Evangelism? Where Do We Go from Here?
By Roger Shepherd
America is paralyzed with great fear since 2020; however, some churches have maintained their evangelistic vision. Political strife and COVID–19 have produced doubt, unrest, and a loss of faith that God is in control. The preaching of the gospel can make America free. This is the significant work of evangelists. Therefore, there is a need to train preachers and evangelists. The Bible shaped the life and work of Patrick Henry, who realized that the gospel was shaping the identity of this new nation. His observation in 1765 before the Virginia House of Burgesses is valid: "It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, people of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here" (Christopher Lensch, "A Christian Patriot," 2). Where do we go from here?
Jesus made disciples serving the community of Galilee. He sought the lost at weddings, fellowships, funerals, hospital beds, friends, prisons, homes, and fishing (John 2:1f; Mark 1: 14–17). We should evangelize like Jesus and his disciples. We cannot be a stiff and teach people. We must not have any strings attached. People must be comfortable with us, and then, we can teach.
The growing church has a ministry of intentional evangelism to "make disciples" in every ethnic group (Matt. 28:19). Jesus instructed disciples to "preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15) and "proclaim a message of forgiveness to every ethnic group" (Luke 24:47). God "sent Jesus" and then he sends Christians today (John 20:21-23). Jesus also taught the apostles the importance of wisdom in winning souls on the limited commission (Matt.10:5–16).
The personal teaching ministry of Jesus started in Cana of Galilee, where he performed his first miracle (John 2:1; 4:46). Cana is identified as Kana (place of needs) a place eight or nine miles north of Nazareth, which lies on the direct road to the Sea of Galilee and twelve miles in a direct course from Tiberias. It is called "Cana of Galilee" to distinguish it from "Cana of Asher" toward Sidon (Josh. 19:28). Galilee means "Country of Gentiles." It was the birthplace of Nathanael (21:2). Cana near Nazareth, a small village in the province of Galilee, was the home of Jesus and a Roman village with a Jewish population that declined considerably in the Late Roman period and finally abandoned in the Byzantine Period. At the time of Jesus, it was a quiet, rustic, peaceful little tranquil place. The region was known for being a hotbed of political activity violently ruled by one of Herod's sons with heavy taxes (biblestudytools.com/cana). Then, in this time, they needed JESUS!
Galilee was a venue for a good deal of Jesus's ministry, the heart and soul of Jewish learning from the first and second century onward, one of the most beautiful landscapes of the entire Middle East region. The Jordan rift is the primary north-south dividing line that goes to Mount Hermon in the northeastern corner of the land of Israel and is the northernmost border of Galilee. The major east-west route that divides upper and lower Galilee. It was populated with ordinary working people: A place of commerce in Jesus's time, some historians believe his father Joseph may have found carpentry work here. Jesus and his family worked to make their world better (Eric Meyers, pbs.org). Like, in the movie "The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl", Max had many dreams of how he could escape until he was taught to stay in the real world and make it better in his dream. Many desire to escape the real world; however, the world will only get better with Christians teaching salvation in Jesus. In Galilee, Jesus and his disciples performed three successful ministries of evangelism (Matt. 4:23–5:1). In the New Year, where do we go from here?
First, TEACHING to explain truth in the synagogues (Luke 4:14–37). The synagogues were an assembly for the community for teaching, worship, and study. They were also a community center, school, and to hold court. The early church worshipped here, also in the home, and continued the same practice of living and teaching as a community in private homes (Acts 2:42–47). The early disciples were busy "every day, in the temple, and from house to house, teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ" (Acts 5:42).
Second, "PROCLAMING the gospel of the kingdom" with conviction and persuasion; preach the gospel as the authority binding upon sinners (Rom. 1:16–17); a herald sent from God (Rom. 10:13–18) the act of gospelize to change lives (Rom. 6:23) bringing eternal accountability to all who hear (2 Cor. 5:10).
Third, "HEALING every kind of disease and sickness among the people." Healing is the word therapeuo that is the most common Greek word for healing. It is the word from which we get the word therapy. It also means to serve or do service to another person (Matt. 20:28); cure or restore to health (Matt. 9:1–8); relieve hunger, disease, heal, and cure (Matt. 8:16–17; 15:32); and causes great stress relief through worshipping God. We heal the hearts of people through an outreach ministry and proclamation of the gospel.
Evangelism is a personal Bible study with a person who is seeking salvation in Christ. We have learned from the COVID experience that it is successful for each one teaches one. Many from the pew have learned that they can discuss Jesus with a friend, family member, or neighbor. When this continues, the church will grow, and America can remain free.
The restoration of evangelism begins with the prophets. The greatest example is Ezekiel, who possessed a new spirit and heart for personal teaching, which God commissioned to restore in Israel a new heart and spirit for his work by teaching the lost and the unfaithful believers (Ezek. 3:18–22). He warned the leaders of Israel to shepherd the flock of God and seek the lost (Ezek. 34:1–16).
Evangelism has always been a significant part of the Restoration Movement. Cecil J. Sharp (1924) taught: "By evangelism, we do not mean merely the conduct of revival or protracted meetings by professional evangelists. By evangelism, we do mean the use of the Word of God by every Christian to win to Christ as nearly as possible everyone who is unsaved. The thought needs to be restored and reemphasized that every minister of the gospel is an evangelist first and that second, every Christian is capable of being, and therefore, ought to be, a winner of souls to for Christ. One advantage of the plea is that an ordinary soul can teach it plainly and effectively. It does not require a professional nor a profound theologian to teach the way of life as given in the New Testament" (Evangelism, 39–42).
What is the lesson application? David "proclaimed glad tidings, grace, the righteousness of God and truth" (Ps. 40:9–10). Jesus taught publicly and one-on-one evangelism, successfully gaining many disciples (Matt. 19: 16–26; John 3:1–5).
