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"Philip went to find Nathanael, and told him,
'We have met the man spoken of by Moses in the Law, and
by the prophets; it is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.'
John 1:45.
The Christian Faith is always for export. "Ourselves
Alone" may be an acceptable political slogan, it is a
totally wrong attitude for Christians. The good news of Jesus
Christ is to be shared. It is for everyone and addressed to
everyone. The invitation to have faith in God has had a threefold
pattern - the one with the many; they team with the crowd;
and the one with the other. The example is Jesus the preacher
with the crowd; Jesus and disciples and the crowd; Jesus in
person to person conversation.
Time has brought several other methods into
Christian communication to be used as additional and complementary
to the well-tested older ones when used effectively.
The outreach of the church by the gospel to
win people for Christ is evangelism. There is this still much
quoted definition by William Temple:
"To evangelise is so to present Christ
Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit that men shall come
to put their trust in God through Him, to accept Him as their
Saviour, and serve Him as their King in the fellowship of
His church."
Evangelism by preaching has always been integral
to the witness of the church to the person and power of Christ.
In preaching there is the recognition of the value of the
voice of the one sent of God to persuade people to respond
to Christ's claims on them for whole hearted devotion to Him.
There is the place for the preacher in the divine plan.
"In preaching God speaks, God acts,
God produces faith, God builds up the church, God uses the
words of His ministers as He used the words of the Apostles."
The efficacy of preaching has not been in
doubt since Jesus, Peter and Paul went preaching. Some explained
"God had one Son and He made Him a preacher."
The sermon remains important. It is the word
of God through the mind, heart and voice of the preacher to
the mind and heart of the listener. It is the dissemination
of "truth through personality."
Evangelism by the team was exemplified in the
witness of the apostle and disciples of Jesus who working
together brought many to faith in Christ. That is the reminder
that the church, minister and people, make a team with the
same aim and purpose. Their task is to bring people to faith
in Christ and into the fellowship of His church and to build
them up in their most holy faith. The church is not for itself,
but for others, not inlooking but outgoing in the service
of God and people.
This is the ideal, the proper function of the
church, but too often churches fall short of that ideal to
become uninspiring, off putting, in their presentation of
Christ with His promise of concrete blessings to all believers.
Evangelism, person to person, sometimes called conversational
evangelism, has always been effective for bringing Christ
to people. There are incidents of it in John 1:40-46.
Andrew persuaded his brother Simon to meet Jesus
face to face; Nathanael at first reluctantly responded to
Philip's come and meet with Jesus. The two knew Jesus and
were anxious for the others to know Him too. Nothing is more
compelling than the testimony from personal experience.
H A William's in "The True Wilderness"
says of himself:
"I resolved that I would not preach
about any aspect of Christian belief unless it had become
part of my own life-blood. For I realised that the Christian
truth I tried to proclaim would speak to those who listened
only to the degree in which it was an expression of my own
identity."
The one to one method of evangelism is effective
because it is a person telling a person what Christ means
to him. The practical Henry Drummond said:
"The longer I live the more confidence
I have in the sermon when one man is the preacher and one
is the congregation, when there is no question of what is
meant when the preacher says: "Thou art the man'."
One-to-one evangelism is never easy, for many
Christians find it difficult to put words to their deepest
feelings. Confidence in doing it comes from a deepened sense
of one's relationship with God and the strengthening which
comes from closeness with Christ.
There is the maxim: "The proclamation of
the Faith is the primary duty of the church." And the
church is Christians together and individually, one to one
in Christian work and witness.
Canon Dr. S.E. Long
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