I love this book on evangelism. The book covers much more than evangelism, though, and it’s both fun and convicting at the same time. Maybe one of these quotes will help you evangelize better and lead your church to do the same:
1. ON TRANSFER GROWTH: “We do not regard it to be soul-winning to steal members out of churches already established . . . we aim rather at bringing souls to Christ than at making converts to our synagogue.”[1]
2. ON UNREGENERATE CHURCH MEMBERS: “In the next place, we do not consider soul-winning to be accomplished by hurriedly inscribing more names upon our church-roll, in order to show a good increase at the end of the year. . . . To introduce unconverted persons to the church, is to weaken and degrade it; and therefore an apparent gain may be a real loss.”[2]
3. ON PERSONAL HOLINESS RELATED TO EVANGELISM: “Dear brethren, I do beg you to attach the highest importance to your own personal holiness. . . . Fish will not be fishers. The sinner will not convert the sinner. The ungodly man will not convert the ungodly man; and, what is more to the point, the worldly Christian will not convert the world.”[3]
4. ON GOD SAVING SOULS BY HIS GRACE, NOT BY OUR GOOD PREACHING: “It is not our way of putting the gospel, nor our method of illustrating it, which wins souls, but the gospel itself does the work in the hands of the Holy Ghost, and to Him we must look for the thorough conversion of men.”[4]
5. ON PREACHING EVANGELISTIC SERMONS: “The kind of sermon which is likely to break the hearer’s heart is that which has first broken the preacher’s heart, and the sermon which is likely to reach the heart of the hearer is the one which has come straight from the heart of the preacher.”[5]
6. ON PLEADING WITH GOD TO USE US TO SAVE OTHERS: “As Rachel cried, ‘Give me children, or I die,’ so may none of you be content to be barren in the household of God. Cry and sigh until you have snatched some brand from the burning, and have brought at least one sinner to Jesus Christ, that so you also may have saved a soul from death, and covered a multitude of sins.”[6]
May God help us to be evangelistic leaders guiding evangelistic churches!
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[1] Kindle Edition (p. 2, location 37-43).
[2] Kindle Edition (p. 3, location 56-62)
[3] Kindle Edition (p. 23, location 397; p. 172, location 2908).
[4] Kindle Edition (p. 103, location 1704).
[5] Kindle Edition (p. 159, location 996).
[6] Kindle Edition (p. 194, location 3304-3309).
Posted on June 7, 2022
Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.
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2 Comments
Oh wow. Everyone of those deserve their own sermon! Preached to me!
Blessings, Darlene!