Evangelism
… As the message of deliverance is carried to the world, it seems that often people are unchallenged and bored by the very news that should indeed excite their souls. And yet at the same time we should recognize that if the ones who deliver the message are bored, the ones who hear it will probably be bored as well. (p. 40)
Success in evangelism comes only when we follow what God commands; the results are his concern, not ours. It is not our responsibility to lead people to Christ. God simply asks us to tell others about Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to take care of the rest. If we obey God with dedication and creativity in our evangelism attempts, then we are successful in his sight no matter what the results. If, however, we experience no positive results over an extended period of time, we should evaluate our methods and motives. (p. 46)
Patience
Jesus wanted to give these men time to allow the seeds he had planted to settle in their souls. This was one of his most effective methods of ensuring the right selection of men. He gave them time to pray and think over the call to discipleship—the invitation to a radical investment of time and effort. … Plan to allow people the time and information they need, thus ensuring that decisions are made during a time of clear-headedness and emotional balance. (pp. 56, 59)
Ministry Gifts
Recognize your place of ministry and then stay there. When you exercise your gifts faithfully, you always meet needs. You should never try to evade your calling by going off into some other ministry for variety or escape. (pp. 59-60)
Leadership
Demonstrate that you know where you are going. One sure sign of successful leadership is that the person in charge understands the plan and communicates it to those he wishes to enlist in the enterprise. (p. 61)
Bill Hull, Jesus Christ Disciple Maker, (Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1984), pp. 40-62.
Good stuff. Especially the part about it being “His concern”. I’ve often thought that we’ve over thought this aspect of Christianity. Do good things, people will see, they will want to know why, tell them about Christ.
My wife is the best at this. She just has a great knack.
Eggs,
While I agree that our lives should “speak”, I don’t think that’s quite what the book’s author was meaning. Here’s what he said:
“Success in evangelism comes only when we follow what God commands; the results are his concern, not ours. It is not our responsibility to lead people to Christ. God simply asks us to tell others about Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to take care of the rest.”
I think that what he is saying is this. We still have the need to speak with words (see Rom. 10:14), but the results are up to God. Know what I mean? I agree that our lives should be exemplary and that our actions may give opportunity to tell people why. However, the primary means of communicating the gospel is supposed to be verbal speech (Mark 16:15).