Going in Evangelism and Missions

Fulfilling the Great Commission

Week 1: What is the Great Commission and Who is responsible?

Week 2: Going in Evangelism and Missions

Week 3: Pre-conversion Discipleship

Week 4: Leading to Christ and Baptism

Week 5: Discipling a new believer

Week 6: Discipling towards maturity

Recap of our focus for this study:

Last Sunday night, we spent our time unfolding the What of the Great Commission and who it was for. We focused on Matthew 28:18-20 which as a reminder says,

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

We also looked at Acts 1:8, which is where I want us to start our time this evening. So, if you have your Bible, please go ahead and open to Acts 1:8. It says here (READ).

The earliest disciples of Jesus are being called to go out here with the power of the Holy Spirit and be witnesses of Jesus in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. It starts locally, and then spreads to regions nearby and eventually to the ends of the earth. And this is the model we see as the book of Acts goes on. Acts 1-7 is in Jerusalem, Acts 8-12 is in Judea and Samaria, and then Acts 13-28 is to the ends of the earth.

As I mentioned last week, we can’t all be everywhere at once. So the question left before us to think through and then look practically at this evening is where and how do we go as we begin our disciple making journey?

There are two terms that we will use tonight in thinking of going. These are the terms Evangelism and Missions. But how do we define these terms? I don’t want to leave it to chance that we are talking about the same thing in using these terms. So let me give us some working definitions to define both of these.

Evangelism

Let’s start by defining the term evangelism. I’m going to use the definition of a dear friend and brother in Christ, Mack Stiles from his book Evangelism. Mack defines evangelism with this simple definition: “Evangelism is teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade.” That’s it for the definition of evangelism. This is what I am referring to when I use the term evangelism. This is important, because notice how I don’t define evangelism. I’m not defining evangelism as a gospel conversation in which someone comes to faith. I’m not defining evangelism as persuading with manipulation or fear tactics. I’m defining evangelism as teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade.

But, what is the gospel that I am to teach? Here is my two minute gospel presentation:

GOSPEL…. GO!!!

I hope you saw that I spent most of my time telling of who God is and our need for redemption, only then did I turn to the hope we have in Jesus and a call for a response. This is how I pretty much share the gospel in all my evangelism opportunities. Here are the things to remember, our goal in evangelism then is to present a clear teaching of the gospel. Therefore the most important thing for us in evangelism is to know, understand, and be able to articulate the gospel.

Now, that thought may or may not scare one or all of you in needing to present a clear gospel. But, here is something I want you to think about: Is not the gospel the very foundation of our beliefs? Is not the gospel what we put our hopes in for salvation? Is not the gospel to be understood when we come to faith in Christ? If so, we each should be able to give a clear teaching of it. We should be able to tell who God is. We should be able to tell of the fall of man and how we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We should all be able to tell of God’s solution to this sin issue: Jesus. And that by Jesus coming as the God Man laid down his life to cover our sins, that he died, buried, and rose from the grave to give us victory in him. This is the gospel my dear brothers and sisters and may we never tire of telling it.

Make it a habit to practice being able to share a clear gospel in about 2 minutes or less. That is typically all we have time wise to share in.

But, I know the question came last week and is in the minds of many, how do we transition into sharing the gospel?

Here is some good practical tips in Evangelism conversation:

Explore (Getting to know the person)

Observing setting, mannerisms

Ask lots of questions about who they are, life, stories

Stimulate (Bridges to the gospel)

Personal opinion

Intellectual

Sports

Follow up of questions, this means listening well as you are exploring

Share

Testimony

Gospel

Can I get a volunteer to do a gospel role play conversation? (Model a bad and good method, start with bad).

Any questions so far on evangelism? (Allow to go as long as they have questions).

Mission

Now, having spent some time on evangelism, I want us to shift gears and consider the term missions. Missions like evangelism have different ways people have defined it. First, missions is not the goal, worship is. John Piper in his book Let the Nations be Glad says, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” And then Piper adds, “The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God.” So worship is the goal of missions, what is missions then?

Andy Johnson in his book, Missions, defines missions as this: I mean evangelism that takes the gospel across ethnic, linguistic, and geographic boundaries, that gathers churches, and teaches them to obey everything Jesus commended.” Or in combining these, we could say missions is the task of crossing ethnic, linguistic, and geographic boundaries to make disciples who worship and delight in the greatness of God. This includes the task of evangelism, church planting, and teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded.

Therefore, we are not doing missions if we are going to those who speak english and who are in the same geographic region and boundaries as we are. Missions is crossing boundaries for the intent of reaching people of the nations. Missions when I use the term, as well as when most in our Southern Baptist Culture are referring to this kind of task.

Now, having defined both evangelism and missions let’s think about the going of both of these. And the question that is often asked regarding evangelism and missions is, do we all have to go in both of these?

I actually want to challenge that type of thinking. Romans 1:16-17 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

The gospel is the power of salvation. It is this gospel that we know. How can we not go? The nations are in need of the gospel, for their knowledge of God is enough to damn them to hell. And the plan of God has called us to make disciples of all nations. We are therefore obligated to do our part in fulfilling this task of the Great Commission.

When it comes to evangelism, we all have an obligation to share the gospel with those in our midst. This going is to take place where we are, the circles we run in. It is to take place in our homes, our neighborhoods, in our city. Evangelism can take place wherever you are.

The reality that people around us are dying without hearing the gospel should wake us from our lethargy on this.

Think for a moment, there is no guarantee that any other believer is around some of these people. And if they do not know and believe the gospel, then they are headed to a Christless eternity in hell, to remain separated from God for all time. And yet, here we have the good news of Jesus. Who are we to withhold it from them? We must share the gospel in the task of evangelism.

Now, for the sake of missions, who is responsible for this task? Especially if there are some 7,432 people groups around the world who are considered unreached. That means they have not yet even heard the gospel. Unless someone goes to them, they will be born, live, and die apart from hearing the gospel of Jesus. This is the why of missions. These peoples do not worship God, and therefore we do missions to take them the gospel of Jesus.

So, are we all called to this part in fulfilling the Great Commission? YES! We are all called to be a part of missions, in sending the gospel to the nations. We do this by going with the gospel overseas or by sending missionaries.