WINNING WHERE IT MATTERS

TAKING THE GREAT COMMISSION SERIOUSLY

‘I Like Your Style!’

                                                                  Sunday 20 March 2011

Foundation Scriptures: Proverbs 11: 30 & Mark 16: 15-16

We continue today on our journey towards a greater understanding of the Great Commission. As you will recall from last week, the point of soul winning is to save people from the anguish of spending eternity in hell, a real place of torment, finality and everlasting punishment which was designed, not for people but Satan. In examining the concept of fighting fire with fire, we looked at the three fires with which we can tackle the fire of hell, namely the fires of prayer, passion and compassion. Today however, I want to address an aspect of soul-winning that will inspire and encourage you as you embark upon evangelism as a lifestyle - the good news about the Good News!

‘I Like Your Style’

One of the main reasons that many believers do not get involved in soul winning is that they assume they do not have the temperament for evangelism. In their minds a successful evangelist must have an outgoing, extrovert personality and be a people-person who enjoys making new friends. If they do not fit within that personality type they quickly conclude that they are not cut out for soul-winning. If you look at Romans 12: 4-8 (NLT), it is clear that nothing could be further from the truth as here we see that every one of us has a special function and God has given us the gifts with which to do things well. God knew what He was doing when he made you and He did not make a mistake. Psalm 139: 14 says that you are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ which makes me to understand that God custom-designed you with your unique personality and He knows how to use your uniqueness to advance His Kingdom.

Ephesians 2: 10 says that ‘we are His workmanship’. God wants to use you in a way that matches your personality. Jesus told us to go and preach the gospel but He never told us how to do so because there is no one right way. As you go through the bible, you will find people with different personalities and temperaments who were used to minister within the context of the kind of person they were. I want to look at six different styles of evangelism that can be found in the New Testament and if you watch closely, you will be surprised to find yourself in one or more of these styles.

1.       The Direct Approach - The best example of this approach is Peter, who had a very forward, uninhibited, direct, impulsive, and at times confrontational kind of personality. He was notorious for speaking before thinking and for acting before weighing up the consequences of his actions. Whatever he did, he did with relentless passion and his philosophy and outlook could be summed up as being ‘leap before you look!’ Peter, you will recall, by revelation declared Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God and yet a few verses later rebuked Jesus for talking about going to the cross. He drew a sword and cut off the High Priest’s ear and I have no doubt that he wasn’t aiming for the ear! It is no wonder that he was the one that God chose to be the spokesman on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. His personality was best suited to deal with the hostile, mocking audience and as a result of his message on that day, 3,000 people received Christ.

Are you wired like Peter and able to connect with people easily? Are you the kind of person who has no difficulty in asking what others might consider sensitive or even offensive questions, getting in their faces and challenging them about their eternity?  If so, maybe this direct approach is your style.

2.       The Intellectual Approach – The Apostle Paul would be a perfect example of this approach. Although he could confront people with the direct approach, Paul’s preferred method was to reason logically with people. He loved to develop an argument and build a case as can be seen in his epistles to the Romans. He was a highly educated man with a very meticulous and organised mind and therefore most suited to be sent by God to Athens where the people were highly philosophical. Acts 17 provides a brilliant snapshot of Paul in his intellectual element in which he takes them from an altar erected to the ‘unknown god’ and leads them to an understanding of the true and living God, quoting their own writers, poets and philosophers in the process.

If you are wired like Paul, loving to reason things out in a logical fashion, appealing to people’s logic, maybe the intellectual approach, which is becoming more and more relevant in our increasingly secular society, is your style.

“I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.”

3.       The Testimonial Approach – This approach is best summarised in the popular hymn Amazing Grace, by John Newton. In John 9 we read the story of the man who was born blind but was healed by Jesus. Refusing to become embroiled in the Pharisees’ theological and philosophical debate, he insisted, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” The beautiful thing about this approach is that it is difficult to argue against a person’s experience. Each one of us has a powerful testimony; we can all point to the contrast between our lives before we met Christ and after. There are many people who need to hear the story of our transformation from insecurity to confidence, from confusion to focus, bitterness to joy, resentfulness to thankfulness, sickness to health, fearfulness to faith, materialism to selflessness and dysfunction to wholeness – and so the list goes on.

Personal testimony does not have to be full of drama in order to be effective. What makes a testimony powerful is not how bad you used to be but the difference that Jesus has made in your life. In fact, most people will relate to the story of a regular person far more readily than they would of a former drug-lord or cult grandmaster! And even if you do have a dramatic story, I would suggest that you ask God for wisdom to know which details to share and which to keep to yourself.

Whether or not you feel that this approach fits your personality, I would encourage you to do two things: firstly, write down two versions of your testimony of how you came to know Christ – a 60 second version (approximately 100 words) and a 5 minute version (approximately 500 words) and secondly, rehearse your testimony in front of someone – you will be amazed at how dramatically you will improve your delivery after you have rehearsed a few times.

Allow me to share with the A-B-C-D of a good testimony: For your testimony to be effective it must be: Authentic (avoid stretching or embellishing your story to make it sound more interesting) Brief (keep it short, capable of being told in 60 seconds) Clear (have one central theme that characterises your salvation experience) and Down to Earth (avoid talking down to your listener or demonstrating an air of superiority).

4.        The Interpersonal Approach – A great example of this approach is Matthew the tax collector, whom, after he got saved created an opportunity for his tax collector friends to meet Jesus by throwing a dinner party, a forum for his sinner friends to meet his Saviour. If you are a people person who enjoys being around people and having them in your home, a good listener and find it easy to connect with both Christians and non-Christians, maybe God has called you to be a ‘Matthew.’

“Come, see a Man”

5.       The Invitational Approach – The Samaritan woman that Jesus met by the well recounted in John 4 is an example of this approach. After her encounter with Jesus she ran back to the city and brought people to hear Jesus. If you have a gift for getting people to go places with you and introducing friends to new experiences then maybe the invitational approach is your style.

6.       The Servant Approach – An example of this is Dorcas who was described as ‘always doing good and helping the poor.’ She had a reputation for helping out and was well known for her service and acts of kindness and through all that good that she did, she demonstrated God’s love to the people around her. So important was the work that she did that when she died prematurely, God sent Peter to raise her from the dead and put her back in service.

If you find it easy to serve and give a helping hand, naturally noticing needs that others do not and derive joy from helping people, then this type of evangelism is for you.

I am sure that you have been able to see yourself in one or more of these six styles of evangelism that we have looked at. No-one fits exclusively into just one of these styles; in fact, the chances are that at one point or another you will have the opportunity to use all six styles. Some styles will come to you more easily than others and I encourage you to identify what works best for you and develop yourself in those areas.

Whichever you feel most comfortable with, you can be sure that God will honour your efforts as you launch out to share the Good News with others

Pastor Tayo Adeyemi