The Decline & Rise of Personal Evangelism

by   Dr. Michael Spradlin                                                                                                                                Vol. XII, No.3, March 1999

       President, Mid-America Seminary

Evangelism Defined

Evangelism, like the weather, is a subject that everybody talks about but few do anything about. Evangelism stands as the subject of books, articles, bulletin inserts, sermons, Sunday School lessons, TV shows, study materials, discipleship classes, revival emphases, conferences, and seminary classes. Yet, personal evangelism may be on the way out, a victim of apathy in a kinder, gentler Christian America. What is biblical evangelism and why has the information age diminished the communication of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? My interest in this subject is personal. I have helped start churches in the Midwest as a church planter missionary with the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. I have worked with Southern Baptists for three years in upstate New York. Also, I have served both the New York and the Tennessee Army National Guards as a North American Mission Board endorsed chaplain. So, I have had the opportunity to see our convention's work up close and to live and serve in several pioneer areas as well. My burden for personal evangelism grows out of my understanding of the Bible, my relationship with my Lord, and my excitement in being a part of what God is doing among Southern Baptists. I love souls, I love soulwinning, and I love soulwinners.

One of the best definitions of real evangelism comes from B. Gray Allison, evangelist and founding president of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. As he has taught in our Southern Baptist churches and classes for years, "Evangelism is to so present Jesus Christ to men that under the conviction, the inspiration, the leadership of the Holy Spirit they will confess their need of a Savior, repent of sin, trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and serve Him through one of His churches.”

As the Apostle Paul wrote, under the inspiration of the holy Spirit, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3-4 KJV). Isn’t it interesting that Paul gave the Corinthians this Gospel, the Good News, first? Paul knew the importance of relationships, but he built relationships around the Gospel.

Relationship Evangelism

A growing trend today is the area of relationship evangelism. The idea is that you cannot win whom you do not know. In fact a reaction is growing against what is commonly called "confrontational evangelism.” Some people are no longer comfortable with the term "soulwinner" because they think that it smacks of aggressive arm twisting and manipulation... (I wonder if making friends with an ulterior motive could be considered manipulation... ?). The caricature of someone going door-to-door cramming a Bible down someone's mouth is now scorned. n is that this is a reaction against something that is not happening. I do not know about your neighborhood, but mine is not flooded with Baptists trying to cram anything down my throat. Living in the Deep South, the Midwest, and in New York, I have rarely been witnessed to in my life by a Baptist. How about you?

Personally, I try to witness to an average of one person per week. It is a discipline I started in seminary and the Lord has used it in my life to help me be accountable and intentional in my personal witnessing. I have shared the Gospel the first time I met someone, and I have tried to befriend others with the hopes of sharing at a later time. I have found that sooner or later I must "confront" them with the Gospel. (Few people run up to me and say, "You're so distinctive, tell me about your religion.") I realized after several years that no evangelism exists without confrontation. I am concerned that some may be lulled to sleep by forever making friends but never presenting a verbal witness of the Lord Jesus. In some places, the peer pressure in our convention is no longer to be a personal soulwinner, but not to be one.

Why not lovingly share the Gospel with someone when you meet them and let the Gospel be the basis for your friendship. Not only is this a biblical pattern, but presenting the Gospel early is also responsible, truthful, and loving. I cannot presume that the person I meet will have a tomorrow, let alone that I have tomorrow to talk to them. Indeed, Scripture teaches us not to presume upon the future.

Let us assume that I will completely befriend someone each time before I share the Gospel. Since friends do not happen overnight, I can make about one new friend per year. If I do this for sixty years, then I will have sixty witnessing opportunities. If one-in-six of these people come to Christ, then the best that I can hope for is to lead ten people to the Lord in my lifetime. Say goodbye to the Great Commission.

"Relationship evangelism" ought to be building relationships with other soulwinners who will encourage you to witness faithfully. As you know, iron sharpens iron.

Evangelism Math

This year Southern Baptists will see an increase in two numbers: baptisms and baptismless churches. How ironic that as baptisms rise, so do the number of churches that do not baptize anyone in an entire year. Let us do a little evangelism math and see where we stand as a convention. Please note that these numbers are rough approximations for discussion purposes only.

First, almost 16 million Southern Baptists saw a little over 417,000 baptisms for the last year. It takes roughly 38 Southern Baptists one year to lead one person to Christ. For the sake of discussion assume that for every baptism recorded, Southern Baptists witnessed to six people. So last year over 2.5 million people heard the Gospel. A hundred million lost people in America would mean that it will take forty years to tell lost America the Gospel. Three billion lost in our world means that it will take 1,200 years to take the gospel to the world.

Two further notes, Southern Baptists are not the only ones taking the Gospel to the world and half of the members of Southern Baptist churches are not involved in church attendance let alone personal evangelism. A sad fact of today is that many pastors have given up on the church membership. They are looking for solutions that will grow and support a church in which most of the members do not come, are not committed, and will not evangelize.

Mathematically, our, great evangelistic convention may be losing some of its evangelism effectiveness. Even in this technological age, it will still be personal evangelism on some level that will turn these statistics around. Also, with the excellent resources available to Southern Baptist churches, this trend does not have to continue.

Personal Evangelism in Fact

Humble, gentle soulwinners are never depicted in the caricature of the Bible-toting argumentative, door knocking evangelists. Many Southern Baptists genuinely love the Lord, love lost people, and shed tears of concern for the lost who are on their way to Hell without Christ. No one can measure the impact of the humble Southern Baptist Sunday School teacher who has gone out with passion and purpose to win people to Christ. Untold thousands of Southern Baptists regularly share their faith with the lost. This mighty army of prayer warriors and soulwinners is one of the great assets of Southern Baptists.

Evangelism in the World

The good news is that our world is more winnable than at any time. The ratio of Christians to world population is better than it has ever been. More good news comes from Southern Baptists who, as a convention, can make an eternity's worth of impact in our world. When you see the number of Southern Baptists as a convention, the doctrinal commitments of Southern Baptists, the multitudes of trained ministers, and the incredible wealth of assets, then you quickly understand that God has poised our convention like no other.

Southern Baptists must embrace soulwinning. They must personally evangelize those they have contact with as they have never done before. We are talking about a God-sent, heaven-blessed, angel-rejoicing, Bible-centered, Holy Spirit-fired, Christ-honoring revival of personal soulwinning. We cannot think addition, we must think multiplication.

Evangelism Revival

The New Testament churches practiced personal evangelism not as something that was segmented in their church life, but they let it filter through the entire fabric of their ministries. These churches were marked by: (1) Holy Spirit empowered people; (2) biblical obedience; (3) fasting and prayer (even the Apostle Paul asked for prayer that he might be bold -- Ephesians 6:19); (4) passionate, personal soulwinning; and (5) bold Bible preaching.

Inconvenience and ridicule cannot stop us. We must go tell a lost and dying world that the Lord Jesus came to save sinners. We must take the inerrant Word of God and share the wonderful Gospel of Christ so that the lost can be redeemed and brought into the family of our precious Lord. My observation is that the Lord can greatly bless weak effort but that He does not do much with no effort.

As Dr. W. A. Criswell preached:

In the name of the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, Lord God Messiah, we are to evangelize the earth. No subordinate can countermand that commission. Contrary orders by kings and governments are null and void. The commission is mandatory, not optional. High mountains, deep oceans, wide deserts, starvation, shipwreck, death, are not to be excuses for not going. We are to preach the Gospel to every creature. The command is supreme and paramount, not incidental. There will be no other to take its place.