite into our homes, new doors can open into the lives of people. And you're just going to have dinner with them. You're not going to take every conversation and turn it to Jesus. Instead your focus is more on asking them real questions and truly listening to their answers and not just waiting for them to give their answers so you can talk next.
Please don't misread me, I am not saying that the Holy Spirit does not or will not work when you always bring up the gospel when you meet with unbelievers. I’m just saying that it can be a huge step for many people to actually be free from the illegitimate pressure to have to talk about Jesus for an evening so they can just just show people the welcoming love of God and love them deeply and well by mostly listening.
One final evangelistic method we see Paul using is called, “Public Forum Evangelism.” Paul would sometimes engage in public discussions on various topics as a means of bringing the gospel into the discussions. One of the most well-known times is recorded in Acts 17 when Paul met with philosophers at Mars Hill.
Following this method, some church planters have used the public platforms of book discussions at local bookstores to graciously, winsomely, and wisely bring the realities of the gospel into the discussions.