Educate Yourself: "What does the Bible say about Pre-Evangelism?"
- 12 years ago
Pre-evangelism means different things to different people. Some see pre-evangelism as doing what Paul did with the philosophers at Mars Hill. He began with what they knew about an “unknown God” and argued for the existence of a personal God (Acts 17:22-34) who demands righteousness. This type of pre-evangelism seeks to meet people where they are. Others see pre-evangelism as “friendship evangelism” where the believer develops a friend relationship with an unbeliever and, by acts of kindness and living the Christian life before him, the truth of the gospel can be seen even before it is shared. Others see pre-evangelism as extensive preparation in apologetics before attempting to share the gospel with others.
Even though we can’t assume people today have heard about Christ, we have to understand that Romans 1:19-20 assures us that God created us to know about Him because He has made it evident within every human being ever born. The knowledge of God can be found by looking at creation and seeing “His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature,” as Paul states in this passage in Romans. God made us that way so that none of us can ever claim that we’ve not known about His existence. In other words, “we are without excuse.” That internal knowledge of God then leads mankind to search for Him, and we are assured that if we do that, He will be found because “He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:24-28).
So the presence of a “God-shaped hole” inside us drives us to search for God, find Him, and worship Him. Only by doing so will we gain eternal life and true satisfaction, peace, joy, and contentment. Sadly, many people instead begin to worship the created, not the Creator (Romans 1:21-23). They try to replace their need for God with anything and everything else. Jesus commissioned all of His disciples, past, present, and future, to go out into the world and proclaim the gospel, the good news of His sacrifice on the cross on our behalf. The reason He gave us this command is that, even though God created us all with the ability to know Him, many still reject and despise Him. To accept Christ as Savior means we must acknowledge the fact that we are sinners in need of salvation. So, to confess our sin means letting go of pride and bowing before God in a humble request for salvation. Too many people, even after hearing the message of Truth over and over, just will not do so.
Recommended Resource: How To Book on Personal Evangelism by Larry Moyer.
Source cite: http://www.gotquestions.org/pre-evangelism.html
Even though we can’t assume people today have heard about Christ, we have to understand that Romans 1:19-20 assures us that God created us to know about Him because He has made it evident within every human being ever born. The knowledge of God can be found by looking at creation and seeing “His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature,” as Paul states in this passage in Romans. God made us that way so that none of us can ever claim that we’ve not known about His existence. In other words, “we are without excuse.” That internal knowledge of God then leads mankind to search for Him, and we are assured that if we do that, He will be found because “He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:24-28).
So the presence of a “God-shaped hole” inside us drives us to search for God, find Him, and worship Him. Only by doing so will we gain eternal life and true satisfaction, peace, joy, and contentment. Sadly, many people instead begin to worship the created, not the Creator (Romans 1:21-23). They try to replace their need for God with anything and everything else. Jesus commissioned all of His disciples, past, present, and future, to go out into the world and proclaim the gospel, the good news of His sacrifice on the cross on our behalf. The reason He gave us this command is that, even though God created us all with the ability to know Him, many still reject and despise Him. To accept Christ as Savior means we must acknowledge the fact that we are sinners in need of salvation. So, to confess our sin means letting go of pride and bowing before God in a humble request for salvation. Too many people, even after hearing the message of Truth over and over, just will not do so.
Recommended Resource: How To Book on Personal Evangelism by Larry Moyer.
Source cite: http://www.gotquestions.org/pre-evangelism.html