Source: EVANGELISM: A CONCISE HISTORY,
by John Mark Terry, 1994.
(These are teaching notes only; not meant for publication)
This very
readable informative book by a Southern Baptist missions professor gives a
brief overview of the history and methodologies of evangelism.
EVANGELISM: A BRIEF HISTORY #1
CHAPTER 1. JESUS THE EVANGELIST
Jesus was
Himself both the Great Evangel, the Good
News sent from the Father to save mankind, Luke 19:10, and the Great
Evangelist, both the Message and the
Messenger. Jesus fulfilled some 300
Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah and Savior for all
mankind.
THE PREPARATION FOR THE EVANGEL.
Gal. 4:4 states that “when the time had fully
come, God sent His Son”;
when the conditions were divinely prepared, Jesus came. The Greeks
provided a widespread common Greek
language and culture; the Romans provided good law and order, administration, peace and roads.
The Jews provided moral teaching, monotheism, a Messianic hope, the Greek Septuagint and Hebrew OT and
synagogues.
CHARACTERISTICS OF JESUS’ EVANGELISM.
Purposeful. Luke 19:10; Mark 10:45, “came to serve . . .
give his life as a ransom for many.”
Personal. Incarnational, John 1:14, “God in the
flesh.” Insightful, personal evangelism.
Pointed. Mark 8:34-38; 10:38-39, called to a cross to
bear & a cup of suffering to drink.
Perennial. At all times & places; John 4, at
Samaritan’s well at noon or to thieves on cross.
Pervasive. To both Jews & Gentiles; Matt. 28:19,
disciples commissioned “to ethnic groups.”
Patterned. Jesus modeled and demonstrated effective
evangelism.
Powerful. Jesus was anointed, empowered and led by the
Holy Spirit throughout His life.
Prayerful. Prayer was the source of Jesus’
intimate relationship with the Father & His power.
METHODS OF JESUS’ EVANGELISM.
Jesus used great variety in His evangelistic
methods, adopting His evangelism to each situation.
Jesus
extensively used personal evangelism;
Leighton Ford identified 35 personal
encounters.
Jesus
extensively used lifestyle evangelism,
witnessing & ministering in everyday situations.
Jesus often
preached and ministered to crowds and did extensive mass evangelism.
Jesus taught
much on the Kingdom of God. Jesus taught with authority; simply; by example; spent time & patience,
encouraged & respected His disciples; used practical illustrations
(parables).
Jesus used multiplication evangelism, training and
discipling His disciples to disciple others.
JESUS’
PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING. Coleman, THE MASTER PLAN OF EVANGELISM
1.
Selection.
2.
Association.
3.
Consecration.
4.
Impartation.
5.
Demonstration.
6.
Delegation.
7.
Supervision.
8.
Reproduction.
CHAPTER 2. EVANGELISM IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH
Jesus trained and commissioned His
disciples to continue the ministry that He began during His earthly ministry,
through the 5 Great Commissions and other instructions. The disciples’
ministry was continued in the Book of
Acts. Their basic message is
contained in Luke 24:46-47, that
forgiveness of sins is available to all upon repentance and faith in the
Person, cross and resurrection of Christ.
Acts 2 (Peter) and Acts 7 (Stephen) provide good examples
of apostolic sermons. 1 Cor. 15:3-6 summarizes the
gospel.
Paul built his doctrine on four foundational truths: (1) the deity of
Christ; (2) the inerrancy of the Scriptures; (3) the universality of the gospel
for both Jews and Gentiles; (4) the responsibility of the church to spread the
gospel.
In his preaching Paul emphasized
four points: (1) the deity of Christ;
(2) Christ’s atoning death on the cross; (3) the reality
of the resurrection of Christ; (4) the blessed hope of Jesus’ return to earth.
The early church preached that
Jesus came as the promised OT Messiah to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. Without compromising the meaning, they
adopted their message and methods to communicate effectively to their
audiences, as did Paul to the Jews in Acts
13, and to the Gentiles in Acts
17. Paul stated, “I have become all
things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some,” 1 Cor. 9:22.
THE STRATEGY OF THE APOSTLES.
It is very unlikely that the early
church followed a formal planned strategy in their evangelistic outreaches;
rather, apostles, believers and laypeople spontaneously and informally spread
the gospel as they traveled and scattered, being led and inspired by the Holy
Spirit.
- Paul likely did not have a formal
mission strategy; he seems to have followed an informal Spirit-led,
prayer-soaked ‘strategy’, as certain patterns are obvious in his ministry. Herbert
Kane (1976) notes:
- Paul maintained a close contact with his home church,
Antioch.
- Paul confined his work primarily to four Roman
provinces (Galatia, Asia, Macedonia, and Achaia.)
- Paul concentrated on the large key cities, along major
routes, establishing “mother churches.”
- Paul usually began his work in the local synagogue if
one existed, first targeting god-fearers.
- Paul preferred to preach to responsive peoples,
endeavoring to be both fruitful and faithful.
- Paul baptized converts when they made their profession
of faith.8.
- Paul remained in one place long enough to establish a
church, & trained & appointed local leaders.
- Paul made good use of fellow workers by employing a
team ministry; was not a ‘lone Ranger’.
- Paul became all things to all persons, 1 Cor. 9:19-23.
Summary of early church evangelism and ministry:
1.
The apostles’
ministry was inclusive; they targeted all races and nationalities.
2.
The apostles emphasized church planting, esp. in key
cities, where branching churches spread.
3.
The general movement of the church was westward, though
some went east (Thomas to India).
4.
The apostolic church confined itself primarily to
Greek-speaking areas within the Roman Empire.
EVANGELISM - A BRIEF HISTORY, # 2
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE APOSTLES.
The Holy Spirit is so prominent in
the Book of Acts that many commentators have suggested that it could be called “The
Acts of the Holy Spirit”. The Holy
Spirit clearly gave the apostles that divine power and anointing that they
needed to effectively proclaim and demonstrate the gospel.
1.
The fullness of the Holy Spirit gave the apostles
boldness. Acts 4:31; Peter after Pentecost.
2.
The Holy Spirit empowered the apostles’ preaching, Col. 1:28-29.
3.
The Holy Spirit worked signs and wonders through the
early Christians, Acts 11:44-47.
4.
The Holy Spirit called out missionaries and
evangelists, Acts 13:1-3; Eph. 4:11-12.
5.
The Holy Spirit gave spiritual gifts to believers, 1 Cor. 12-14; Eph. 4:11-12.
6.
The Holy Spirit guided the apostles as they carried out
their mission, Acts 16:6-10.
OPPOSITION TO APOSTOLIC EVANGELISM.
The unbelieving Jews were the early church’s greatest source of human opposition to the
Christian faith. Saul initially was the church’s
greatest persecutor, but after conversion Paul became the church’s greatest defender and
missionary, and became the unbelieving Jews’
greatest target for persecution. Pagan idolaters also were prominent
persecutors of the early church, Acts
19. At first enjoying legal
protection as a sect of Judaism, the Christian faith increasingly was seen as a
separate and thus illegal religion. At
first persecution was primarily local and against certain missionaries and
believers, Acts 16:22-24. In time the Roman authorities became the most serious persecutors of the
early church, initiating at least ten
Roman Empire wide persecutions, which lasted into the third century, when
Constantine brought tolerance.
METHODS OF EVANGELISM.
1.
Mass evangelism, Peter, Acts 2.
2.
Public preaching, Paul, Acts 26, Acts 28.
3.
House to house witnessing, Acts 5:42, family evangelism,
Acts 10:23-48, Acts 16.
4.
Evangelistic campaigns, Philip in Samaria, Acts 8.
5.
Personal witnessing, Philip & the Ethiopian eunuch,
Acts 8:26-38, Antioch, Acts 11:19.
6.
Public debate, Paul at Mars Hill in Athens, Acts 17.
7.
Lay evangelism, Acts 8:1-4, Acts 11:19.
8.
Literary evangelism, the four Gospels were evangelistic
tracts.
9.
Church planting, Paul and Barnabas, Acts 14:21-23.
10.
Home Bible studies, Acts 20:20, no formal church
buildings, but homes, schools, halls, temples.
CHAPTER 3. EVANGELISM IN THE ANCIENT CHURCH (to 500 AD)
The apostolic period is generally regarded from 33 to 100 AD, when the last apostle, John, died. The Apostolic church is believed to have been
composed mainly of small home
fellowships, was largely urban,
and spoke primarily Greek.
The Ante-Nicene period is before
the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, while the Post-Nicene period is from 325-500
AD. Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicea in 325 AD by inviting 318 bishops to Rome, from
Spain in the West to Persia in the East and many places in-between. During the second century the Christian faith
spread especially along the major roads and rivers of the Empire, and among the
cities, and then gradually spread into the surrounding rural areas. (Note, the work pagan comes from the Latin pagani,
meaning rural. By AD 200 Kenneth Latourette estimated that Christians could be found in all
the provinces of the Roman Empire as well as in Mesopotamia.
The Church grew slowly but steadily
until about 260 AD, when there was a spurt of rapid growth from 260 to 303 AD.
This was due to economic
struggles and civil strife in
the Empire, esp. effecting rural & poor peoples, who increasingly turned to
the Christian faith in their suffering. Lack of persecution also favored growth
during this time. During Emperor Diocletian’s
Empire-wide edict of persecution from AD
303 to 311 many Christians were martyred, and growth slowed for a time. Growth greatly increased after Constantine issued his edict of tolerance in 311 AD and his Edict
of Milan in 313 AD.
THE METHODS OF THE ANTE-NICENE CHURCH.
Itinerant evangelists. Eusebius
and the Didache affirm the ministry
of these traveling preachers.
Evangelistic bishops. Ex: Irenaeus
(Lyons), Gregory Thaumaturgos (Pontus).
Lay evangelists. Biggest source of growth, esp. merchants, soldiers, women.
Public preaching. Eusebius
records that Thaddaeus preached
publicly in Edessa.
Teaching. Catechetical schools also trained
evangelists and missionaries, Origen won
Gregory.
Household
evangelism. No church buildings but home churches for 200 years.
Literary evangelism. Apologetics
(defenses of the faith), polemics (attacks
on heresy), letters.
Personal example. Moral, exemplary lifestyles esp. under
persecution was great witness.
Social service. Much caring for poor, widows, orphans,
slaves, sick, dying, prisoners, suffering, etc.
CHURCH GROWTH, AD. 325 - 500.
(POST-NICENE PERIOD)
In the Post-Nicene period Christian growth was
greatly increased by many “nominal
conversions” and mass
baptisms, thus increasing the quantity but diminishing the quality of the
Church. The Church also became
increasingly institutionalized,
hierarchal and political, and Roman Catholic. Increasing barbarian invasions also destroyed and challenged the
churches. Thus monastic communities developed and monks proliferated in an effort to deal with increasing nominality,
institutionalization, etc.
- Evangelistic bishops. Many during this time. Ex: Ulfilas
(missionary bishop to the Goths), Martin of Tours (Gaul), Ambrose of
Milan, John Chrysostom (bishop of Constantinople).
- Monastic Evangelism. Many sincere Christians became monks and joined monasteries, and some became local
evangelists or foreign missionaries to the non-Christians.
- Individual evangelists. Traveling preachers. Ex: Philaster,
“second
Paul”, Patrick of Ireland.
- Lay Evangelism. Many, spontaneous, esp. merchants, soldiers, captives,
etc.
5. The
church grew because of divine blessing.
6. The
church grew because Christians were zealous.
7. The
church grew because the gospel was appealing; monotheism, uniqueness of Christ,
high morals.
8. The
church grew because of its organization and discipline.
9. The
church grew because of its inclusiveness; burst Judaism and became truly a
universal faith.
10. The church
grew because of its members’
lifestyle; good examples, morals, charity, hospitality.
11. The church
grew because it worked at growing; they were evangelistic and missionary.
EVANGELISM: A BRIEF HISTORY, # 3
CHAPTER 4. EVANGELISM IN THE MIDDLE AGES (500 - 1500 AD,
“the Dark Ages”)
This was a period of great turmoil, the invasions of the barbarians, the German and other tribes, the collapse of the Roman Empire, and the growth and development of the Roman
Catholic Church. By 500 AD most of
the territories of the Roman Empire was Christianized, and evangelization and
Christianization continued slowly until by 1500 AD Europe was thoroughly but
nominally Christianized.
EVANGELISM THROUGH MONASTICISM.
During the Middle Ages monasticism was the main force of
spiritual vitality and evangelism.
Serious Christians repulsed by others’
immorality withdrew themselves and became hermits and monks, and these
eventually formed themselves into monasteries.
In 529 AD Benedict of Nursia, regarded
as the patriarch of Western monasticism, founded a monastery at Monte Cassino near Rome and established
a set of rules for life and behavior, which became a common model for other
monasteries. Benedict’s rules followed four
emphases: (1) Organization; abbot as
leader; (2) Vows; of poverty, chastity & obedience; (3) Exercise; strict schedule of worship,
work & study; (4) Simplicity; in all of life.
Monastic life went through stages
of decline and renewal, reflecting
the life of the RC church. Monasticism
developed through four stages: (1) Eremitic monasticism (hermits); (2)
Cenobitic monasticism (communities); (3) Monastic orders (practical, organized,
inter-related); (4) Mendicant orders (friars who traveled and preached). The Dominicans
and Franciscans were the best
known of the latter type. Monasteries
preserved and advanced Western culture
and learning, and were centers of
education, they had libraries,
the monks could read and write, and
became the main evangelists, preachers and missionaries in ever
widening areas as new monasteries were established. Good examples are Columba (521-597, to Ireland and Scotland from Iona; Aidan, and Willibrord (658-739), to Holland.
EVANGELIZATION THROUGH INDIVIDUAL MISSIONARIES.
Augustine of Canterbury was sent (596) by Pope Gregory the Great to evangelize and Roman Catholicize the British. Although initially
encountering opposition, the king and many others converted to RC faith, and
many pagan temples were converted into churches. Boniface
(680-754) was an effective missionary to the Frisians & Germans. The
two brothers Cyril & Methodius
(862) were great Byzantine missionaries to the Slavic peoples of Ukraine,
Bulgaria, Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia). Francis
of Assisi (1182-1226) founded the Franciscan
order, which became an effective mission esp. to the poor. Johann
Tauler (1300-1361) after a renewal period became a powerful preacher in Germany.
EVANGELIZATION BY RULERS.
It was common for rulers and kings
to forcibly “convert” their subjects during the
Middle Ages. An example is Charlemagne, whom Pope Leo III crowned as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1800.
Princess Olga of Russia became Christian and influenced her grandson
Vladimir, who accepted Greek Orthodox Christianity and ordered
his army and subjects to be baptized and become Christians. Evangelism during the Middle Ages became
largely a sacramental matter of incorporation into the Roman Catholic or
Orthodox Church through baptism,
and partaking of mass and holy communion. Mass “conversions”
were therefore common, but this resulted in many nominal Christians.
Graphic depictions of the horrors of hell and the joys of heaven also
influenced many people.
We can many lessons for evangelism during this period, including:
- Dedicated individuals can make a great difference; Ex: Boniface; Francis of Assis.
- Sharing the gospel with rulers and leaders is
important; they can be greatly influential.
CHAPTER 5. FORERUNNERS OF THE REFORMATION
There was increasing institutionalization, formalism and corruption among the
Roman Catholic Church during the later Middle Ages, who continued to conduct
the mass only in Latin. Thus reform movements gradually arose.
Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyons, southern France, in 1170
had a remarkable religious experience, after which he sold his possessions
and traveled and preached the gospel.
His followers became known as the
Waldenses and the Poor Men of Lyons,
who spread widely in southern Europe and preached evangelical truth and spread
reform ideas in local languages.
John Wycliffe (1329-1384) has been called “the Morning Star of the Reformation” by
some. Wycliffe was for many years a
quiet professor at Oxford University in
England, and only in the last nine years of his life did he begin striving
for reform in the church. Wycliffe
maintained that the Bible was the final authority for Christians’ faith and practice, not
the RC Church, emphasized lay ministry, and the translation of the Bible into English. He sent out traveling lay “Poor
Priests”, who preached widely, and his sizable
followers became known as the Lollards,
who “mumbled” or recited the Scriptures and prayers. Wycliffe was later condemned by the RC
Church, but his ideas greatly influenced later reformers.
Jan Hus (1369-1415) of Bohemia
(Czechoslovakia) was for many years a professor at the University of Prague, who gradually espoused reform ideas similar
to Wycliffe and the Waldenses. Like
Waldo and Wycliffe before him, Hus emphasized preaching of the Word of God in
the common language of the people, and lay ministry. He preached reform of the Church, and was
excommunicated by the RC Church in 1410, and burned at the stake as a heretic
in 1415. Hus’ followers became known as Hussites, and were persecuted and
scattered, and eventually became the Bohemian
Brethren and the Moravians.
CHAPTER 6. EVANGELISM DURING THE REFORMATION
WHAT CAUSED THE REFORMATION?
Political factors: Germany wanted to break from Roman rule and be
independent; the RC Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, was too preoccupied with
wars with France and the Turks to suppress the reform movement. Social
and economic factors: Civil unrest caused by natural disasters, crop
failures and shifting social and economic patterns, industrialization.
Intellectual factors: The Renaissance, new universities and schools
brought many new ideas, Erasmus’ recently published Greek New Testament. Technological
factors: The invention of the printing press and the widespread printing of
reform literature. Religious factors: Northern Europeans resented heavy RC taxation,
corruption in the RC Church, and earlier reform movements, i.e., Waldenses, Lollards, Hussites, had
prepared many for the Reformation. Personal factors: The character and
strong faith of the main reformers, Luther,
Zwingli & Calvin.
EVANGELISM BY THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.
When Martin Luther (1483-1546) posted his Ninety-five Theses on the Wittenberg
Castle door in 1517 as a protest
against RC practices like indulgences, he wanted to reform the RC church, not
start another church. But Luther’s ideas quickly became
widely known and accepted, precipitating the Reformation. He taught justification by faith in Christ, not works, the authority of the
Scriptures, and the priesthood of all believers. Luther’s
teaching, preaching and publications (one
hundred books and pamphlets) were very influential, and reform ideas were
spread into many north European countries, where various rulers and princes
became Lutheran. Luther translated the Bible into the German
language, which translation was used for centuries. Luther wrote some popular hymns (“A
Mighty Fortress is Our God”)
and popularized congregational singing. Although Luther was excommunicated by the
Pope in 1521, he was protected by the local prince and died peacefully in
1546.
EVANGELISM - A BRIEF HISTORY, # 4
EVANGELISM BY THE REFORMED CHURCH.
Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) came from a wealthy Swiss family and received a good education, and became a famous
preacher. After becoming the parish
priest at Zurich, he espoused &
taught reform ideas similar to Luther’s,
although he maintained that he got them from the Bible. After a public debate with a RC scholar in
Zurich in 1523 the Zurich city council voted for reform, and his reform ideas
spread widely.
John Calvin (1509-1564) was a brilliant
scholar and theologian who embraced reform ideas. In 1536
Calvin published his famous Institutes
of the Christian Religion, which became the most influential writing of
Reformation thought. Calvin became the
Reform leader in Geneva, which in
time became a model Reformed Christian community. Calvin’s
ideas spread widely, as to John Knox of
Scotland.
EVANGELISM BY THE ANABAPTISTS.
The Anabaptists (re-baptizers) wanted to go further (thus the Radical Reformation) than the main
Reformers and revolutionize the church, restoring New Testament practices. The first Anabaptists were followers of Ulrich Zwingli of Zurich,
Switzerland, but broke with him over their strong insistence that only mature believing adults should be baptized
upon profession of their faith in Christ.
On January 21, 1525 George
Blaurock was first re-baptized, and he then baptized Felix Manz, Conrad Grebel and others, and thus the Swiss Brethren of Anabaptism
began. Persecuted by both Protestants
and Catholics, various Anabaptist groups spread widely, helped by the
persecution and their extensive evangelistic activity. Balthasar
Hubmaier and Jacob Hutter spread
Anabaptism in Moravia, and Menno Simon in
Holland.
CHAPTER 7. PIETISM AND EVANGELISM
German Pietism developed as part of a larger spiritual reform
movement of the English Puritans and the Dutch Reformed Church. It reacted against dead orthodoxy within the Lutheran Church and a decline of morality due to the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).
The Pietist movement built upon the
best of the Lutheran, Calvinist and Anabaptist Reformation ideas, but went
beyond that to emphasize experiential
faith of the heart. They emphasized personally being born again and
regeneration and sanctification, personal Bible study & cottage prayer
meetings, joyous intimate fellowship with Christ, daily obedient discipleship,
fervent evangelistic and missions outreach, and social ministry.
Philip Jacob Spener (1635-1705) was a great Pietist leader who in
1675 published his influential Pia
Desideria (Earnest Desires). He
became the pastor of a church in Berlin,
and founded the Pietist University of
Halle.
Spener’s student, August Hermann Francke (1663-1727) became a famed Pietist leader
and teacher at the University of Halle,
thus helping to train many Pietist evangelists and missionaries.
Count Nickolaus von Zinzendorf was a wealthy German count who with
300 Hussites established a Christian
community at Herrnhut, known as the Moravian
Brethren. Zinzendorf became a
zealous pastor and supporter and organizer of missions. For almost 200 years before other
Protestants, the Moravian Brethren sent
out many zealous missionaries to establish indigenous churches in North
America, Greenland, Labrador, the British West Indies, Central America and
Africa.
CHAPTER 9. THE GREAT AWAKENING IN AMERICA (Placed first because it occurred first)
The American colonies were at a moral low point in 1700, with much
drunkenness, immorality and nominality in the churches, especially in the
South. The Half-Way Covenant had allowed many unsaved to become baptized and
become members of Presbyterian and other churches. God used some men greatly influenced by
Pietist theology to begin the revival. Theodore Frelinghuysen (1691-1747) was
from Germany and Holland, but became pastor
of several Dutch Reformed churches in New Jersey. Amid controversy, he preached that his
members must be personally converted, and eventually conversions and revival
resulted. Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764) was a Presbyterian pastor who also preached personal conversion and
revival, and brought great revival, as did also his father William Tennent and his brothers John & William Tennent, Jr.
Jonathan Edwards was a brilliant
Yale scholar and later pastor at Northampton, Mass., who preached personal
conversion and revival, which brought great revival in Mass. and in New
England. George Whitefield made seven trips to America and preached widely
both in New England and the South, and had great crowds, conversions and
revival. The numerous revivalist “New Lights”
were opposed by many traditional “Old Light” pastors, yet
revival continued, first through itinerant revivalists, second by revived
pastors who preached personal conversion and revival. Most churches grew, and many new churches
were begun, but especially Baptist and
Methodist churches in the South. The
Great Awakening resulted in the development of democracy, unification of the
colonies, development of American individualistic religion of personal
conversion, revival meetings,
extemporaneous preaching, founding of new schools and colleges, improved
morality, many new converts, and increased home & foreign missions.
CHAPTER 8. REVIVAL IN THE BRITISH ISLES
The Evangelical Revival or Wesleyan
revival in the British Isles
occurred during a low period. Forerunners of the revival were German Pietism,
English Puritanism, and the Great Awakening in America. George
Whitefield (born in 1714) basically began the revival in 1739 after a powerful spiritual
experience at Fetter Lane in London,
when increasing crowds attended his indoor and outdoor meetings where he
increasingly preached extemporaneously.
Up to 50,000 attended his meetings in Bristol, London, and in America
during the Great Awakening there.
Before leaving for America, Whitefield recommended the Wesleys, who took over leadership of
the revival in the British Isles.
John Wesley (1703-1791) was an Oxford
University graduate and an ordained
Church of England priest, who through contacts with Moravians and Pietists on May
24, 1738 had a personal conversion experience, “I felt my
heart strangely warmed. I felt I did
trust Christ, Christ alone, for salvation.” He became an energetic preacher, writer
& organizer of the Methodist
movement, which after his death broke from Anglicanism. He organized his followers into classes and societies, built chapels, organized annual conferences, and encouraged lay preachers and traveling circuit
riders-preachers. His doctrine can
be summed up as “universal, free, sure and full salvation”;
justification by grace alone, true freedom of the human will, assurance through
the witness of the Holy Spirit, & sanctification. Wesley wrote his Twenty-Five Articles to summarize Methodist doctrine. In his lifetime Wesley traveled over 250,000
miles, mainly by horseback, preached over 40,000 sermons and produced 200
written works.
John’s
brother Charles Wesley (born 1708)
was also an effective preacher, but is best known for his music and prolific hymn writing; he is known as “the
greatest hymn writer of all ages.”
He wrote a total of 8,989 hymns, and published fifty-six volumes of
hymns in fifty-three years.
The Wesleyan revival positively
influenced much of the British Isles, making an evangelical impact in the
Church of England’s John Newton, Henry Venn & William Wilberforce
and the British Baptists and William
Carey and others.
EVANGELISM - A BRIEF HISTORY, # 5
CHAPTER 10. EVANGELISM ON THE AMERICAN FRONTIER
After the American Revolutionary War (1776-1783) churches grew steadily
westward amidst much difficulty. Methodist circuit riders, traveling
evangelists and pastors, and lay
preachers, were especially effective in expanding on the Western
frontier. Francis Asbury (1745-1816), who John Wesley ordained as the first
bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church
in America, was a great preacher and the key organizer of American
Methodist churches.
The Baptist churches also grew well on the frontier, due mainly to of
their evangelistic zeal and their
use of bi-vocational pastors and farmer-preachers. These were usually uneducated but sincere
believers, and their sharing of the work and lifestyle of the congregation made
them indigenous leaders. Their self-governing
autonomy polity also aided them in rapid growth on the frontier.
The Second Great Awakening which swept through the United States from 1800-1830 did much to keep Americans
from the error of Deism (the belief that God created the world and initiated
laws to govern it but is no longer active in governing it) and the West from
deteriorating into barbarianism.
In the East the Second Great
Awakening began as revivals in some
Presbyterian and Congregational colleges, which then spread to local
churches and was propagated by pastors from these colleges. Timothy
Dwight, president of the Congregational Yale College, preached biblical truth until a revival began there
and many students were converted and revived.
Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice participated in these
campus revivals and later became the first
American foreign missionaries.
In the West with its massive migration and growth and resultant “freedom” there were growing
problems with homemade whiskey and drunkenness and immoral living, etc. The Second Great Awakening helped change
this. Two Presbyterian preachers, James
McGreedy and Barton Stone,
helped bring revival. In 1800 McGreedy
held meetings at the Red River
Meetinghouse in Kentucky where revival broke out, and then at the first camp meeting at Gasper River, Kentucky revival also broke out. Barton Stone then began camp meeting at Cane Ridge near Paris, Kentucky, where
revival also broke out. Camp meetings
and revival meetings became popular among many churches, especially among
Baptists and Methodists, thousands were saved, many new churches founded, the
Western frontier was greatly impacted.
CHAPTER 11. NINETEENTH-CENTURY REVIVALISM
During the nineteenth century revival meetings, camp meetings and traveling evangelists became
commonplace. Charles G. Finney (1792-1875) was considered the greatest evangelist of his day and the
“father of modern revivalism.” Finney became a lawyer in New York and attended a local Presbyterian church, and in
1821 had a personal conversion experience in which he felt the Holy Spirit
going through him “like a wave of electricity”
and in “waves and waves of liquid
love.” He immediately began to witness about Jesus
and in 1825 began to preach revivals, esp. in north and western New York
during 1825-1831. He was very successful, and 500,000 in his
lifetime made decisions for Christ. He
believed that revivals were not entirely
God’s sovereign work,
but were the result of “the right use of the constituted means,” such as repentance,
prayer, obedience, preaching, as his book Lectures
on Revivals of Religion reveals. In
1831 he became the pastor of Chatham Street
Chapel in New York City, and then Broadway
Tabernacle in NYC. In his later
years he became a professor at Oberlin
College in Ohio, while he continued to pastor a local Congregational church
and to preach revivals. Finney rejected
Calvinistic predestination and espoused Arminian
free will to make decisions for Christ.
Finney used many new methods that others followed, including using the “protracted meeting” of
several weeks of nightly meetings, called for all churches to cooperate in a “union
meeting”, used advertizing and
organized groups for prayer before a
campaign, trained counselors and
hired music directors in his
meetings.
Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) was called the greatest evangelist of the 1800's, and was esp. successful in
organizing large citywide united evangelistic campaigns using “modern, business” methods. Moody was from a poor farm family near Northfield, Mass., and only had a fifth
grade education. At age 17 Moody went to
Boston to work as a clerk in his uncle’s
shoe store, and attended the local Congregational church. On April
21, 1855 his Sunday School teacher, Edward
Kimball, went to the shoe store and witnessed to Moody and led him to
Christ. At age 19 Moody moved to Chicago and got involved in the shoe
and other business ventures, while also getting involved in personal
evangelism, Sunday School and YMCA ministry.
By 1861 he began full time ministry, directing the Chicago YMCA and fund
raising, and increasingly preached in YMCA conventions, and from 1871 he
preached in numerous itinerant evangelism campaigns esp. in large cities in the
USA and England. In 1864 Moody built the
church that is today Moody Memorial
Church. In 1879 he founded Northfield Seminary for girls, and in
1881 he founded the Mount Herman School for
boys. The Student Volunteer Movement, which propelled some 20,000 students
into foreign missions, began at his Mount
Herman Bible Conference at Northfield in 1886. In 1886 he also founded the Chicago Evangelization Society, which
later became Moody Bible Institute. Moody can be considered as a biblicist and as the “first
fundamentalist.” Moody’s
theology could be summarized by three
R’s: man is “ruined by the fall”, “redeemed
by the blood”, and “regenerated by the Spirit.”
He was the first to widely apply
modern business principles in his citywide evangelistic campaigns, and to
use extensive organization and cooperative committees, the “inquirers’ row” where
counselors helped inquirers, decision
cards, and extensive use of music in
evangelism, i.e., Ira Sankey. His messages were simple, sincere,
Christ-centered, decision challenging, replete with good illustrations, stories
and humor. As many as 100,000 people may
have made decisions for Christ through his ministry.
Other prominent evangelists of the 1800s
include Rodney “Gipsy” Smith
(1860-1947), a Britisher who preached in England and the USA; Henry Moorhouse (1840-1880), who
greatly influenced Moody; J. Wilbur Chapman (1859-1918), who worked
with Moody for a time and was Billy Sunday’s
mentor; and Sam Jones (1847-1906), a
Methodist evangelist who developed the concept of an evangelistic team.
CHAPTER 12. TWENTIETH-CENTURY REVIVALISTS
Although there were a number of
famous Evangelical evangelists in the early twentieth century, i.e., R. A. Torrey, J. Wilbur Chapman, Sam Jones,
George Stewart, W. E. Biederwolf, the colorful and energetic Billy Sunday (1862-1935) was the most
famous and successful of them all.
Sunday was born into a poor family on a farm near Ames, Iowa, and after his father died he spent some time in an
orphanage. He didn’t have much education, and
because of his baseball talent he
was recruited by the Chicago White Sox
in 1883. In 1886 Sunday accepted Christ,
and became increasingly involved in Christian service, witnessing and evangelistic
preaching. His reputation built slowly,
to where his greatest popularity was from 1905 to 1920. He preached simple but powerful,
Christ-centered, often colorful, athletic, patriotic, anti-booze, morality-pushing, “old
time religion” messages that challenged people to make decisions for Christ and
“hit the sawdust trail.” His campaigns brought in much money and he
was criticized for living a luxurious lifestyle. Sunday claimed he preached to live audiences of 100 million and that over one million made decisions for Christ
in his three hundred revivals during
his forty year ministry.
Billy Graham is indisputably the best known and respected
evangelist of the twentieth century and the elder statesman of American evangelicals. Billy was
born on November 7, 1918 on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina to devout Presbyterian parents. Billy
regularly attended Sunday School, and at age 12, having memorized the beliefs
of the Shorter Catechism, he was admitted into the Presbyterian Church. He publicly received Christ as his Savior in
1934 at age 16, when he responded to an altar call during a series of
evangelistic meetings conducted by Evangelist
Mordecai Ham. In 1936 Billy attended
Bob Jones College in Cleveland, Tenn.
for a semester, and then transferred to Florida
Bible Institute in Tampa, FL. It is here that Billy sensed and responded to
a call into full time ministry, began preaching locally, joined the Southern Baptist church, and in 1939 was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister. In 1940 he attended Wheaton College near Chicago, IL. and received a B.A. degree in
1943.
EVANGELISM - A BRIEF HISTORY, # 6
In 1943 Billy married Ruth Bell, the daughter of Presbyterian
missionaries to China. For two years
Billy was the pastor of the small
Baptist church in Western Springs,
IL. near Chicago, and spoke on a local radio program called “Songs
in the Night”, working with George Beverly Shea. He
applied for and was appointed as an army
chaplain, but illness and friends persuaded him in 1945 to resign his
pastorate and army commission to be the field representative for Youth for Christ International, which
he was already successfully involved in.
From 1945-1950 Billy organized and preached at numerous Youth for Christ
rallies in the USA, Canada and the British Isles, working with Cliff Barrows as his song leader and
master of ceremonies. During 1947-1949
Billy was also the president of
Northwestern College in Minneapolis, MN.
It was his citywide crusade in Los Angeles, CA. in the fall of 1950, which
catapulted Billy into national attention.
Several well-known celebrities and gangsters were converted, and William Randolph Hearst cabled his
editors to “puff Graham” (give
Graham publicity) in his nationwide newspapers.
In 1950 Billy also organized the Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association with headquarters in Minneapolis, MN. While Billy
now lives near Montreat, North Carolina,
much of his evangelistic ministry has been directed from and conducted by the BGEA of Minneapolis, MN. Since then Billy and his team of the BGEA
have conducted citywide, racially integrated, inter-denominational evangelistic
crusades in every major American city and most of the world’s major cities. Billy has worked with a loyal team in the
BGEA, including Grady Wilson, Assoc.
Evangelist, Cliff Barrows, song leader & master of ceremonies, and George
Beverly Shea, soloist. The BGEA also
conducts “Schools
of Evangelism” during their crusades to train pastors
and others for evangelism. The BGEA has
sponsored three international congresses on evangelism: Berlin (1966), Lausanne (1974) & Amsterdam (1986). Recognizing the notorious weakness of follow-up in crusade evangelism, with
the help of Dawson Trotman, founder of
the Navigators, and others, the BGEA has greatly improved their follow-up
by recruiting and training many counselors for inquirers, writing and using
good follow-up literature to help new converts, and by setting up offices which
for six months after a crusade coordinates continued follow-up of all converts
by local churches.
The BGEA’s World
Wide Pictures has produced over 100 films for evangelism and
discipleship. Since 1950 “The Hour of Decision”
radio program has touched millions, and often crusades and other programs
are broadcast on television. In 1952
Billy began writing a newspaper column
“My Answer”, and in 1960 Decision magazine was begun.
Billy has written a number of popular books, including Peace
With God, How to Be Born Again, World Aflame, Approaching
Hoofbeats, and Angels, Angels,
Angels. In 1956 he helped found
“Christianity Today”
magazine.
Billy Graham’s character,
financial integrity (he accepts only a modest annual salary from BGEA), moral purity and impeccable family life, together with his love for all people and friendship
with rich and poor, and simple
Christ-centered messages, have endeared him to millions of people (he has
been voted as the most respected man in
America for many years.) He has been
an extremely successful evangelist and minister, and considering everything, we
can only say, “The hand of the Lord is upon him”
and blessed him.
CHAPTER 13. YOUTH EVANGELISM
For the first time in church
history, specific ministries directed to youth were developed in the nineteenth
century. George Williams founded the Young
Men’s
Christian Association (YMCA) in England
in 1844, and the Young Women’s
Christian Association (YWCA) was founded in 1851 also in England,
and these ministries quickly expanded to the USA and Canada. They
promoted evangelism, prayer and Bible study, besides social events esp. for
urban youth. Luther Wishard & John R. Mott were two outstanding leaders of
the YMCA in America who were much involved in youth evangelism and mission
organization.
The Student Volunteer Movement (SVM) for Foreign Missions, organized in
1888 in Northfield, Mass. with
the help of D. L. Moody, with their
watchword “The
evangelization of the world in this generation”, influenced 175,000 college
students to sign pledges to pursue foreign missions, of which 21,000 served on the foreign
field. It’s
high point was in 1920, but it declined after this until by 1940 it ceased to
be a great influence for missions. In
the early 1900s denominations like the Methodists and Baptists and others
established student centers on
colleges to minister to and evangelize students.
Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) began in England and came
to the USA in 1928, being incorporated
in the USA in 1940. IVCF was esp.
involved in evangelism, discipleship and missions. Since 1948 tri-annual missions conferences
challenge students for missions on the University
of Illinois campus at Urbana, IL. Inter-Varsity
Press also publishes books on discipleship and missions.
Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), the largest and best known
ministry to students today, was founded in 1951 by Bill Bright on the UCLA
campus, and quickly expanded to other campuses. In 1960 CCC bought a defunct hotel resort at Arrowhead Springs, CA., which has
become a great headquarters and training center, at which in 1978 the Great Commission School of Theology was
founded. CCC and Bright believe in aggressive evangelism (taking the
offensive, but not being offensive), which is physical (going to people), verbal
and volitional. Much evangelism is done and many decisions
have resulted by using their booklet “The
Four Spiritual Laws”. CCC also uses innovative evangelism
methods like Athletes in Action, a professional
basketball team which witnesses during half-time, the effective apologist Josh McDowell, the magician Andre Kole, the large evangelistic
efforts Explo -72 in Dallas and Explo -74 in Seoul, Korea, the Here’s Life
America phone evangelism campaign in USA cities, and other endeavors.
Youth ministries directed toward high school students were also founded
in the early 1900s, like Young Life
and Jack Wyrtzen’s Word of
Life Hour. In 1944 Torrey Johnson began the Chicagoland Youth for Christ, which
resulted in the founding of Youth for
Christ International in 1945. The young Billy Graham was YFC’s
first traveling evangelist and promoter, and it rapidly expanded throughout the
USA and into many foreign countries. Bob Cook became the effective president
in 1948. In the 1950s YFC began
organizing high school Bible clubs called Campus
Life, which expanded widely. YFC has
declined somewhat in recent years in the USA, but is thriving in many foreign
countries.
The Sunday School movement has long been an effective tool to
evangelize and disciple both youth and adults.
Robert Raikes of Gloucester, England started the first
Sunday School in 1780, and by his death in 1811 400,000 youth attended Sunday
School classes all over England. The first Sunday School began in America in
1785 in Virginia. American Sunday
Schools in America got their greatest boost when the American Sunday School Union was organized in 1824. The Methodists and Baptists began using SS
extensively, and gradually other denominations followed suit. Stephen
Paxson of the ASSU was esp. effective in beginning Sunday Schools
throughout the Mississippi Valley, enrolling 83,000 youth and establishing
1,314 Sunday Schools. Arthur Flake of the Southern Baptist
Convention was a very effective leader, developing his “Five
Commandments” for Sunday School directors, which helped
propel Southern Baptist Sunday Schools and growth tremendously. The 1970's saw great Sunday School growth
among many churches, esp. Bible Baptists, fundamentalists and Pentecostals, and
the use of church buses.
CHAPTER 14. PERSONAL EVANGELISM
D. L. Moody and others used door to door and various personal
evangelism efforts in the 19th and esp. in the 20th
century. In 1913 the pastors of
Indianapolis, IN. conducted a three year citywide visitation program, in which
about 20,000 new members were added. In
1914 St. Louis, MO. pastors conducted a “One-to-win-One
Campaign”, in which religious census and door to
door witnessing netted 10,000 new members.
A. Earl Kernahan refined visitation evangelism to a fine art,
leading many citywide campaigns using local volunteers to enlist prospects who signed a “Decision Card”
to join a local church; he had remarkable success, claiming to enlist
185,867 prospects from 1923 to 1929.
EVANGELISM - A BRIEF HISTORY, # 7
Southern Baptists have traditionally been strong in
evangelism. C. E. Matthew as Evangelism
Director of the Home Missions Board
published his influential book The
Southern Baptist Program of Evangelism in 1949, in which he advised state
conventions and entire churches to become involved in evangelism efforts in
organized ways, and his recommendations and leadership helped greatly increase
Southern Baptist baptisms and growth in the 1940s and 1950s. Following a decline in baptisms in the 1960s,
leaders then promoted Lay Evangelism
Schools using the WIN, “Witness
Involvement Now”, materials, including
the tract “How
to Have a Full and Meaningful Life”, similar to the “Four
Spiritual Laws”,
throughout the USA, which increased evangelism and SBC Baptists. The SBC also developed the Continuing Witness Training program, a
13 week evangelism training course which was modeled after Evangelism
Explosion.
As noted earlier, Campus Crusade for Christ, founded by Bill Bright in 1951, was very
successful in student evangelism using their “Four
Spiritual Laws” booklet. Pastors asked CCC for help in training their
laypeople, and CCC thus began their Lay
Institute for Evangelism program in 1971.
In 1972 CCC sponsored their "Explo -72"
in Dallas, TX, combining evangelism training conferences, nightly rallies
and musical concerts, and a citywide door to door campaign, which resulted in
5,000 decisions for Christ. CCC in
1976 sponsored the “Here’s
Life, America” program, using the “I
found it!” slogan & various radio, TV & newspaper advertising &
evangelistic telephone evangelism by local church volunteers, in 165 USA
and Canadian cities (CCC had planned to reach every person in the USA). Although initial statistics were impressive
(536,824 people had recorded decisions for Christ by the end of 1976), later
research revealed that few of these “decisions” resulted in new church
members.
Kenneth Strachan, director of the Latin American Mission, in the
1960s developed a strategy called Saturation
Evangelism, also called Evangelism-in-Depth. This strategy involved enlisting all
pastors and Christians in a country in a total evangelism program of the
nation, in four stages: sharing vision, prayer and training mobilization,
nationwide mass and door to door evangelism outreaches, and follow-up. During 1960-1968 10 major campaigns were
conducted in Central and South America, with many decisions, but as research by
missiologist George Peters showed,
very few “decisions” resulted in new church
members.
Evangelism Explosion is a program developed in the 1960s by Dr. James Kennedy, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort
Lauderdale, FL., in which laypeople are trained in evangelism in a
programmed 20 week course and learn evangelism by class attendance and going
out with experienced witnesses who do on-the-job training and model evangelism,
as “evangelism
is more caught than taught.” The program is keyed
on two questions: “Have you come to a place in
your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you were to die today
you would go to heaven?” and “Suppose
you were to die today and stand before God and He were to ask you, -Why
should I let you into my heaven?’ what would you say?” Kennedy in 1970 published his book Evangelism Explosion outlining his
program, and EE has been extensively used in much of the USA and other
countries.
Life-style evangelism or friendship
evangelism has been popularized esp. by Joseph C. Aldrich, president of Multnomah School of the Bible, and
become very popular in the 1980s. Noting
that 80 % of all new converts come to
Christ through the witness of a Christian friend or relative, who become
the bridges of God to Christ (McGavran), Aldrich teaches that
Christians should pray for, deliberately
build friendships with, live holy lifestyles before, and reach out in love and
the gospel in order to win their neighbors and acquaintances to
Christ. This is similar to but goes
beyond “presence
evangelism.”
Lessons learned for personal evangelism during the twentieth century
include:
1.
Personal contact and follow-up are indispensable in
effective evangelism and church growth.
2.
Most people come to Christ & the church through a
personal acquaintance, relatives or friends.
CHAPTER 15. MEDIA EVANGELISM
The twentieth century church has
especially embraced the various mass media for evangelism. Radio
was first used in Jan. 2, 1921 to
broadcast an evening vesper service of the Calvary Episcopal Church of Pittsburgh, PA. Paul
Rader of Chicago used radio to broadcast evangelistic programs in 1922, and Moody Bible Institute and the Bible
Institute of Los Angeles pioneered media evangelism. Radio programs proliferated, so that by
1925 63 radio stations out of 600 were
owned by churches or religious organizations.
Yet the Federal Radio Commission formed in 1927 sought to curtail
religious broadcasting by assigning churches undesirable frequencies and
limited broadcasting hours, and favoring the NCC & RC. The
National Broadcasting Company, NBC, was especially anti-Evangelical. The Mutual
Broadcasting System allowed religious programs, and beginning in 1934, Charles E. Fuller, a former Baptist
pastor in Los Angeles, broadcast his
popular “The
Old-Fashioned Revival Hour” on the MBS, and by
1940 this program was broadcast on 456 stations, 60 % of all USA stations, and
had an audience of 20 million listeners by 1944. The National
Association of Evangelicals, NAE, in 1944 encouraged the formation of the National Religious Broadcasters, NRB, which
has greatly helped the growth of Christian radio and TV broadcasting. In 1994 there were over 1,000 radio stations
& 200 TV stations with religious formats.
Television developed quickly, and by 1958 the USA had more TV sets
than households. The first preacher to
use television for religious broadcasting was the Roman Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Sheen had broadcast on NBC radio on “The
Catholic Hour” since 1930, and from 1952-1957 broadcast
his TV program “Life is Worth Living”,
influencing and attracting millions with his stimulating messages. Oral
Roberts, a Pentecostal Holiness
preacher and healing evangelist from
Oklahoma, used television to great
advantage when in 1955 he began broadcasting his services. In 1966 he developed his “Oral Roberts
and You” program, and by 1980 this was the most
popular of all religious programs, drawing a weekly audience of 2.7 million
households. His TV specials drew 100,000
letters per day. The 1970s and 1980s were the golden years for
televangelism. Pat Robertson in Richmond, VA. built his Christian Broadcasting Network, CBN, which
has become the fourth largest TV network in the USA, and hosted his popular
talk show, “The 700 Club”. Jim Baker worked for some time with
Robertson, but began his own popular talk show PTL Club in 1974 in Charlotte,
North Carolina, and developed a 2,300 acre theme park, Heritage USA. Jimmy Swaggert, an Assemblies of God
evangelist from Baton Rouge, LA., Jerry
Falwell, a Bible Baptist fundamentalist pastor from Lynchburg, VA., Robert Schuller, a Reformed pastor from Anaheim, CA., and Rex Humbard, a Pentecostal pastor from Canton, OH., and others, used televangelism to great effect and had
vast audiences in the USA and the world.
But the sex scandals, lavish lifestyles and funds mismanagement of Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert in 1988
caused televangelism to lose respect and suffer serious audience and financial
declines. Yet televangelism continues to
be rather popular and enjoys a sizable audience. Televangelism
continues to enjoy popularity because it is
(1) easy, (2),
individualistic, (3) interesting, (4) successful.
Problems of
televangelism:
- Televangelism reaches few lost people; most viewers are
elderly Christian women.
- Televangelism exalts experience over Christian
doctrine; dramatic experiences to interest viewers.
- Televangelism has little if any personal contact or
follow-up; new converts lack personal follow-up.
- Televangelism threatens the local church with “the electronic church”; may be competitive.
- Televangelism often presents a sub-Christian message;
often weak biblical teaching, incomplete.
- Televangelism emphasizes entertainment and observation
rather than worship and participation.
- Televangelism causes viewers to judge their churches by
unreasonable standards; builds discontent.