Layman Evangelism
Ministry Book Series

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STUDENT TESTIMONIES

1 Corinthians 9:11
"If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you?"

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THE TEACHING OF
BIBLICAL DOCTRINE

Robert L. Hart writes concerning the design of a Lay Evangelism Program,

"Evangelism with the whole Gospel—not by one facet alone. This principle implies an understanding of conversion, discipleship and nurture. In other words, each Christian Evangelist must have a mature and Biblical understanding of what the Gospel is."

The first requirement to be an effective Christian witness is the study of Biblical doctrine in the areas of Evangelism, Salvation, Discipleship, and Apologetics. Paul the Apostle commands us in 2 Timothy 2:15 that we are to study to ". . . present ourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth."

Concerning EVANGELISM Jesus said,

"Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to You, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest." (John 4:35)

In this passage Jesus tells us that the time for Evangelism is always now. Paul wrote,

"And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—for He says, ‘At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you'; behold, NOW is ‘the acceptable time,' behold, NOW is ‘The day of salvation.'" (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

Paul explains to us that the acceptable time for people to come to Salvation in Christ is NOW!; therefore, the time for Evangelism is always NOW? The only way men and women can come to saving faith in Jesus Christ is when we take time in our weeks to go out and share the love of Jesus Christ with them. Solomon wrote, "He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap" (Ecclesiastes 11:4). In order to bring men and women to Jesus we must sow, water, fertilize and weed and the only way this is done is when we plan and make time to go out and share the love of Jesus Christ with men; otherwise, Solomon says if we don't sow, we won't reap. Jesus said the time for Evangelism is NOW!

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. GO THEREFORE and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" (Matthew 28:18-20)

Concerning SALVATION Paul told Timothy,

"Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things; for as you do this you will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you." (1 Tim 4:16).

Dr. Bill Bright in his book, How You Can Be Sure You Are A Christian tells us that the salvation experience involves the intellect, will, and then emotions. In order to respond to the Gospel a person must first understand what the Gospel is clearly, intellectually. Therefore in order to lead a person into salvation we must first have a clear understanding of what the basic message of the Gospel is.
Evangelism is explaining to a person what it means to be a Christian and how to become one. Often times the reason Christian Laymen are not able to lead others to Christ is because they cannot articulate what it means to be a Christian and how to become one. This is the first job of Training in Evangelism. This is what led James Kennedy to develop Evangelism Explosion. He told his congregation they needed to get out and share their faith. The problem was they did not know how. In answer to the problem James Kennedy fulfilled his calling in Ephesians 4:11-13 by developing a program of Evangelism called Evangelism Explosion to teach them how to. The end result is that not only his Church but hundreds of Churches using his program all over the country and the world have led thousands of men and women to Christ because the Laymen have been trained how too.
Paul commands us in 1 Timothy 4:16 to know clearly what constitutes salvation not only to assure our own but in order to assure the salvation of the person we are witnessing too. Therefore any effective Program of Evangelism must first start with training the individual in what the Gospel is and then how to communicate it to others.

Concerning DISCIPLESHIP Jesus commanded,

"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and MAKE DISCIPLES of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matt 28:18-20).

Evangelism is not just explaining to a person what it means to be a Christian and how to become one, but once they accept Jesus, it is then teaching them what it means to be Jesus' Disciple.
This leads us to two questions: What does it mean to be Jesus' disciple, and, how do we go about teaching a new Christian to be Jesus' disciple? The word here in the Greek for Disciple is maqhteuvw (mathetuo) meaning to make a disciple, to train in discipleship. Jesus gives the answer to what it means to be His disciple in the Gospel of John 10:27: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Jesus tells us in this passage that being His disciple means learning to discern what is truly His voice and then obeying what His voice tells us to do. Discipleship Training therefore is teaching a Christian how to discern what is truly Jesus' voice to him in the different areas of his life and then encouraging him or her to obey what Jesus tells them to do. According to Matthew 28:18-20 this involves teaching the new Christian all that Jesus commanded as given in the New Testament. For this reason to have an effective Evangelism Training Program, one must not only teach clearly what the Gospel is, but also what it means to be Jesus' disciple and how to teach it to others.

Concerning APOLOGETICS the Apostle Peter commanded,

"But Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." (1 Pet 3:15).

The word defense in Greek is ajpologiva (apologia) from the Greek word ajpologevomai (apologeami) meaning A positive offense for the Christian not a negative defense. Apologetics is giving honest answers to honest questions about the validity of the Christian faith. Many Christians shun this area of discipline in there witness saying it is a lack of faith to ask questions. Francis A. Schaeffer in his book, responded to this attitude in the following manner,

"Evangelicals can fall into something which really is not very far from existential theology without knowing it. One form of such evangelical existentialism is the attitude, if not the words, Don't ask questions, just believe. This sort of attitude was always wrong, but it is doubly wrong today when we are surrounded with a monolithic consensus which divides reason from nonreason and always puts religious things in the area of non-reason. We must call each other away from this idea. It is not more spiritual to believe without asking questions. It is not more Biblical. It is less Biblical and eventually it will be less spiritual, because the whole man will not be involved. Consequently, in our Evangelism, in our personal work, in our young people's work, in our ministry wherever we are, those of us who are preachers and are preaching, those of us who are teachers and are teaching, and those of us who are evangelists must be absolutely determined not to fall into the trap of saying or implying, don't ask questions, just believe. It must be the whole man who comes to understand that the Gospel is truth and believes because he is convinced on the basis of good and sufficient reason that it is truth."

The problem is not a lack of faith on the part of the prospective convert, but a lack of love on the part of the person witnessing. What I mean by a lack of love is the unwillingness to love man deeply enough to do the work of research necessary to give the individual the answers he needs so that his faith can be released to surrender to Jesus as Savior and Lord. The alternative is eternal hell. Christianity does have the answers to all the questions and can be found for the person willing to pay the price to find them. If we really care about the salvation of men the discipline of apologetics is not an option in our witnessing to men. It is an absolute necessity according to the Apostle Peter, and a very necessary part of any truly serious Evangelism Training Program.

Because teaching and training Christians the importance of EVANGELISM, what SALVATION is, what it means to be Jesus' DISCIPLE, and basic principles of APOLOGETICS are clear commands of Scripture, we can be assured that we are being led of the Holy Spirit when we include them in the development of a Layman's Evangelism Program.

This Basic Textbook more than satisfies these four teaching requirements of a Basic Training Program. This material has been developed out of 32 years of weekly Evangelism, Discipleship and Apologetic work on the field and in the classroom.

In the area of EVANGELISM this Basic Textbook teaches the student:

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