Soul Winning, Part 2
Central Thought: Soul winning is GOD’s mandate to all believers.
Text: Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:20-26
From study one of this topic, we understood that soul winning is a commission to all believers by our Lord Jesus Christ, and the assignment continues for as long as the Lord’s return is being awaited. By this He intends to give opportunity to every human being on earth to hear the message of God’s salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that as many as believe, would be saved from the consequences of sin and Satan’s dominion. In this study, we shall be looking at the challenges and the prospect of reaching more souls with the gospel message.
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How does evangelism contribute to church growth?
When the gospel message is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, people are convicted of their sins and its consequences. As they believe and repent from their sins, they would naturally desire to continue in their newly found faith through fellowship and the study of God’s word, which the church should readily provide. As these new believers join the church, there will be increase in membership and this will eventually lead to opening of more fellowship centers. In Acts 2:40-43, Apostle Peter preached the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection for the remission of sin and justification of those who believe. About 3,000 people believed and joined the company of the apostles, testifying of their experiences, and the church grew rapidly. The preaching of the gospel brings about the growth of the church of Jesus Christ.
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What is the role of the local assembly in evangelism?
It is the responsibility of a local assembly to teach her members the importance and necessity of evangelism, and encourage them to be involved in personal evangelism. Evangelism materials such as tracts, pamphlets and Christian literature can be provided by the church to enhance the effectiveness of personal evangelism. The church can also organize mass evangelism where people go out in groups to preach the good news. Crusades and outreaches can also be organized. Media programs through which people could hear the message of salvation could also be sponsored by the local church.
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Discuss how the following human factors can affect effective evangelism and how they can be overcome.
Fear, 2 Timothy 1:7:
Fear is an apprehensive feeling that something unpleasant may happen. Fear sometimes affects or determines human behaviors. The fear of failure, being proved wrong or being humiliated can restrict one form speaking in public. Fear of opposition is always present with man and it can hinder us from engaging in evangelism. When we succumb to intimidation, we neutralize the effectiveness of our work for God. We need to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome our fears.
Shyness:
Shyness is the lack of boldness to speak or act in the presence of others. It is an offshoot of lack of self-confidence or inferiority complex. Anyone who finds himself or herself in such state cannot evangelize. Shyness can be overcome by developing a high regard or favorable opinion about oneself as an Ambassador of Christ. As Christians, we should remember that God has given us the Spirit of boldness and not of timidity. If the believer believes that the Holy Spirit in him has empowered him, he can easily overcome shyness, Acts 1:8. More importantly, we should rely on God to give us the right word of boldness to explain the mystery of His word, Ephesians 6:19.
Appearance:
What easily gives away a man with an unbalanced mind is his appearance. Anyone who is shabbily dressed, looking haggard with un-kept hair, can hardly attract proper attention from reasonable people, no one would take him seriously in whatever he says, so he cannot attract reasonable audience for his effective evangelism. We know that a man that is well dressed is more likely to command respect as people will regard him as responsible.
Language Deficiency:
Some people believe that only well-educated and eloquent speakers are qualified to preach the Good News, and so, they are reluctant to engage in evangelism, believing the people may laugh at them. This is completely untrue. Remember that some of the apostles were unlearned men, but they effectively spread the good news all over the world. As long as one can speak, no matter the language, there are people who would hear and believe. The testimony of one’s salvation may even be enough.
Lack of Knowledge of Scripture:
It is difficult, if not impossible, for one to speak of what one does not know. It is important that anyone who would engage in evangelism should be knowledgeable in the word of God. Lack of it would definitely impair the effectiveness of evangelism. However, it is not an excuse for anyone who is born again, to avoid evangelism. Even if he does not know much of the scriptures, he can remember how he was saved. He should give the testimony of his salvation to his hearers and encourage them to believe the story and do as he did.
Lifestyle of the Believer:
If we profess to be Christians when our lifestyle runs contrary to that of Christ, no one will take us seriously. A peaceful, loving, honest and truthful lifestyle is more likely to attract fellowship that the one that is vocal in professing Christianity, while the life is characterized by malice, dishonesty, quarrelsomeness and hatred. The only way we can effectively evangelize through our lifestyle is when we can boldly teach by what we do, as testified of Christ in Acts 1:1.
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Discuss the following challenges likely to be encountered in the process of soul winning and proper solutions.
Diversionary Tactics, John 4:19-26:
Oftentimes we meet people who would want to divert our attention from our focus when we engage in evangelism. In the course of our discussions with our listeners they would introduce a topic or ask a question that is completely outside the Good News message. This s a ploy of the devil to dissuade our listeners from getting the gospel message. The only way we can overcome this challenge is to ensure that Christ is the focus of our message.
Argument, 2 Timothy 2:23; Titus 3:9:
Arguments are an advanced stage of Satan’s strategy to persuade a believer to believe erroneous teachings. The song writer wrote, “I need no other argument, I need no other plea, it is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me”. We should, as much as possible, avoid arguing with our listeners. Rather we should gently, continuously, patiently and correctly explain the truth of the word of God. “. . . rightly dividing the word of truth”, 2 Timothy 2:15.
Rejection/Cynicism, Acts 17:18 & 32, 19:9:
Some people believe that people do not do things for the sake of doing good or for noble reasons, but only for their own advantage. Some others question so much whether some things could really be true, or whether things truly happen the way it is reported. These set of people are always more ready to reject than accept the gospel message. They question the authenticity and would demand proof of such message. Salvation message to them is like a fairy tale, so they would hardly accept it. That some would not accept our message or question its authenticity, should not discourage us from preaching the Good News, even in such situation God will always have a few who will believe and it is worth the effort.
Violence, Acts 19:21-30:
It is possible that some times the people we witness to may not only reject the message, but become aggressive against us, with the tendency to physically assault. In such situation, we should not continue to insist on getting their attention rather we should, with wisdom, gently drop tracts with those who may be willing to receive them and leave the scene, but continue to pray that God will speak to them through the tracts.
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What are some of the rewards of soul winning?
-A soul winner will be made to rule with Christ, Luke 19:17.
-God will be happy with him/her, Matthew 25:21.
-He will receive a crown of righteousness, 2 Timothy 4:8.
-He is regarded as wise, Proverbs 11:30.
-He will shine as a star forever, Daniel 12:3.
Daily Living Application:
As believers, we have a responsibility to tell others about the Grace of God that brings salvation to whoever believes; beginning with our next door neighbor, to our co-business partners, our customers, our co-students, etc. It may surprise you to discover that there are some around us that are yet to receive the message of salvation. The mission filed could be closer than we think. It should however be noted that our preaching can only be effective when our words are corroborated with our lifestyle.
Memory Verse:
2 Timothy 4:2a – “Preach the word, be instant in season and out of season.”