Then he said, I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead - Luke 16:27-31
KEY THOUGHT:
There are echoes from Great Beyond. In these echoes, those who have
passed on into eternity are longing for those who would share the saving
message with their loved ones who are alive on planet earth. Nobody from the
death is qualified to come from the land of the dead to tell us to repent and
embrace Jesus and the Truth of God’s Word through Him. Angels are not permitted
to publish this message. It is only those who are saved by faith in Jesus who
are allowed to share this message. These are those “father Abraham” referred to
as, “Moses and the Prophets.” You and I are the Moses and prophets of our time.
It is our individual and corporate responsibilities to evangelize our neighbourhoods
and our generation. Are we going to be responsive and proactive or are we going
to stand aloof and keep our hands akimbo? “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion!” (Amos 6:1) and
“Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel” (I Corinthians 9:16).
EXORDIUM
It was
Charles T. Dudd who wrote, “Some want to live within the sound of church and
chapel bell; I want to run a rescue mission shop within a yard of hell.” Dudd’s
remarks bespeaks of the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ greatest commission
to His Church is, “GO, PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE….” This is a profound
Commission. It is the sum totality of what Jesus stood for: what He came for,
what He died for and what He longs for.
Having the vision to accomplish
the mission of the Great Commission is an idea that the Lord has given to His
disciples from first century until now. In the days of the Apostles, they did
the much they could. They were so evangelistic that unbelievers testified
concerning their zeal for the Lord in the proclamation of His Gospel, “…These
men who have turned the world upside down have come here today” (Acts 17:6).
Apostle Paul described the power behind such movement thus, “For the love of
Christ constraineth (compels) us….” (II Corinthians 5:14).
One of the greatest responsibilities our
Lord gave to His Church is evangelism (Matthew 28:18-20). When the Church fails
to do what she is supposed to be doing, she would start doing what she is not
supposed to be doing. This was the case with Jerusalem Church.
She was commanded to witness for Jesus in her environment and beyond (Acts
1:8). Rather than do this, she bottled the Gospel. This led to complaints and
back-biting amongst Brethren (Acts 6:1-4). It took Saul’s persecution against
the Church to wake her up to her responsibility, a situation which led to the
Church being scattered leading to Congregations of the Lord’s Church being
planted as God’s Kingdom was enlarged in the hearts and communities of men (Acts
8: 4-5, 14).
We must not wait for any persecution in
the similitude of Jerusalem Congregation to wake us up to our individual and
corporate responsibilities of evangelism using every platform that we can
deploy to accomplish the mission of the Great Commission.
It is our duty to enlarge borders of
God’s Kingdom in hearts and communities of men. By preaching the Gospel, we
reduce population of Hell and increase population of Heaven. Consequent upon
this, we will also succeed in having the Lord’s Church planted in every nook
and cranny of our communities.
When God designed the Church, He intended
that each local congregation should be autonomous and evangelize her immediate
environment and by extension join hands in evangelization of other localities. Congregations
can respond to call for help by others in this regard (cf. Acts 16:9). We
are all Christians without borders. What concerns one Congregation
should concern every Christian. Like Apostle Paul, we should be moved by what
moves any Congregation (II Corinthians 11:28). We should become pregnant with
the Lord’s vision for a world won to the Father and to our Lord, Jesus Christ. Evangelism
should be the care and responsibility of all Christians everywhere.
MOTIVATIONS TOWARDS EVANGELIZATION
Christians
and Congregations of the Lord’s Church of today would not engage in aggressive
evangelization unless we realize that:
Gospel
Is For Sharing and Church Is For Planting
If a scientist discovers the cure for cancer or HIV/AIDS, we would expect the discovery to be shared with the world. Basic ethics require that good news should not be kept secret.
When Syrian king laid siege to the city of Samaria, food supply to the city was cut off. Four leprous men who decided it would be preferable to die at the hands of the enemy (Syrians) than to starve to death went to surrender to the enemy. However, when they came to the enemy’s camp, they found it deserted. The army had fled in the night while food and valuables lay everywhere. The four men stuffed themselves and were tempted to remain silent over their discovery - the Good News of the availability of food and valuables! Then the memory of Samaria with its famished inhabitants came back to them with such a force that they said, “We are not doing right” (II Kings 7:9). So, they became evangelists - bearers of Good News: they went into the city and told others!
Ultimately, Soul-Winning boils down to this: one who discovers a solution to human a need telling those in need where to have their need met. Christians (especially those of the Restoration Heritage) have discovered the “Salvation that is in Christ Jesus” (II Timothy 2:10). It is, therefore, a breakdown of basic integrity to keep the Truth to ourselves. If we have found the Food of Life, cure for guilty conscience, etcetera we are obliged to share it with others.
Evangelism would naturally lead to Church planting. Church planting is simply the act of replicating the Body of Christ where she is not present and seeing that she is strengthened to maturity. The more Congregations we plant and mature, the more we expand the Kingdom of God on earth.
Souls are of Great Value
What is Soul? Many people have not come to agree on what a soul is. However, consensus among Bible scholars is that a soul is the very essence of God in man (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7). Man is a triune being, possessing Body, Soul and Spirit (I Thessalonians 5:23). SOUL WINNING, therefore, means to attract people (Souls) to the Lord’s side (Colossians 1:13).
The basic principle of soul winning is the value placed upon a soul in the light of eternity. What then is the value of a soul? The value of a soul cannot be quantified materially and in time. A soul is worth more than the entire material universe put together (Matthew 16:26).
A soul is more than precious, so precious that God had to allow His Son come to earth to seek and save the lost (John 3:16; Luke 19:10); so precious that the conversion of a soul on earth causes great celebration in Heaven (Luke 15:10) - so precious that the lost of one soul keeps Heaven in mourning mood (Ezekiel 18:23).
There is a great responsibility attached to soul winning, so much so that a great punishment awaits those who refuse to get involved. Bible says, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (I Corinthians 9:16).
Every One of Us Would Become Pregnant With Visions of Soul Winning When We Become Aware That on A Daily Basis Thousands of Souls Are on Their Way To Hell.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF SOUL WINNING?
The benefits attached to Soul Winning are numerous: not only are we setting people free from errors of their ways (James 5:19-20), we expose them to Truth that are able to set them free from self, sin and Satan; religious as well as moral sins (Romans 10:1-4; John 8:32; II John 9-11), but it goes a long way in rescuing people from Satan (II Timothy 2:25-26) and snatching them away from fire of eternal condemnation (Jude 22-23).
Personal benefits accruing to a soul winner are:
1. Wisdom is gained (Proverbs 11:30).
2. Evangelizers book their places in God’s Great Hall of Fame (Daniel 12:3; Matthew 13:43).
3. Ensures fruitfulness (John 15:2, 8).
4. Debts are paid (Romans 1:14, 15; cf. S.O.C 663 - “But You Never Mentioned Him To Me”).
5. It beautifies our paths (Romans 10:15).
a. The “Lord gave the Word and many are those who publish the Good News” (Psalms 68:11) because “…in the days of His battle His army shall be volunteers” (Psalms 110:3).
ROLES OF CONGREGATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS IN EVANGELISM
The Church is a conglomeration of individuals. As the community of saved persons, what individuals do amount to what the Church does. As individuals go, so goes the Church in every nook and cranny of the world.
As the Body of Christ, Church of Christ is God’s Divine Orientation Agency on earth (Ephesians 3:9-10). It is on the shoulder on the Church that our Lord depends on to reach out to lost souls. It is not the responsibilities of angels of preach the Gospel because, “The Treasure is in earthen vessels” (II Corinthians 4:7). It, therefore, stands that in the Body of Christ every member is a minister (Ephesians 4:7-12). If individuals are not involved in or are not supporting evangelism, then the Church is not; but, if individuals are involved in evangelism and are supporting evangelism using their time and resources (financial, theological, spiritual, hardware and software, etcetera), then the Church is involved in evangelism. In other words, we cannot safely separate activities of individuals with that of Congregations. The dividing line is very thin.
PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE SOUL WINNING
1. The Love and Obedience to Christ
a). The Love of Christ Constrains us (II Corinthians 5:14).
The Love of Christ Constraineth us
To save a world from hell,
To preach and reach the uttermost,
And each lost sinner tell” - Brandth
2. The Principle of Each One Reach One
This is seen from the vision of multiplication. Suppose we develop one truly 'multiplying Christian' each year, which is not an unreasonable goal. If each year a “multiplying Christian” develops one more 'multiplying Christian':
a. In two years there would be 4
b. In five years there would be 32
c. In ten years there would be 1,024
d. In twenty years there would be 1,048,576
3. The Principle of Setting the Church Ablaze To Set the
Community Ablaze With the Gospel:
Sampson employed this principle in his dealings with Philistines (Judges 15:4-5). Thessalonian Jews recognized this of the early disciples of Jesus Christ (Acts 17:6).
This principle can comfortably be replicated using Bus Ministry, Tract Distribution Ministry and the like. These can serve as rabble-rousers (an advance army) for the real soul hunters and harvesters who would come in with heavy artilleries to rout the enemy and take home prized souls into the Barn of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
SPONSORSHIP OF EVANGELISTIC ACTIVITIES
A number
of things make Ministry work. Next to the God-factor are men and materials. The
catalyst remains material resources. Without material resources, Ministry would
not only be drudgery but also weak - thriving only on imaginations and wishful
thinking, full of dreams but no action.
The place of money in Ministry cannot
be overemphasized. It remains to a great extent the pivot upon which Ministry
rotates. What can we really accomplish without money? We need money for
evangelism, edification and benevolence. It costs us nothing to become
beneficiaries of the grace that Jesus brought down to us. However, it cost
those who brought it to us and will equally cost us great resources to have it
published so that others will become beneficiaries also. For Ministry, the
Biblical Statement that, “Money answers all things” is very apt (Ecclesiastes
10:19c).
Have we
really taken time to consider the tremendous amount of resources our religious
friends invest in their ministries of “Zeal without knowledge” (cf. Romans
10:3)? These guys deploy hundreds of millions of Naira yearly to propagate their
gospel of materialism, miracles, signs and wonders which never come to be. They
deploy heavy hardware, they take lots of media space, they make so much noise
with their attendant media hype. Communication theory of status conferral has
come to be associated with their activities. They have become believable and
for these, people are flocking to them in their millions! It was “Pastor” Sam.
Adeyemi of DayStar Christian Centre, Lagos
who said, “When you pray angels would come, but when you advertise men will
come.” So, they are busy advertising and advertising only God knows….
Brethren,
we need these five letter-word: MONEY! To be effective evangelizers. Angels
will not come down to fund the work for us, we must do the funding ourselves. Heaven
will not reward us for the things we enjoyed but for the things we sacrificed.
What then are we sacrificing for the Gospel? King David at one point in his
life took a critical look at his life, his commitment to the things of God
after considering the goodness of God upon his life. He called Prophet Nathan
to his house and the following dialogue ensued,
And it
came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest
round about from all his enemies; that the king said unto Nathan the prophet,
See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within
curtains. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for
the LORD is with thee (II Samuel 7:1-3).
Can we all take a look at our beautiful
houses, state-of-the art automobiles, etcetera in comparison with the state of
the Lord’s Vineyard in our various communities?
One of the principles of funding Church
work is to grow the local congregation. The more membership increases, the more
collection grows and Brethren are taught the need to give. The Ministry of
Jesus teaches us that the best funding options is internal revenue generation
(Luke 8:1-3).
Of
course, the Church is both a spiritual body but it is also social in composition.
The socio-spiritual nature of the Church makes it imperative that money matters
should concern her. She needs money to execute virtually all her activities
such as Ministers’ welfare, evangelism, edification, benevolence, equipping of
Saints, acquisition of land for building and construction purposes; media
outreaches. The list is long and often very intimidating. Stated simply, the
Church cannot do without money. Money issues are serious issues that have given
various congregations of the Lord lots of headache.
In
my private reflections, I have come to appreciate why this is so, namely:
1. The
Church is not a fund-raising agency.
2. The
Church is not a secular organization where money is the chief concern of the
Founder.
3. The
Church does not have materially-satisfying products for sale that would in turn
generate money.
4. The
Nigerian Churches of Christ’s foundation with regard to giving have not been
very encouraging.
Funding
will not be much of a problem if are able to sensitize the BROTHERHOOD, make
people believe in this project, set aside personal funds on a daily or weekly
basis for sponsoring God’s work.
We must
appreciate the fact that God has never allowed the Church to get into any kind
of competition with anyone. We were not called to erect the tallest buildings
and imposing cathedrals. Our major work is to win souls. We are called to build
men and women. The people the Church raises will in turn raise the Church
(Galatians 6:6).
The
best possible means of fund-raising for specific needs and projects of the
Church is to impress it upon the minds of Christians that giving actually adds
up to their own benefits (Philippians 4:17). When Brethren learn to domesticate
evangelistic needs, it would go along way to meeting the immediate evangelism needs
where such needs exist.
Poverty is not an excuse for not
participating in funding God’s Work (II Corinthians 8:1-5; cf. Luke 21:1-2). Materially
well-to-do Brethren must take active interest in sponsoring evangelism (I
Timothy 6:17-19). When every Christian, irrespective of academic, social, and
economic status possesses Kingdom Investment Mentality (KIM), we would have
fewer challenges planting Congregations and Sponsoring Church
growth. When we all do what we are supposed to do, we will have more than
enough to do the work we are called upon to do (cf. II Corinthians 8:13-15). We
must learn to lay our treasures in Heaven by doing the work of God on earth
(Matthew 6:19-21).
When
need arose in Jerusalem
Church, the Brethren gave
liberally so much so that real estate investors took part in sponsorship of
God’s work (Acts 4:32-37). When congregations were in need, other congregations
far and near took part in funding of those congregations (Acts 11:28-30).
We
must realize that the well-being of Gospel is our well-being and that the
challenges confronting effective proclamation of the Gospel in our clime are
equally our challenge. Let us take active interests in God’s work everywhere
because our active participations will not only have their impacts here but
will go a long way to add value to our rewards hereafter (Hebrews 6:10; cf. I
Corinthians 15:58).
PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL IN AN ERA OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGIES (ICTs)
We must
acknowledge the fact that we live in a great era – the era of great revolutions
in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). To whom, therefore, much
is given, much is also expected (cf. Luke 12:48).
Brethren,
we have a great message - the Gospel of Christ. We have the greatest instrument
– the mass media. Without the Gospel, the world is lost, forever lost. The
Gospel is the power that God employs in bringing salvation to the lost world.
The Gospel is so important that He had to give out His only Begotten Son for a
lost and dying world. This today remains the only hope of the world.
Having
the two most powerful tools in our kitty, to wit, mass media on one hand and
the Gospel of Christ on the other hand are what the Christian community needs
to achieve mass evangelism. Because the world has the mass media, we need what
the world has so that we will be able to reach the world. We need the Word to
reach the world!
The era
in which we live is a critical one: it is likened to the first century era when
a miniaturized and primitive form of ‘globalization’ was in the offing - “Pax Romania”! This opened
up the then world, affording people the rare opportunity of easy access to
across borders. The Gospel, as was preached by our Lord Jesus Christ received a
great boost and consequently penetrated hitherto into areas that were not
accessible to people before. This scenario is being replayed in this era.
Everyone who is conscious of doing the Will of God in the propagation of the
Gospel has to grab this opportunity with both hands, deploying both human and
material resources to see that the Gospel is preached and effectively, too.
Jesus’
statement in Matthew 24:14 that the end would not come until the Gospel is
preached to all the nooks and crannies of the world would only be realized
using the instrumentality of the electronic media.
UNIVERSE OF THE MASS MEDIA
The mass
media are all the instruments used in gathering, processing and dissemination
of information at faster, billionth of a second speed to a mass audience. These
are all encompassing phenomena. It covers such areas as cable/satellite and
Internet technologies; television and radio; Print and Global System of Mobile (GSM)
technologies.
In the
early days of the emergence of electronic media, many believers considered them
as enemies, shunning them as one would run away from a leper, saying that they
were evil. At that time, people spoke against television and also the Internet.
Many said that they were enemies of the Gospel of Christ and tools of Satan for
the destabilization of Christianity. Many encouraged their members to stay away
from them. However, today many have come to see that they are tools, important
vehicles for the propagation of the saving message of Christ, which must be
exploited to reach a global audience.
Today
many Christians are preaching the Gospel of Christ to anonymous and
heterogeneous audiences; people they have not known and will not come across
face-to-face in their life time, using the platform provided by mass
media.
ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND THE GOSPEL
The role
of the electronic media, also known as the Broadcast media with its three
organs, namely, Television, Radio, and lately Internet in mass mobilization and
information dissemination across the length and breadth of climes (local and
international) cannot be overemphasized. This genre of the mass media with its
specialized characteristics of combining sights and sounds with its on-the-spot
delivery of information is a powerful force to reckon with in our quest towards
reaching a world lost in sin and religious errors.
The much
touted globalization and creation of a global village (championed by a Canadian
communication scholar, Marshal McLuhan in the 1960s) was made possible by
combined efforts of the electronic media and Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs). The electronic media has the potential of unleashing the Word
of God upon a confused and dying world.
There are
many good ways to evangelize...a. Public preaching and teaching, private
studies and conversations, TV, radio, the Internet.
CHURCHES OF CHRIST AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA EVANGELISM
Late Brother
J. C. Choate, writing on the editorial of Voice
of Truth International Vol. 51 captioned, Preaching the Gospel by Radio and
Television observed,
Jesus
commanded us to take the gospel of the entire world (Mark 16:15, 16). That can
be done in many ways. Since we now have radio and TV to reach the masses,
wouldn’t it be wise to take advantage of these tools to speed up this process? As
a young man I personally heard the Gospel first by radio. On becoming a
Christian, I decided to preach the Gospel, and almost from the beginning I had
the opportunity to use radio in that work.
After
preaching for years in U.S.A., in the pulpit as well as on radio and TV, my
family and I moved to Karachi, Pakistan to preach that same Gospel and to begin
the Lord’s Church. Several congregations were established in the Muslim city
during those years of work. Not only have we been able, personally, to use
these mass media tools to give millions of people the opportunity to hear the
truth, but many other brethren have also used radio and TV throughout the
world.
The Herald of Truth program
was on radio first and then on TV. White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ in West Monroe, LA
has used radio to bring the Gospel to countries throughout the world for many
years. “In Search for the Lord’s Way”, with Mack Lyon as the speaker, is heard
on radio and seen on TV throughout the States and in some foreign countries.
Timothy Sparks of Ardmore, OK also has radio and TV programs that reach
large numbers of people.
Brother
V. E. Howard had numerous radio programs, and even after his passing, those
programs have continued through the efforts of Winford Claiborne in Lawrenceburg, TN.
Brother
Joe W. Gray of Altamont, TN has a series of programs on short-wave
radio that can be heard around the world. Also, Don McWhorter has had his radio
and TV work going for more than 40 years, reaching most of North
America.
Brother
Germaine Lockwood developed a network of programs reaching into Russia, Africa and Asia,
including much of the Muslim world. Since his death, his son has involved
others in doing that. The programs are aired eleven times each week throughout
the world.
Roy
Beasley and others working with Restoration
Radio Network have multiple broadcasts for America,
Africa, Asia and the globe.
Recently,
Gospel Broadcasting Network announced
that they are working now to cover North America
with the Gospel, around the clock, seven days a week, with the goal of reaching
the entire world through satellite cable TV. Their telecasts can also be seen
online, twenty-four hours a day.
Roy
Beasley of the Restoration Radio Network fame in his article, “Evangelism
Through Restoration Radio Network” (Vol. 51:101) wrote,
A friend
whom I had not seen for years recently told me about going with a group on a
mission trip to Africa. There he met some
people who came to be baptized. They said, “We already know about the Church of Christ. We listen to Roy Beasley on the
radio!”
Radio can
be a powerful tool for evangelism. I cannot think of another way of reaching
more people in less time and with less expense than radio. It may indeed be the
evangelistic angel of Revelation 14:6, 7.
Worldwide, radio
is more popular now than ever before. Clarence Jones, a pioneer religious
broadcaster, called radio waves “highways in the skyways”. More people, by far,
listen to radio than watch TV or play with the PC, even in our own country. In Third World countries there was far more radios than TVs.
There, radio is today what it was in the United States in the 1930s: “the
golden era of radio”. People depend upon radio for entertainment, information,
and spiritual sustenance. Radio waves reach to the far corners of the earth.
There are few places where there are no radio signals. They are instantaneous,
and they present a wonderful opportunity to preach the Gospel to all the world.
When I
started Restoration Radio Network
International in 1973, I was in a mission area in Southeastern
Indiana. I was concerned about finding the most effective way of
getting started. Most of the people there had never heard of the Church of Christ. So, I decided to start a daily
five-minute radio program three times a day during the week and a thirty-minute
weekly program on Sundays.
I found
that most people in small towns give preference to listening to their local
radio stations-not the big, powerful stations, not even TV, as you might
expect. They listen to the local news, the obituaries, and what people have for
sale, as they go about their daily affairs. They want to know what is going on
in their communities. So, we placed our programs at drive-time in the morning
and afternoons and at noon-time right after the news. It was a hit from the
start! It seems that almost everyone in that whole country and the surrounding
areas listened to our programs. One day, the station manager said to me, “Roy, your program is an
asset to our station.”
Our
format was not devotional but evangelistic. I strove to present the whole Gospel
in an easy, pleasing manner, and soon it began to pay off. More and more
visitors came to our services. This led to baptisms and restorations. The radio
announcer and his wife were converted. Former church affiliates were identified.
I am convinced that what happened there in that small mid-western community can
be duplicated in other places. It’s just a matter of hard work and making
better use of our God-given tools of evangelism, such as radio.
Radio is
an effective tool in evangelizing the world. Over the years, over 47,000 conversions
have been reported, and more than a thousand congregations started as a direct
result of Restoration Radio’s efforts.
It is
impossible to go into the world in person, but the Gospel can be taken into all
the world by the use of the technology available for mass communication.
ADVANTAGES OF VARIOUS MEDIA FOR EVANGELISM
I would
like us to look at advantages of the various medium of mass media.
TELEVISION
1.
Television is a powerful electronic broadcast medium
because of its ability to combine sight and sound.
2.
Because television combines the elements of motion,
sound and vision in information presentation, it has ability to recreate real-life
situations, which people readily identify with. The viewer is fully engaged in
the communication process, and, consequently, understanding of messages is
faster and easier.
3.
Television presents the message immediately to a
wide, diverse audience.
4.
Colour production makes learning situations very lively.
RADIO
1. Many
people can be reached by radio.
2. Radio
sets have portable transistor sizes which are unaffected by electricity power
failure.
3. Radio
sets are relatively cheap, easy to afford and can be readily serviced in cases
of damage.
4. Radio
used a personal/tell-a-friend style of conversation in teaching and
re-enforcing learning.
PRINT (USE OF TRACTS)
1. One of
the advantages of print medium, especially tracts is that they are cheaper to
produced.
2. They contain
short messages and are therefore message-directed.
3. They are
permanent.
4. Tracts
can be thrown away by a recipient but may be more useful to another who picks
it up.
WHAT ARE REQUIRED
FROM US IN PRESENTING THE GOSPEL MESSAGE TO A CONFUSED WORLD
We
should realize that we are not into mass media evangelism to entertain as it is
the case with denominations, Pentecostals, advertisers, etcetera but that we
are there solely to inform and educate. We must create an atmosphere wherein
people are brought back to their Bibles, lead them to the Old Paths, teach them
New Testament Christianity, Point them to the Cross, help them appreciate the
Doctrines of Christ, lead them to Build According to the Pattern Shown on the Mount.
We must help people differentiate between being zealously religious and truly
serving God with the proper knowledge of Him (cf. Romans 10:1-3). We must help
them know the One
Church of the Bible; the
need to watch over their lives and doctrines (I Timothy 4:16). Above all, we
must help them come to obedience of the Gospel.
The
electronic media evangelism must accomplish two things: bring the lost to
obedient faith and encourage the saved to be faithful to the Lord and to His
Doctrines to the very end of their lives. We are not going to be on the
electronic media with the purpose of preaching “social Gospel,” teach Social Psychology
with the prevailing How-To-Do-it messages that have become the vogue today.
Although,
we have a challenge on our hands – challenge to proclaim the unadulterated
Gospel of Jesus Christ, yet, the world may not tolerate presentations that are
drudgery on either television or radio. We must find a way to present the
Gospel in interesting manners without compromising the message. Charismatic,
well-versed and Biblically sound preachers should be recruited, groomed and
dedicated for this work. They should not look hungry and run-off-the mill but
sound, attractive and convincing.
A group
of core professionals should be consulted for the packaging and editing of
presentations so that they will become professionally handled and treated. We have
the best message and must do everything we should to present it effectively and
attractively.
CONCLUSION
Brethren,
the “… the King's commandment” is “urgent” (Daniel 3:22). All hands must be on
deck whether as individual Christians and as Congregations. We have no reason
not to engage in personal and group evangelism using whatever platform we can
and should - mass media, bus (mobile) evangelism, tracts distribution, personal
invitations, Gospel Meetings, Seminars, advertorials in mass media, magazine and newspaper articles, etcetera.
Evangelism is an individual as well as Congregational responsibilities. The
best time to act is, NOW!
Thank you for your time and attention. May God richly bless
us all in Jesus’ most precious name!
HILARY JOHNSON
CHUKWUMA CHUKWURAH
TOWNSHIP/CAMPUS CHURCH OF CHRIST,
14, AGBUGWU LANE, OFF,
UNIVERSITY MARKET
ROAD, P. O. BOX 351, NSUKKA –
410002,
ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA.
GSM:+234-08039596919;
+234-08182820677;+234-08054890845.
E-MAIL:hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com;
