Youth Ministry Session 1

Intro -

Ask each student to share their testimony.

Did a youth pastor or youth worker have an impact on you?

Share abut Jon Elder

As I look back, I don’t remember a single lesson or talk that Jon or anyone else taught. I do remember that he took time with us and made Jesus relevant to me right where I was. Jon spent time with my friends and I and he earned the right to confront us with the Gospel. I think this is missing in evangelism today. We tend to be program driven and not relationship driven. Most evangelism programs are canned and if someone turns down our sales pitch, we go on to the next person. What we need is more of what I call, Responsible Evangelism.

What is Responsible Youth Evangelism?

What I am calling Responsible Evangelism is different than most evangelism programs because it is a relational approach to evangelism. It’s relationship evangelism. We are to build relationships with people with the intention of sharing the Good News of Jesus with them.

Most people believe that Evangelism begins with the Great Commission when Jesus told his followers to go and make disciples. Responsible evangelism actually begins before the Great Commission. It flows out of the Great Commandment in

Matthew 22:37–40 NLT

37 Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Matt

Responsible Evangelism flows out of love for God and love for others. The Lord wants us to love Him above everything else and with everything in us. Then He says that because of this love for the Lord, we are to love others as we love ourselves. Our love for others flows from the love that the Lord places inside us. We are basically to love people into a living and personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

How have any of you been impacted by someone loving you towards salvation?

Because we love the Lord and others, we tell others about the great love that God has for them. Because of this love, we can fulfill the Great Commission Jesus gave us just before he went up into heaven.

Matthew 28:18–20 NLT

18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus gives us a clear command that we are all evangelists. Today, many people call themselves evangelists and us that title or office to go around and take up great offerings into the coffers of their ministries. Their idea of evangelism is to have people raise their hands that they had prayed the sinner’s prayer. They get their show of hands and publish how many people accepted the Lord that night.

Evangelism is much much more than that.

When I was with YFC, our mission statement was...

To participate in the body of Christ in the responsible evangelism of youth, presenting them with the person, work and teachings of Christ, discipling them, and leading them into the local church.

From an individual perspective, or even a church perspective, we all are supposed to participate in responsible evangelism. None of us can do it alone, we have to work within the whole body of Christ. Too many ministries act and talk like they are the only ones doing evangelism. We need to work together in Responsible Evangelism.

Responsible Evangelism is not presenting the gospel, asking for a show of hands and then leaving. Responsible Evangelism is an approach that includes the following principals that will fulfill he Great Commission to make Disciples.

The six principles are: Maximum influence; Person centeredness; Spirit-led boldness; Multiplication; Long term concern & Follow through care.

We are to go and make disciples because we love the Lord and others.

Far too many people seem to evangelize out of obligation. They want to beat the “hell” out of someone. Jesus style evangelism flowed out of his love for others and he extended forgiveness to everyone he came in contact with.

Responsible Evangelism is relational.

Underlying any and all Responsible Evangelism are the following six basic principles.

Foundational Principals of Evangelism

I don’t know about you, but I have seen my share of horrible evangelism. Bad can range from button holing everyone that comes within arms reach of us to never asking anyone to give their lives to Jesus. I remember a church some friends of mine and I visited after becoming Christians. We had long hair at the time and probably looked like good prospects. A deacon came and stood by our row while they sang 100 verses of “Just as I am…” He kept looking at us and encouraging us to get up and walk the aisle. That wasn’t a pleasant experience. I am a strong believer in what I will call Responsible Evangelism.

There are six principles that form the foundation Responsible Evangelism. Each of us will feel more comfortable with one or more of these principles than someone else, but any attempt at Evangelism with only one or two of the 6 principals will be un-balanced. For instance, if we just measured our success by numbers of those who give their lives to the Lord, we would probably be twisting many arms or making people feel so guilty they would give heir lives to Christ. People would raise their hands and we would quickly count them so we could talk about how many people gave their lives to Christ because of our ministry. I took a course in door-to-door evangelism to make myself bolder. The course helped me, but the script was just that – a script to back a non-Christian into a corner so they would have to accept Christ. I had so many doors closed in my face that my nose was flattened. On the other hand from the time I became a Christian in 1973 to the time I visited a church in New Orleans in 1986, no one ever asked me if I had a relationship with Jesus Christ. I had been to many Christian events and churches, but no one ever bothered to make sure I was a believer.

Let’s look at the foundations to effective and responsible evangelism.

Maximum Influence

Matthew 5:13–16 NLT

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Matt 5:13-

When Jesus lived and walked on earth, he could not be ignored.

He and His ministry were visible, relevant and people could not ignore him because His ministry changed lives. In this passage, Jesus tells us that neither his message of hope and love nor us, his people should be able to be ignored. If we are living as salt and light we will not be ignored.

Salt & Light have many qualities that we need to exhibit in society.

What are some of the qualities of Salt?

Salt provides traction on slippery roads. Just like salt, we need to provide moral traction in the many issues we face today. Salt also provides flavor for food. If it were not for salt, most of us would be thinner than we are because salt is what makes food good. We are the flavor for Christ because we are who people will see and associate with Christ. Salt also makes people thirsty. If you don’t believe this, eat a bag of chips and see. We should live our live in such a way that people are drawn to us. When I gave my life to Christ, I didn’t do it to escape hell or go to heaven. I gave my life to Christ because I wanted in my life what Jon had in his life – the peace and joy of the Lord.

What are some of the qualities of light?.

We should shed light on the dark places. Light chases away darkness. Most people don’t want to commit crime in the broad day light, they do it in the dark. My job is to light the way to Jesus. When we live like Salt and light, we will not be able to be ignored.

Unfortunately, the church today has become irrelevant to society and we are not even consulted when moral or ethical decisions need to be made. Like salt, we are to penetrate every aspect of society and create a thirst for Christ and light the way to Him.

Maximum Influence is simply finding the fastest way to influence the most people the most effectively.

The principle of Maximum Influence includes the following three aspects: Mass Exposure to the Gospel; Going for Strategic People and getting the Gospel to diverse people groups.

Mass Exposure

Mass Exposure to the Gospel involves presenting the gospel to large numbers of people at the same time.

Peter and Paul preached to large crowds in the New Testament Days and saw 5,000 give their lives to Christ in one afternoon. For over 60 years, Billy Graham has preached to large Stadiums full of people and seen millions of people give their lives to Jesus Christ. Today, Franklin Graham is using technology to do mass presentations of the Gospel to people in countries where crusades are not allowed. TV pastors like Joel Osteen reach thousands each week through their televised church services.

Over the years in youth evangelism, we did a lot of different Mass Exposure events.

One year YFC did a “Fear Factor” event for some middle school students. We had all sorts of give-away items like DVD players and X-boxes as well as coupons for restaurants and movies. We had over 400 kids come out to the event. They came for the fun of the “fear factor” and to win prizes, but they heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. Many gave their lives to Christ that night, but many more gave their lives to Christ in the coming weeks in Campus Life Clubs.

Mass Exposure events are great opportunities to expose a large number of people to the Gospel and to your ministry. After an event like the Fear Factor, our Campus Life Club Attendance increased significantly. The same holds true of Mass Exposure events like a special church service such as Mother’s Day, Christmas or Easter. If we draw a big crowd, some of the attenders will come back the next week as long as we invite them back and make them feel welcome while they are at the event

Going for Strategic People

Going for strategic people involves finding the influencers and targeting them because they will influence others for Christ. Tim Tebow is a great example of this. When Football Stars like … gives all of the glory to Jesus win or lose, it influences others that might not otherwise listen. A large number of people attended a Parish Presidents Prayer dinner in Jefferson parish one year to hear the owner of an NFL football team share how he became rich in business. They heard that story but they also heard the story of how he gave his life to Christ because being a billionaire was miserable without Christ. John Maxwell has had a great ministry in reaching businessmen who are influencers. These men will influence many people for Christ once they are committed to Him.

Strategic people influence others who would not normally listen.

In Campus Ministry, you might target the football star or some other leader on campus. One year, we targeted a gang leader. When he gave his life to Christ, several of his gang did as well and the gang just kind of disintegrated.

Years ago in Rome GA there was another gang that was very violent and destructive to property. The leader of the gang was a former football player from my old high school who had gone on to University of Alabama on a football scholarship. Now he had dropped out and was leading this gang and stealing people’s stuff as well as selling drugs. One man, a pastor who used to go and watch the team practice and then give some for the guys rides home knew him well enough to confront him. The pastor picked him up and took him to his house for dinner and ended up leading him to a relationship with Jesus Christ and ending the gang. The young man not only ended the gang but also went back to college.

Millions of people listened when former President George W Bush shared how a relationship with Jesus Christ brought him out of alcoholism. Millions bought his book telling his faith testimony. There are strategic people in every people group whether it is in a school, a business, government or a hospital that need to be targeted and lead to Christ so they can impact those around them whether it is a few people, a business, an industry or the world.

Reaches Diverse Groups of People

Maximum Influence also reaches diverse groups of people. Every entity (school, business, etc) has different people groups. These groups might be defined by race, gender or ethnicity. People groups are also defined by interests and culture. An effective evangelism strategy is going to intentionally attempt to reach every people group in the target area. One year, a Campus Life Club was made up of urban kids; green haired kids; athletes; band members and normal kids. It was multicultural to the max. The Gospel is for every one of these groups and more.

There are a lot of good campus ministries, but most of them target one type of young person. A good ministry intentionally targeted all of the groups on campus. FCA or Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a great organization, but it targets a specific group - Christian Athletes.

Other organizations are totally built on the gifts of the individual leading the group and reach only that group. A friend of mine is a rapper – guess who he reaches? Kids who love rap. As big as this group is, you have to target all of the groups ot reach the campus. In our Campus Life clubs, we trained our staff to reach beyond their comfort zones to reach out to all groups. We also recruited different personalities that could naturally fit into various groups. Where there wasn’t a natural fit, they studied the culture and learned to relate. That’s what missionaries do and if we are going to practice responsible evangelism, that is what we must do. We have to reach all of the people groups in our society.

Responsible Evangelism is a relational approach so we must build relationships with the people we want to reach.

This is true at every level. When speaking, there are things a speaker tries to do to build a relationship with the audience. One thing I have found to be effective with everyone. When they know I love them, they become receptive. My motives for evangelism must flow from love.

The first principle in responsible evangelism is Maximum Influence, which finds the fastest way to reach the most people in the most effective way. It involves mass exposure to the gospel, going for strategic people and reaching every people group.

Person Centeredness

While it is fun to speak to large groups, Responsible Evangelism is also person centered. It meets the felt needs of the people we are trying to reach with the Gospel. The same God who believes in reaching large crowds also wants us to approach one person at a time presenting the Gospel to them individually, based on their particular needs.

In , Jesus spent time getting though to one woman.

In , Jesus says that he cared more of the one lost sheep than the 99 safe ones and because of that he would go looking for the one.

Jesus was person centered and he met people where they were.

In , he reached an academic named Nicodemus. Nicodemus wanted to know how to be saved so Jesus told him he had to be born again. For a smart guy, this was a tough concept for him to grasp.

In , he reached a woman with a life full of hurts and broken promises. He offered her forgiveness and it changed her life forever. Jesus always started where the person was and brought them where He knew they needed to be.

In person-centered evangelism, our target will determine our method of reaching them, but never our message.

In the early days of Youth for Christ, Billy Graham and the others with him used a slogan to describe this approach. They said they were “Geared to the Times, but Anchored to the Rock.” Person Centered evangelism doesn’t change the message, only our strategy.

When Paul was in front of Jews, he spoke like he was a Jew and quoted the writings of the Old Testament. When he was in Greece, he spoke as if he were a Greek sharing the Gospel in terms they understood.

One thing that is constant through out person-centered evangelism is that we love the ones we are trying to reach.

Over and over again, we read in the New Testament that Jesus had compassion on them… People have to see love in us and love coming out of us or they will turn us off like a switch. I have teenagers come to me over the years and ask me, “If I don’t accept your Jesus, will you still be my friend.” My answer has always been yes. That’s what is has to be. If it’s not, we will not reach anyone effectively.

With love being the underlying thing that flows through us, person-centered evangelism consist of the following three things.

Person-centered evangelism consist of the following three things.

The first, that we operate in their world not ours.

This is called incarnational evangelism. God didn’t throw down a brick with the Gospel. He didn’t use a megaphone and yell to us. Jesus left heaven and came and lived with us as a person so he could reach us.

John 1:14 NLT

14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

Jesus came into our world and lived as one of us. He experienced the things we experienced. He faced the same temptations we face. He was betrayed just like we sometimes are. He knows our experiences and He effectively meets our needs.

If we are going to effectively reach people for Christ, we have to be willing to go into their world.

To reach young people, we have to go into a foreign mission field called schools. If you don’t believe this is a foreign mission field, go visit one. I remember the year after I graduated and went back to a high school as a young Campus Life staff guy, I realized, I was an outsider. I was no longer a natural part of the culture. I was entering into the current students’ world and culture and it was different than mine.

To effectively go into this world, missionaries must go into every aspect of the school. That’s why my staff always went to school plays, concerts, sports games and practices. We went anywhere students were going to be. We have to go into their world.

A friend of mine does the same thing in the business world. He visits men at their places of business, at their business functions etc. to reach them effectively with the Gospel.

The second part of person-centered evangelism is we speak to their needs

The second part of person-centered evangelism is we speak to their needs. Effective evangelism is felt need evangelism. Jesus practiced this over and over again. He fed people who were hungry. He healed people who were sick. He delivered people who were demon possessed. He met felt needs and then changed their lives with the Gospel.

Person-centered evangelism finds out where people are hurting and applies the medicine of Jesus Christ right there where it hurts. We want to see healing not just give a shot. We want to see lives changed not just someone raising a hand and filling out a card.

Churches that have grasped hold of this principle are growing while others are not. Too many churches want to preach an intellectually fine sounding sermons and effectively see lives changed. Growing churches are feeding the hungry; visiting the sick; visiting the men and women in prison; helping become free from hurts, habits and hang ups; helping the poor, etc. They are meeting felt needs.

Person-centered evangelism also begins tat their starting point

Person-centered evangelism also begins tat their starting point. Paul modeled this perfectly. He said:

1 Corinthians 9:20–22 NLT

20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. 21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. 22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.

Tell me what you see here strategy wise.

Paul never changed his message, but he changed his approach with everyone he met. When he appeared before Jews, he would share about the long and rich Jewish heritage. When he was in front of the Greeks, he didn’t quote one scripture, he used their culture and then told them who Jesus was.

I remember a young girl who came up to me after an assembly where I spoke on anger and controlling your temper. She told me she was angry at her dad. He had come back into her life after years of not being there and he had just left again without even telling her good-bye. She was hurting and we started at that point of hurt. I shared how Jesus knew that kind of hurt and how He could take that hurt and heal it. She gave her heart to the Lord that day and began going to a youth group with her friend. God did take and heal that hurt. We have to take the Gospel to the place of need of the people we are sharing with.

Responsible Evangelism is always person centered operating in their world, meeting their needs and beginning with their starting point.

Responsible Evangelism is Spirit Led in Boldness

1 thess

1 Thessalonians 2:3–4 NLT

3 So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. 4 For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.

Describe what you think Spirit led boldness is.

Spirit Led Boldness is not buttonholing or being pushy sales people. It’s being led by God to opportunities He has prepared for us to share his wonderful Gospel. It is not going around telling everyone we can come into arms reach of and telling them the four points of the gospel.

One of the things that we have got to learn in ministry is that we cannot and will not reach everyone. Jesus didn’t reach everyone and He was the Son of God. If you read through the New Testament, you will see that those who Jesus did not reach out numbered those he did reach. He, more than anyone, was led by the Spirit of God to touch those whom the Father had prepared for him to touch. One time Paul wanted to go to a particular region, but the Holy Spirit changed his direction. Paul and those in the New Testament were not mindless fanatics going all over the place like crazy grabbing hold of people to tell them about Jesus. They shared with the people the Father led them to or whom he led to them.

When we pray for opportunities to share the life changing love of Jesus, God will open the doors for us to speak to people just like he did in the New Testament church with Peter when he was sent to Cornelius and others.

I have seen many youth pastors; pastors and youth evangelists accept substitutes for effectively presenting the Gospel.

We have to guard against accepting the excitement in a crowd as acceptance of the Gospel.

When we are speaking, it is easy to be fooled by crowd excitement. We can be fooled when they are talking about us, our church or our ministry.

One year, one of our clubs was the largest club on a local high school campus. That may sound good and it would be easy for us to feel like we were hitting a home run. The club reached about 150 kids per week, but the school had over 2,000 students there. We had a long way to go. Excitement is important, but it is not the end in itself.

We also have to guard against just building relationships and developing good rapport with people. We build relationships for a purpose.

One time I asked one of my staff, how his club went and he responded by telling me that it went great, they loved him. It’s not about getting people, or in his case teens, to love us. It’s about getting them to love the Jesus Christ.

We can’t be afraid to confront a person with the Gospel when the appropriate time comes, and that time will come. God will give us opportunities. One time while I was in hospital management, someone asked me why I was not freaking out over some inspections we were going through. I was able to share how God was leading me and giving me peace. Sometimes when we share this, it will cause people to not like us. Another time, I was asked one time why I would not falsify some reports for the same inspection and I responded that I could not do that because I had to answer to the Lord for my actions. My superiors were not happy at that response, but they knew I was a person they could trust. We have to be willing to have people not like us if we are going to effectively share the Gospel.

We also have to guard against the temptation to be very general with the Gospel. Jesus doesn’t just want to be our friend; he wants to be our Lord and Savior, the master of our life. The Gospel calls for repentance. Spirit led boldness doesn’t fear rejection because the ultimate failure in evangelism is not someone rejecting Jesus; it’s not giving them anything to reject or accept.

Responsible Evangelism uses Multiplication

Responsible Evangelism also uses multiplication instead of the addition method. Paul was sitting in prison writing to Timothy while he was waiting to be executed. He wrote...

2 Timothy 2:2 NLT

2 You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.

Paul had poured his life into Timothy and now he is telling Timothy to teach others what he knows so they can go teach others. In other words, lead someone to Christ, disciple him and teach him to lead others to Christ.

Multiplication leads a person to Christ, disciples them and teaches them to lead others to Christ.

We want to lead someone to Christ and train them to be and do what we are doing. Then they will go out and win someone that they will train up to be and do what they are doing while I do the same thing. That’s multiplication.

ILL - If I lead one person to Christ and train him up to where he can go and lead someone to Christ. Now there are two of us. We both then go out and lead someone to Christ and train him or her. Now there are four of us who go out and lead someone to Christ and train him or her. Now there are eight of us who all go out and win one to Christ and train him or her up. Now there are 16 and on and on it goes.

Too often, we see people who are great “soul winners” on their own, but they don’t follow through on new converts or disciple them into doing what they have been doing. They set up shop and lead as many people to Christ as they can, but never train others to do the same. I have known pastors who were great soul winners but no one in their church was because these men never discipled the new converts. They saw them as “souls” and not disciples. This method racks up great numbers of people giving their lives to Christ at first.

Multiplication takes longer, but it will catch the addition method and take the lead dramatically. The multiplication method allows us the freedom to disciple people into becoming disciples. This is what Jesus did. It is what Paul did. It’s what the Billy Graham Association has done as well.

Billy Graham Crusades are great Mass Exposure events, but they are also person centered and very organized in the area of follow-up. Most people that come to a Crusade come because a friend brought them. BGEA trains hundreds of volunteers from area churches to do follow up and gives all of the contact information of new converts to area churches to be followed up on.

Multiplication occurs when we train the new believers up to some maturity and teach them to go out and make disciples.

Responsible Evangelism shows Long‑Term Concern

Kids want to know, If I don’t accept your Jesus, will you still be my friend?

The answer had better be yes. Person Centeredness means we keep on caring regardless of a person’s response to the Gospel. Long Term concern means we are persistent in our love and caring for people. We can never take an attitude that would say, “This one rejected the Gospel – forget him – next.” Our attitude has to be one that continues caring; continues trying to reach them with the Gospel.

I once knew a pastor who prayed for 17 years for the husband of a church member. He showed long term concern for this man and one day that man walked down the aisle of the church a gave his life to Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:9 NLT

9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

This doesn’t mean that God wants us to wait to make the presentation. We had better not do that; we must give people the opportunity to hear the Good News. But we must also be willing to patiently wait for a response.

People today have so many misconceptions about God, and many people when we tell them about Christ will take an attitude of, “I’ll watch you for a while to see if it’s really real.”

When they eventually decide yes, there is an interesting side benefit. They are born into the kingdom of God already knowing a lot about being a Christian. Often the people that take more time to decide make a more solid decision for Christ.

We need to plan and work for the long haul. For example, when the a ministry goes into a school, we intend to be there for years, not just today. We worked hard for years to build trust with the school system and with the young people. Typically, we would kick the year off with an event and a couple hundred students show up. Why don't we exercise our boldness and hit them quick with the Gospel? That would be trickery. Even if a few would respond, many would say, "I came to eat pizza, and I got preached at." At the event we explain that for the rest of the year we are going to talk about how Christ relates to all areas of our lives, but that's about all.

School assemblies are another good example. We had to resist the temptation to lay out the entire Gospel even though it would have fulfilled the principle of maximum influence. Why? If we did that, it would limit future opportunities at that school, and probably others, because we betrayed the principal's trust.

In my old hometown, FCA did a school assembly for the entire school. The speaker got excited and misread the excitement in the crowd and gave an invitation to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at a Public School Assembly program. The result was that every ministry was kicked off of every school campus in the entire county for four years. That means that a freshman would enter the school with no Christian Clubs present and graduate with no Christian Clubs because someone was bold, but not Spirit led.

I always worked hard to build trust in the school administration. As one principal put it, "Campus Life staff act like they want to come back tomorrow." We do want to come back tomorrow and the day after that and so on.

We must be credible and authentic over the long haul and be there when a person is ready to make his or her decision to follow Jesus.

Responsible Evangelism includes Follow Through Care

Colossians 1:28 NLT

28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.

In the Great Commission, Jesus asked for more than just going and telling; He also said, "make disciples." This requires a ministry on several levels. It would appear that Jesus touched at least three.

First, He made disciples of only twelve men, working intensely night and day with them.

Secondly, He had a relational ministry with a slightly larger circle: Mary Magdalene, Lazarus, Mary and Martha, the Emmaus people, possibly the 70. They all knew Him and had the advantage of personal contact with Him.

He touched the third group‑‑the masses‑‑in an even more limited way. About all He could do was stand up in front of them and say, "Here's my message; I hope some of you will accept it." We cannot afford the luxury of only discipling in the size of group we feel most comfortable. To be responsible and most effective we must minister on all three levels.

We also have to understand that as good as we often think we are, we will not be better than Jesus at making disciples. So with that said, we will only deeply impact 10 to 12 people. We will impact a larger group of perhaps 70 to 100. We will also influence hundreds in a large setting.

Follow-through care, if you are in a para-church organization, means discipling them into a church. Babies need families and Christians need a church family. My job is to plug any new believer I lead to Christ into a church. The follow-up plan we had in YFC included 6 one on one meetings with a new believer and included taking the new believer to church at least twice.

We must show that we understand that pediatrics is as important as obstetrics. We have historically been better at delivering spiritual babies than in caring for them afterwards. That is irresponsible. We must not abandon these newborn babies on the delivery table.

Responsible Evangelism will be effective when it includes these six principles. These principles form the foundation to everything else in the area of evangelism. When we think of a campaign or a crusade or a revival we have to ask if it includes these 6 principles of evangelism.