Definitions
- Evangelism is an act of believers who participate with the Holy Spirit in telling people about God’s love for them and inviting them into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Evangelism comes from a Greek word, euangelion which means good news or good message. A distant runner in wartime would bring messages from a distant battle to a city to let the residents know what was happening. The ones that brought good news from the battle were called evangelists – “those who bring good news”. - The Gospel is ultimately about Jesus. The word “Gospel” means “good news”. Jesus went from town to town preaching the good news.
- “God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God’s motivation is Love.
- “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NKJV). Jesus died for sinners.
- I Corinthians 151-6 in summary says that Christ died for our sins; came back from the dead
- The Greek word for “witness” is martus from which the English word, martyr, comes. Often, those in the early Church were martyred for this faith as a result of their witness for Christ.
Someone said: Evangelism is “One beggar telling another beggar where to find food.”
A good witness is one who shares the truth about what they have seen. John says: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (I John 1:1).
Exercise
Make a list of your “good news” about Jesus and then share this good news with someone who doesn’t know Christ this week.