Tag Archives: Evangelism
No Dillydallying with Christ’s Commands
There can be no dillydallying around with the commands of Christ. We are engaged in warfare, the issues of which are life and death, and every day that we are indifferent to our responsibilities is a day lost to the cause of Christ. If we have learned even the most elemental truth of discipleship, we must know that we are called to be servants of our Lord and to obey his Word. It is not our duty to reason why he speaks as he does, but only to carry out his orders. Unless there is this dedication to all that we know he wants us to do now, however immature our understanding may be, it is doubtful if we will ever progress further in his life and mission. There is no place in the Kingdom for a slacker, for such an attitude not only precludes any growth in grace and knowledge but also destroys any usefulness on the world battlefield of evangelism.
Evangelism Is a Way of Life
The only realistic way to effect this [discipleship] is by being together. If our followers are to see through us what they were to become, we must be with them. This is the essence of the plan — to let them see us in action so is to feel our vision and to know how it relates to daily experience. Evangelism thus becomes to them an intimately practical thing that has ramifications in everything else. It is seen as a way of life, not a theological dogma. What is more, by being with us, their own involvement in the work is inevitable.
Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2010), 114.
Evangelism Is a Lifestyle, Not an Event
A Christian without a missionary heart is an anomaly. The missionary heart will be seen in all kinds of ways: in prayers for the lost, in making sure our behavior offends no-one, in gospel conversations with friends (at dinner parties!), and in making every effort to save some.
Discipleship Is Making Disciples Who Make Disciples
To be a disciple is to be called to make new disciples.
The Great Commission Is Normal for Every Disciple
The [great] commission is not fundamentally about mission out there somewhere else in another country. It’s a commission that makes disciple-making the normal agenda and priority of every church and every Christian disciple.
original emphasis, Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine (Kingsford NSW Australia: Matthias Media, 2009), 13.
Arise, O God, and Shine
1. Arise, O God, and shine
In all Thy saving might,
And prosper each design
To spread Thy glorious light;
Let healing streams of mercy flow
That all the earth Thy truth may know.
2. Bring distant nations near
To sing Thy glorious praise;
Let every people hear
And learn Thy holy ways.
Reign, mighty God, assert Thy cause
And govern by Thy righteous laws.
3. Put forth Thy glorious power
That Gentiles all may see
And earth present her store
In converts born to Thee.
God, our own God, His Church will bless
And fill the world with righteousness.
4. To God, the only wise,
The one immortal king,
Let hallelujahs rise
From every living thing;
Let all that breathe, on every coast
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
We Don’t Need Better Methods
It is not better methods, but better men and women who know their Redeemer from personal experience — men and women who see his vision and feel his passion for the world — men and women who are willing to be nothing so that he might be everything — men and women who want only for Christ to produce his life in and through them according to his own good pleasure. This finally is the way the Master planned for his objective to be realized on the earth, and where it is carried through by his strategy, the gates of hell cannot prevail against the evangelization of the world.
Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2010), 109.
Christian, Don’t Live in an Ivory Tower
If we as Christians take our faith and live apart from the world in an ivory tower, if we hold ourselves aloof while the world goes on its merry way to hell, we have not understood the heart of Christ, which caused Him to come and be baptized and identified with us. We have failed to understand the significance of Jesus Christ as heaven becoming earth for us without becoming earthy. We are to become one with the world around us — not one in its aims or its methods, but one with it in love, ready to touch it infirmities, ready to meet its needs, ready so to live that men recognize that we possess what they so desperately need. The love of Christ cannot be brought into the world around us if we are not willing to be baptized into the world as Jesus was. We need to be identified with it, having our lives rooted in Christ, but living in the midst of a world that is alien to him.
Donald Gray Barnhouse, Mark: The Servant Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1988), 18.
Christian Discipleship
Christian disciples are sent men and women — sent out in the same work of world evangelism to which the Lord was sent, and for which he gave His life. Evangelism is not an optional accessory to our life. It is the heartbeat of all that we are called to be and do. It is the commission of the church that gives meaning to all else that is undertaken in the name of Christ.
Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2010), 89.
Life Is Worship 