ENGAGE:The most effective evangelism tool? The one Christians will use

Posted: 1/18/08

ENGAGE:
The most effective evangelism tool?
The one Christians will use

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

ROCKWALL—The most effective evangelism tool for any Christian is the one he or she actually uses, speakers told participants at the Engage evangelism conference, sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

James Lankford, student ministry and evangelism specialist with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, said Christians have made evangelism seem complicated, creating an environment where laypeople don’t feel qualified to share their faith.

Jon Randles, evangelism director for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, told the Engage conference that Christians must be intentional about living evangelistic lives by seeking to build relationships with non-Christians and praying for people around them.

Leaders have come up with multitudes of classes to teach people, invented set presentations, created guidebooks and developed tools that can be used to convey the gospel, he observed.

The most effective evangelism method “is the one you actually use,” Lankford said. “Just do that one.”

“Don’t make it so structured that the only time we do evangelism is when we have a homework assignment. … We need to figure out how we can talk about religion outside of church. … We need to bring the gospel off the top shelf and put it down where everybody can grab it.”

Citing Jesus’ story of the farmer sowing seeds, Lankford said each follower of Christ already has what he or she needs to be evangelistic. Christians have a testimony of how Christ changed their lives. They simply need to feel a need to share it and be comfortable enough to follow through.

The gospel “is not just for professionals on closed courses,” he said. “It’s just a guy scattering seed.”

James Lankford, student ministry and evangelism specialist with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, reminded participants at the Engage conference that the best evangelistic gospel presentation is whichever one Christians actually use.

Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., affirmed Lankford’s sentiment as he shared the story of Hurricane Katrina flooding his church and home. Just as God brought Luter and his congregation through the storm, he pulls people through the trials of life, giving them a testimony about the power of Christ.

Even so, Jerry Pipes, director of event and personal evangelism at the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board, noted research indicates 95 percent of Baptists never lead someone else to faith. Between 75 percent and 85 percent of young people involved in evangelical congregations turn away from them at some point.

God sets divine appointments through which he can change lives, evangelist Jose Zayas told the Texas Baptists. God orchestrates the intersecting of people’s lives, but his followers must play an active role in being obedient.

If they’ll do that, miraculous events will take place, Zayas insisted.

“Wherever you are, you are there by design,” he said of ministers who follow God’s call upon their lives.

Jerry Pipes, director of personal and event evangelism at the North American Mission Board, tells participants at the Engage evangelism conference in Rockwall that the family should be the primary place of discipleship.

It’s at the intersection of two lives that one person can become significant to another, said Jon Randles, evangelism director for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. There, one person can serve as a conduit for God to pour himself into another person. One disciple of Christ creates another, who makes another and so on.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the most significant people are folks that you’ve never heard of,” he said.

Randles noted people must be intentional about living evangelistic lives by seeking to build relationships with non-Christians and praying for those around them.

Then, he added, churches must persevere in the work of putting together events that provide opportunities for people to get involved in congregations. While some have argued event evangelism doesn’t work, Randles said he sees people come to faith every week where he’s preaching a special church event.

For Christians to intersect the lost, they’re going to have to be intentional about knowing their community, said Gary Dyer, pastor of First Baptist Church in Midland. They need to understand the needs of people around them so they can address them physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Wayne Shuffield (left), director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Missions, Evangelism & Ministry Team, visits with (left to right) Jerry Raines, pastor of Hampton Road Baptist Church in Dallas; and Associate Minister Gary Jones and Pastor Oscar Epps, both from Community Missionary Baptist Church in DeSoto.

“We are servants,” Dyer said, citing the biblical story of the master inviting the community to a great banquet. “We are to obey our masters. He told us to go into the streets and the alleys. He told us to go into the country lanes.”

Dyer and Alex Himaya, senior pastor of the Church at Battle Creek in Tulsa, Okla., encouraged Texas Baptists to remain steadfast in their commitment to evangelism. When presented with the gospel, some people will find excuses not to follow Jesus. But Christians are commanded to continue sowing the seed of the gospel wherever they go. God honors the actions of those who follow his commands.

“You don’t flirt with Jesus,” Himaya said. “You don’t date Jesus. And by the way, you don’t flirt with evangelism. You don’t date evangelism. It’s a marriage.”

Steve Keenum, area president of Big Country Fellowship of Christian Athletes gives a testimony at the Engage evangelism conference about how God uses events to bring people to Christ.

Himaya particularly challenged Texas Baptists to make sure their churches are places where “people who have a past” feel welcome and where they experience God’s grace.

“To allow people to run from God because they think we will judge them is to run from the One who took their punishment,” he said.

“Preparing the soil” for the seed of the gospel to take root “means loving people” as they are, Himaya stressed.

“You don’t have to change your character. You don’t have to change your standard,” he said. “You do have to love people.”

With additional reporting by Managing Editor Ken Camp