“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)
Most Christians agree that there is a definite command in the Scriptures to take the Gospel to every creature although very few actually take part in this assignment. This is done through various means such as sending missionaries but I want to focus here on the local responsibility to reach the lost in our own communities.
Personal evangelism is not only the duty of every believer but the privilege. Just thing God allows us to join with Him in His work of salvation for mankind. We cannot fulfill this duty by simply putting money in a missions fund and sending others we must be engaged ourselves. Let’s first put evangelism into proper perspective.
I know the term soul-winning is often used for personal evangelism but it’s not the person that evangelizes that is the soul-winner but rather the true soul-winner is the Holy Spirit. Those who go out and share the Gospel are either planting a seed, or watering a seed but when someone gets saved it’s not because of the person that shared it’s the Holy Spirit that gave the increase.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” Those who are faithful in sharing the news of redemption receive reward for their labor but it is not their work it is God’s. We are simply co-laborers with Him in His redemptive work, “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God…” (1 Corinthians 3:8-9a)
When we are out sharing the Gospel through personal evangelism we are representatives of Jesus Christ speaking on His behalf, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)
If we speak on behalf of Christ and we are commanded to share the Gospel with every creature I think it would do us well to ask ourselves how this can best be accomplished. I like open air preaching and use that method myself as well as passing out tracts to people as they walk down the street. Using thee methods are good but will only get the Gospel to some people. They are too random to reach every creature.
Let me encourage you to try something I am trying in my city and that is to map out your city. What we are doing is mapping out the city and systematically either knocking on doors to witness or canvassing to leave tracts on each house. We highlight streets on the map as we complete them. This allows us to strive to get the Gospel to every household in our city in a certain number of years.
Map out your city, target your city and do your best to get the Gospel to every house. Keep open air preaching, keep tracting on the streets, keep holding crosses and signs those are great ways to get the Gospel to mass amounts of people but take up with me what Rees Howells called the “Every Creature Commission.”
The Gospel Beacon 