EVANGELISM - A BRIEF HISTORY

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. 

1. 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:
2. Paul maintained a close contact with his home church, Antioch.
3. Paul confined his work primarily to four Roman provinces (Galatia, Asia, Macedonia, and Achaia.)
4. Paul concentrated on the large key cities, along major routes, establishing “mother churches.” 
5. Paul usually began his work in the local synagogue if one existed, first targeting god-fearers.
6. Paul preferred to preach to responsive peoples, endeavoring to be both fruitful and faithful. 
7. Paul baptized converts when they made their profession of faith.8.             
8. Paul remained in one place long enough to establish a church, & trained & appointed local leaders. 
9. Paul made good use of fellow workers by employing a team ministry; was not a ‘lone Ranger’. 
10. 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.

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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.

1. 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).
2. Monastic Evangelism.  Many sincere Christians became monks and joined monasteries, and some became local evangelists or foreign missionaries to the non-Christians. 
3. Individual evangelists.  Traveling preachers.  Ex: Philaster, “second Paul”, Patrick of Ireland. 
4. 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.

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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:

1. Dedicated individuals can make a great difference; Ex: Boniface; Francis of Assis.
2. 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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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 19^th and esp. in the 20^th 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. 

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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:

1. Televangelism reaches few lost people; most viewers are elderly Christian women.
2. Televangelism exalts experience over Christian doctrine; dramatic experiences to interest viewers.
3. Televangelism has little if any personal contact or follow-up; new converts lack personal follow-up.
4. Televangelism threatens the local church with “the electronic church”; may be competitive.
5. Televangelism often presents a sub-Christian message; often weak biblical teaching, incomplete.
6. Televangelism emphasizes entertainment and observation rather than worship and participation.
7. Televangelism causes viewers to judge their churches by unreasonable standards; builds discontent.