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Practical Evangelism
Evangelism, in Bible terms, means getting out there
and doing it.
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Jesus said to his disciples that he would make them 'fishers
of men'. (Mark 1:16-20).
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Later, he sent all 12 disciples out two by two.
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And then 72 of them, two by two: to go and tell
others about God, to "preach the word", to tell the Good News.
And, as you probably know, His final commands to His disciples,
before He rose into heaven, were to keep spreading the Gospel, and to
teach the new Christians to do what He had commanded the 12.
(Matthew 28)
That means that we, as Christians, are also asked to do what Jesus commanded
them. And if we want to follow in their footsteps, we need to step out
of our comfort zones and GO.
Yes, we do need to meet corporately for our church services; yes, we
all need feeding with the Word; yes, we all need to lift our voices
in song, and we need shared times of prayer. But if that is all we do
in church then we are only "feeding the fish in the tank".
To be fishers of men, we need to go fishing. If the harvest is ripe,
it won't be harvested if we sit indoors and invite it to walk into the
barn; we need to get out and work at it. The church so often says, "Come";
but Jesus said, "Go".
So how do we do this? What practical way is easy to learn, easy to do?
Some years ago, I wanted so much to share my faith with others; but
where could I learn how? Evening classes? - no. Open University? -no.
Open College? - no. The local church? - no! The only options available
then were to study for three years full time at a Bible college; for
a man with a mortgage, wife and two children, this was not an option.
I found a "distance learning course" from one of the Bible Colleges;
I paid £50 (a lot of money 20 years ago) and that was that. This wasn't what I needed, either.
I needed someone who would show me how.
Some years later, I discovered Through Faith Missions, who had a simple
philosophy: "Come with us and we'll show you how." And they did, and
it worked. They provided a one-day training course, and then we went out and
talked to people about Jesus Christ. And it was easier than I could
possible imagine.
It changed my life. And it changed many other people's
too, for eternity.
Do you want to change yours?
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"Fishers of Men"
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