Evangelism Winning The Lost Becoming Fishers of Men

Evangelism…  More Than What You May Think!

In his book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer quotes from the 1919 Archbishops Committee on the evangelistic work of the church, To evangelize, declared the Committee, “is so to present Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, that men shall come to put their trust in God through Him, to accept Him as their Savior, and serve Him as their King in the fellowship of His Church.[1]”

What a powerful statement. Note the clarity of the charge. This is not a mere casual mention of Christ or the need to attend church but a revolutionary statement demanding that one’s life be turned over completely to God. He becomes their King!

When speaking of the ministry of the Apostle Paul; who saw himself as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus, a slave, a servant, a herald, Packer offers these thoughts; “Hence, on the one hand, his (Paul’s) sustained boldness and unshakeable sense of authority in face of ridicule and indifference; hence, on the other hand, his intransigent refusal to modify his message in order to suit circumstances. These two things, of course, were connected, for Paul could regard himself as speaking with Christ’s authority only as long as he remained faithful to the terms of his commission and said neither less nor more that he had been given to say.[2]”

And lastly, Packer summarizes his chapter on Evangelism with these thoughts, “Evangelizing, therefore, is not simply a matter of teaching, and instructing, and imparting information to the mind. There is more to it than that. Evangelizing includes the endeavor to elicit a response to the truth taught. It is communication with a view to conversion. It is a matter, not merely of informing, but also of inviting. It is an attempt to gain, or win, or catch, our fellow-men.[3]”

This brings me to the meat of this writing, fishing for men.

Evangelism?  Majority of Christians Are Not Soul Winners

Most Christians by and large are not soul winners.

That being said, it should not come as a surprise as this is a statistical reality. According to research, only 3% – 10% of all members have the “gift of Evangelism.” These people, with the gift, have a “burn” to win souls.

The reality of the numbers indicates that the other 90%-97% do not have a burning desire to win souls. Let’s translate that into real numbers.

Let’s say you have a congregation of 50 people. Using the high end of the statistical estimate (10%) that would mean that there are 5 people in the congregation who; according to Larry Gilbert are “constantly consumed with the need of confronting sinners with the gospel or encouraging other Christians to do the same.[4]”

Gilbert  goes on to make this observation on the difference or role between those with the gift of Evangelism and the rest who have the Biblical mandate to witness; “the largest difference in the function of these two groups is the methods, not the results of each. The witness has the responsibility to take advantage of the opportunities God provides for him to actively present the Gospel, while the evangelist has the responsibility to make opportunities for himself.[5]”

Further he states, “The real problem is that only five percent of those with the gift of evangelism are actually leading people to Christ.” “The problem occurs when the blame is placed on the ninety-nine and one-half percent for not evangelizing. The blame should be put on the ninety-five percent of the gifted evangelists who are not fulfilling their mission and calling. They are the ones God has called to do the job.[6]”

How Do I Increase Evangelism?

If this is true, our efforts to increase evangelism efforts would be to identify, encourage and train those members, albeit five of them, to exercise their spiritual giftedness.

Next, experienced fisherman know that in the lakes, streams, brooks, ponds, rivers, seas and oceans there are a multitude of fish. In fact, there are over 29,000 species of fish. Now, these fish respond differently depending on the kind of bait used.

There are varied techniques applied to fishing depending on the type of fish you want to catch, their location (stream, river, lake, ocean), the type of water (fresh water or salt water) the time of day or night, their location in the water (trout vs. catfish), and your experience as a fisherman.

Also, there is a difference between the weekend fisherman who fishes his local streams and lakes and the professional fisherman who may own his own boat and fish commercially and then there are the fleet commercial fishers.

From one end of the spectrum to the other, different tactics are employed to successfully harvest fish.

I submit, that successful ministries in addition to prayer, fasting and study of scripture, learn the nature of the fish they are after and like the successful fisherman, use the correct bait, timing and nets to attract and harvest the fish they’re after.

What kind of fish are we after? What kind of bait will they respond to? When is the best time to fish for them?

To answer these questions is to begin a successful campaign at winning the lost.

I close these thoughts with a quote from the Art of War by Sun Tzu. “The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.”

Related articles

• An alternative to cold evangelism (savouringthegospel.wordpress.com)
• Evangelism Defined Simply (trinitytuscaloosa.wordpress.com)
• THE GOSPEL AND PERSONAL EVANGELISM – Mark Dever (2007) (baldreformer.wordpress.com)