When John the Baptist saw Jesus and proclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God," two of his disciples followed Jesus. One of these disciples first called his own brother Simon and proclaimed, "We have have found the Messiah." Then, after Jesus called Philip to follow Him, Philip first found Nathanael and proclaimed, "We have found Him of whom Moses and Prophets wrote."
Thus, of the first five members of of the church, one was called directly by Jesus. Two were brought in by the witness of John the Baptist, and two were brought in by personal evangelism. Thus is established the pattern of personal evangelism at the very birth of the church. Disciples making disciples has been the primary way the gospel has gone forth to the lost ever since.
Paul planted churches throughout the Greek world, but those churches grew to dominate the Roman empire by personal evangelism.
This is precisely the Great Commission. - God and make disciples. Disciples making disciples is always about personal witness to the truth of the gospel and its personal impact.
Paul further establishes the way for the church to think about evangelism in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth…For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
All Christians are fellow workers with God in evangelism, not by a program, not by a meeting, but by personal witness to family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. |
