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Evangelism and its Urgency By Czar Evangelism is foundational to all Christian discipleship for it begins with conversion. And it is urgent because it is human activity God uses to bring about the transforming experience from which all else that is Christian flows. All discipleship and productive ministry begins here. Urgency is seen in the fact that both individuals and societies suffer untold losses and deprivation when evangelism fails. It is urgent, although it proceeds with a sensitive respect for persons and the utmost caution against running ahead of God or manipulating people. Fail to understand and to genuinely manifest urgency is to rob an essential part of its meaning and to minimize the effectiveness of the evangelism we do. David Howard a former director of World Evangelism Fellowship, said, “We’ve done a great job of getting people in the doors of the church, but we’ve found that too many of them existing at the back door.” Is lack of adequate or failure of Evangelism the cause why many leave out the back door and never come again? Too many are baptized but never make a commitment. Too many are playing a game tag with the Lord. In 1929 a missionary went to Guatemala and set out to villages where no Christians could be found. He preached and healed the sick for six nights. Every night he invited the people to come and receive Jesus Christ. Many came every night. He baptizes the new believers and go on to the next village. He writes his home church that supported him and tells his story. According to him it was unbelievable he was winning over five- thousand souls each year to Christ... After two years and one hundred village crusades, he decided to go back and visit those villages a second time. But to his amazement, all his converts had become ‘reverts’- they had all reverted back to their pagan practices and were not living their lives by the Bible. What’s wrong? Such kind of style in evangelism will not give lasting result. Yet strangely enough it is comprehended in practice today. The results is our spectacular emphasis on numbers of converts, candidates for baptism, and more number for the church, with no genuine Commitment to follows Christ through THICK and THIN. Some evangelism programs and witness style used extensively in the past, and some in use today, are based on false assumption that unsaved people are just waiting to hear the gospel. The overemphasis upon sudden conversion has obscured the fact that most people pass through a process of gradually increasing awareness that leads to decision. While some may pass through the process rapidly, a witness must not run ahead of the Holy Spirit. And persuading someone prematurely to accept Christ has the potential of erecting barriers between the prospect and God. Evangelism is concerned with the gospel of the kingdom. It will not offer cheap grace and false conversion. Salvation must not be made to sound easy; the basics facts and demand of the gospels are plain to them; the hard saying is not hidden. The revolutionary implication of being a part of God’s new community which demands an entirely new way of life now must be part of proclamation. If you preached a watered down, any way you want, however you feel gospel which make no costly demands and which fall to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then we can’t help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity…we have then forgotten that cross means rejection and shame as well as suffering. It is important for the witness to handle the word of truth accurately (2Tim. 2:15). Every witness is theologian. No one can explain God’s salvation without expressing theology, nor will anyone be a consistent witness without some solid theological convictions. It is not enough that witness understand who Jesus is or to say that he died for our sins, but also to declare the cost of following Jesus Christ. Our declaration should be saturated with the words of God. The witness should be courageous to speak the truth of the Scriptures clearly and openly for all to hear even if it is unpopular. Our wit and charm don’t aid the kingdom of God. The Lord doesn’t use gimmicks in order to get result, nor does He play on people’s emotion. He presents the plain, unvarnished truth of the gospel. In proclaiming the gospel Apostle Paul modeled rejection of deceit, he is unwilling to rely on cleverness; he refused to mishandle scripture and he reached out to touch everyone’s conscience (2Corinthians 4:1-6) Paul always realized that not all but some will respond or believe the gospel (2Corinthians 4:3-4) and he establishes the fact that the Christian life is not always “fantastic.” It involve tremendous suffering at times (11:23-27) Great crowd followed Christ wherever He goes, but when He speaks about the true spiritual reality of the kingdom and the sacrifice necessary in achieving it (John 6:25-59), many who followed Him “went back, and walked no more with him” (Jn 6:60). Jesus always preached hard, challenging and strong teaching. The surprising thing is that Jesus did not to running after them for His membership roll. Jesus is not trying to get a big CHURCH. Jesus wants SOME DISCIPLES! That’s how urgent our Evangelism. We are engaged in warfare, the issue of which is life and death, and every day that we are indifferent to our responsibilities is a day lost to the cause of Christ. Don’t make the evangelistic message palatable to modern people. It is radical message and calls for the conversion of heart, mind and will. The gospel demand constant repentance- a willingness to constantly change to be disciples. A serious question needs to be asked, “If a person is not a disciples, have they have been truly evangelized?”
Article Source: http://youth-ministry-resources.com
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