How to prepare Evangelists for Soul Winning........

EVANGELISM AT WORK

Training the Soul Winner

1. Jesus did not send the Disciples out till they were 3 years with Him

2. Who should train the Evangelists  -  The Church

3. Why the Church?

4. What should the church do?

5. Personal Evangelism - The basic requirement for soul-winning 

Introduction

One of the things a church should be expert in doing is raising Evangelists - men and women with a passion to win souls because this is one of the greatest commands of our master Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.  

This command is both to the church as a body and to each and every individual born-again Christian. The joy of knowing the Lord gets to a new level when you can win a soul.  Winning is not as simple as it seems because there is nothing a man can do to win a soul the Holy Spirit convict and convince to surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

So, the soul winner needs to prepare himself before going out to witness Christ. He needs a good understanding of the word of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Why Preparation?
The purpose of evangelism and soul-winning is to reconcile man to his creator, to God and let him establish a relationship with Him, just as we all have a natural relationship with our earthly parents.  We run to them for every need we have as babes and children.  The same relationship of love and trust is what man is expected to have with God.

The soul winner would need to be a disciple of Christ first, empowered by the word of God and trained in how to handle and dispense the word.  Jesus said to His disciples in Acts 1:8 "Ye shall receive the power when the Holy Ghost shall come upon you. Ye shall be my witness to me..." It is His power working in us, it is His Spirit directing us on where to go and what to say that wins souls.

The Evangelist is to receive the Word of God in his spirit as the disciples received and they will also receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon them.  We are to sow the seed (which is the Word of God) and the Holy Ghost will germinate the word in the heart of the people, convict them of their sins and convince them to surrender to Jesus. 

The Bible says whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, How shall they call on whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe if they have not heard of Him and how would they hear without a preacher.  The Evangelist assumes the duties of a preacher, his message is JESUS, JESUS, AND JESUS.  

Our message is plainly Jesus Christ, who he is and what He has done to redeem the world from darkness into light. Why He died and the benefits of His death to their lives.

The Evangelist and Soul Winner should be trained. 

Jesus did not send out the twelve disciples to preach the gospel until they had spent three years with Him.  They received practical in every aspect of Christian life and work.  He taught them so much about attitude, judging others, comparing themselves, the secrets of the kingdom of heaven and its mysteries.

1. He taught them to examine themselves and remove the mot in their eyes before removing the bean in their brother's eyes.

2. He taught them to pray daily and always before preaching and endeavour to be doers of the Word and not mere preachers of the Word. 

3. He taught them that their action translates to their faith - It shows their faith and who they are trusting.

4. He taught His disciples that being called Christ-like would not exempt them from the temptations and trials of life.

5. Being call Christians would not exempt them from persecution from their families to the authorities.

6. He taught how to live like a New creature by Trusting in the Lord and not be afraid of anything, how to have faith and put their faith into use.  He says to Matha at the grave of his brother Lazarus saying: " if you will believe, you will see the glory of God".

7. He taught them the signs of the End times and what to expect and what they should be doing during such periods etc

Receive the Holy Ghost

You shall receive power when the Holy Ghost shall come upon you! 
The Lord gave His disciplines, both the Twelve, the Seventy and others who would want to preach the Word a strict instruction, not to leave Jerusalem until they are filled by the Holy Spirit, the promised of the Father. Today, we all know why He did that.  

We cannot win a single soul without the help of the Holy Spirit, so going out on evangelism and soul-winning without Him will amount to profitless hard work. But, if the Holy Ghost goes with you, success is sure.  

We are witnesses to the great accomplishment of Apostle Paul in the ministry without mentioning that it was the Holy Ghost that sent Paul and his companion forth.  No wonder he finished well and we are living witnesses of his exploits for Christ. The Holy Ghost is given to us as a guide and the power to do the work of God.

Who should train them - The Church

The church is the Training Centre for Evangelists, witnesses and Soul winners because of its unique position in the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ, Himself is the head of the church, the Holy Spirit convicts people and brings them to church to be nurtured and trained to be disciples of Christ.  If the church is not a Training ground for the work of God, then something is wrong. 

Again, the church should be the Centre for Evangelism and outreach implementation and so, churches that do not have vibrant Missions and Evangelism headed by a Spirit-filled Pastor/Prophet is still joking with the assignment and the great commission.  

Why the Church?

Here are some of the reasons why the church is best placed to train people for soul-winning:

1. One of the purposes of the church is to spread the gospel of Christ all over the world and to complete this action before Christ will return to take the church back to heaven.

2. The church is the Training Centre for new converts.  These new converts see the church as their home, the house of their God on earth and so they expect to receive teaching and training about God and the work of God, including how to win more souls into the family of God.

3. They are babes in the Lord and expect to be fed and nurtured in the house of their God  - the Church. They expect to be taught how to pray, study the Word of God, how live godly lives, how love God and have faith in Him.  They expect to be trained in how to win souls, grow in the Spirit and become mighty men of God.  The church should transfer the training of Christ to His disciples to these new converts and watch them grow in every aspect of Christian life including fellowship with other brethren and serving the Lord with passion.

4.  Only the church knows that receiving the Lord Jesus Christ is just the beginning of the Christian journey with Christ, the new converts do not know this.  Many of them thought that giving their heart to Jesus means freedom from all the troubles of life.  For some of them, it means freedom from joblessness, loneliness, and spiritual attacks. All things have indeed become new, but they must use the authority their new status gave them to stop the enemy.  They must know the written word of God and His promises and know how to use them in prayer to stop the enemy from harassing them.

5. Churches have the human capacity and members to reach out to more people than an individual, so churches should be sending out Evangelists and soul winners to different nations and cities as it was in the days of the Apostles.  Even if we are looking at local evangelism, the church would get more people to volunteer to join in the outreach, so the need for well-trained Officers/Pastors to coordinate the activities of the groups going out.

What should the Church do?

Brethren, I believe the basic purpose of the church of Christ is to win souls and train men to be like Jesus Christ and because the devil does not like either of the purposes, he fights the church and the individual members with fear of persecution, and death. But the Church must disabuse the minds of members to these imaginary and empty fear the devil throws at them and rise up to win souls.

One way to jump-start this noble course is to get everyone in the church involved in soul-winning at different times and programs.  It is important to give heavy importance to Training in every aspect of Christian life and make the training available to everyone in the church - FREE. 

The church should promote soul-winning in the youth and children churches because the young ones are very vibrant in soul winning and they can do it even in social media and more importantly they can save the lives of their friends.

The church should also give priority to Training and spiritual development, including Evangelism and soul-winning. I remember the Lord telling me to establish a vibrant Training and Spiritual growth ministry before so many other things I had planned to do in the Church some years back.

Both units should be competently staffed with vastly experienced Pastors and prophets, evangelists and Teachers as the task of winning the soul is the primary purpose of the church.  Some churches are Care-centred, which is very good, but what about millions that do not yet know the Lord, what about people who have since backslidden from the faith because no one is following them.  These are the duties of the Church, which we must do prayerfully and practically.

The church should know that people would attend all kinds of meetings except Evangelism and soul-winning meetings and outreaches and so, look for ways to motivate the interest of members to enjoy soul-winning and participate fully in outreaches.  We should have a pool of Missions and Soul-winning experts in the church and position many of them to be advocates of soul-winning among members of the Church.

There are people doing church work, and yet, not the work that Jesus called us to do; they have a form of godliness but know nothing of the power thereof. The average church is so bogged down with too much organization that the people simply do not have time to carry out the Great Commission in their individual lives.  If you watch prayer meetings, evangelism meetings and bible study meetings, these are the least attended meeting in the church today.  

We have to seek God's help and wisdom to motivate our members into the great commission individually and collectively.  The under-listed points are the reasons why we should witness and win souls as individuals. Also discussed below is the requirement of the individual soul winner as well as what the bible says about soul winning.

FIRE...