The Jesus Method of Evangelism

How Jesus broke all the rules and loved people into the Kingdom

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G’day Fellow Disciple-Makers and welcome to another “The Holy Go!” Newsletter focussed on Teaching, Equipping and Empowering you to fulfil the Great Commission!

I hope you enjoyed our last challenge of the “Jesus is The Way, Truth and Life” prayer of Examine!

This week we look at “What is the Jesus method of evangelism?” If you are anything like me, it is not what you have been taught!

Equip

Methods

How do you share the gospel?

If we are a true disciple, we will be making disciples who make disciples. Therefore, it is a big deal how we share the gospel, and teach others to do the same.

When I was working with Steve Addison at MOVE, I heard a story about a man in Asia who was trying to multiply disciples. He was a great evangelist, and was trying to teach his team how to share the gospel. However, no matter how hard he tried, they just could not get it.

He was asked a coaching question, “What method are you using?” He responded that he doesn’t have a “single” method, rather he does whatever comes to mind. He was relying on his gifting. While this was great for him, his students had no chance of copying.

He was then told, “Stick to one method and see what happens.”

The next month the coach came back and asked how it went. This time with a big smile he shared how his team were now leading people to Jesus! They just needed a clear example to follow.

Which Method?

When I was baptised in the Holy Spirit I immediately had a passion for sharing the gospel. I started sharing with everyone I spoke to at work, then when I ran out of people there I knew it was time to start talking to strangers…

The only problem was I didn’t know where to begin. So I turned to YouTube. I found two distinctly different styles of evangelism who both said “This was the way Jesus did evangelism.”

The first one was Ray Comfort from Living Waters ministry. Ray sees Jesus “method” of evangelism as using the law to make people realise they are a sinner and need saving. He says, “Jesus used the law to bring the knowledge of sin to the rich young ruler. Until we do the same, people will continue to respond to a gospel of self-improvement instead of repentance.”

As I watched the videos of Ray I was impressed by the way people acknowledged their sin and need for a Saviour. I enjoyed doing the “Good Test” with people and ended up leading lots of people in “Jesus, save me prayers.”

The second one was Patricia King of Xtreme Prophetic. Patricia called her method “Prophetic Evangelism” based on Jesus words in John 12:49–50 where He says He only said what He heard the Father say. She would listen to the Holy Spirit then share a prophetic word. Patricia says, “The heart of prophecy is to unveil the character and desires of Jesus Christ, compelling us toward intimate fellowship with Him.”

I loved watching these videos of Patricia receiving incredible words of knowledge about these strangers lives, then sharing the heart of God with them. People would cry as they encountered the love of Jesus, and often were healed and set free of all sorts of issues. I loved following suit, and always felt like I was partnering with God when I did.

However, before I went out each night to the streets, I would ask myself… “Which method should I use?” This question started off as a practical one: What am I going to do today? But then it became a theological question…

Which way did Jesus share the good news?

The Rules

As I searched the Scriptures for an answer, I couldn’t find a single method Jesus was using. Rather, it became quite obvious that Jesus changed His approach every time He encountered someone.

This bothered me as Jesus seemed to break all of the rules I thought we were all supposed to follow… For example…

I had been taught that unless people confessed their sins and turned away from it they couldn’t be saved. However, Jesus forgave people before they asked! In fact, there are only 5 stories across the 4 gospels of people confessing sin, and Luke has 4 of them! Confessing sin didn’t happen every time…

What about this one… I had been taught that unless people chose to follow Jesus they couldn’t be saved. I was told belief alone wasn’t enough. But what about the woman with the issue of blood who Jesus tells to “go in peace.”

What about believing the right things? I’m sure you have heard many Church leaders declare that unless people believe the same as me on whichever topic is important, then they are not saved. However, even Jesus’ own disciples routinely got their theology wrong, yet stayed “saved.”

There are so many similar stories it seems that “the rules of evangelism” are not as tight as I originally believed.

So what is going on?

Relationships over Rules

I believe we get a clue from John 17:3 where Jesus says “eternal life is that we know God.”

Where we have often trained people into believing the “gospel” is primarily about getting out of a “legal bind”, Jesus sees it as primarily about having a relationship with God! This relationship produces life and joy and love!¹

Therefore Jesus method of sharing the gospel always reflects this. Jesus always responded to people with love. It was His kindness that led people to repentance.

When He came across the blind, He gave them sight.
When He came across the sick, He healed them.
When He came across outcast, He included them.
When He came across curious, He engaged them.

Jesus’ message, method and motivation was all love!

So what should our evangelism look like? I believe it’s simple.

Love the person in front of you.

And if you need some tools on how to do that, check out these old newsletters:

How to find Warm People
How to share Meals that lead to Salvation
How to share The Bible with People
How to open Eyes to the Gospel

Activate

This weeks Challenge is to find a way to love someone who does not know Jesus yet. Ask yourself this simple question, “What does love look like to ____?” Then, go and love them!

Let’s Go

1. I do understand that that some will say that because of the legality of sin we cannot have a relationship with God. However, Jesus flips that upside down and engaged with sinners all the time! The religious leaders continuously showed their disapproval for this. See Luke 7:36–50. Check out this Newsletter for a better way of understanding sin and the gospel.