Before Jesus left earth he gave instructions to his followers.We know them today as the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
Great Commandment: Luke 11:27, Matthew 22:34-40, Mark: 12:28-34;
Great Commission: John 20:21-23, Luke 24:44-49, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8. the Great Commission is a call to evangelism.

Scholars and church leaders worldwide agree that evangelism is preaching or proclaiming the gospel, nothing more; nothing less. They also agree that evangelism – proclaiming the gospel – is the mission of the church. This is why the church exists. Why does God leave us here after we give our lives over to him? Why does he not take us off to heaven? To show his nature, his character and particularly his love and grace to the world, yes, but mostly so that other people can come to believe, trust and follow Jesus through our telling the gospel – our evangelism.

The purpose of the church is to make disciples. We get that from Matthew 28:18-20.
The Mission of the Church is to evangelise the world. We know that because Jesus said it.
It’s what Jesus did and sent his followers out to do. Jesus said, “We must do the work of Him who sent me.” John 9:4. Jesus did what God was doing – reconciling the world to himself, 2 Cor.5:17-19 – and we must do it too. “We are God’s fellow-workers.” 1 Cor.3:9

Hear what church leaders have said about evangelism.

Dr. John Stott, “Our first duty is to communicate the Gospel.”

Theologian Millard Erickson, “The one topic emphasised in … Jesus’ last words to his disciples is evangelism. … It appears that he regarded evangelism as the very reason for their being.”

Dr. Derek Prince: “The supreme purpose of every true Christian Church, the chief duty of every Christian minister, the main responsibility of every Christian lay person, is to present to all who may be reached in the clearest and most forceful way, the basic facts of the Gospel of Christ, and to urge all who hear to make the definite response to these facts which God requires. To this, the supreme task, every other duty and activity of the church, must be secondary and subisdiary.”

Dr. William Lane, acclaimed scholar and chair in Wesleyan and Biblical Studies at Seattle Pacific University: “The proclamation of the Gospel to all men is an absolute priority.”

Dr. Michael Green: proclaiming the gospel is “the church’s first priority.”

Dr. Peter Wagner: “I would love to see membership declines in the mainline denominations bottom out and begin to soar upwards. But I am afraid that they will not unless the evangelist mandate is restored to its biblical position as the top priority.”

Dr. Lewis Drummond, once President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and former Director of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Centre: “There is no excuse for anyone for not giving evangelism first place in life.”

C.H.Spurgeon: “Paul’s great object was not merely to instruct and to improve, but to save. To compass their salvation, he gave himself up with untiring zeal to telling abroad the Gospel, to warning and beseeching men to be reconciled to God. He became a servant to all men, toiling for his race, feeling a woe within him if he preached not the gospel. The gospel was the one all important business with him.”

Dr. Morna D. Hooker, Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University, commenting on Mark 13:10 ‘The gospel must be preached to all the nations.’: “This saying of Jesus becomes a reminder to the disciples that their primary task is that of evangelising.”

The 1988 Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. Resolution 43 referred to evangelism as “the primary task given to the Church.”

Professor E.M.Blaiklock (1903-1983) who was chair of Classics at Auckland Univeristy from 1947-1968:”Evangelism is the end and crown of all Church activity.”

William Booth gave his perspective on the balance between social action and saving souls: “Take a man out of the slums, heal his body, give him decent clothes, provide him a home in the country, then let him die and go to hell? Really it is not worthwhile.”

Dr. George Peters, world renowned missiologist: “World evengelism is the imperative of the New Testament.”

N.T.Wright, Bishop of Durham and new Testament scholar: “God is going to fix the whole world. And when that happens it happens through the words of the gospel.”

If we want to change the world we must change the people who make up the world.
And if we want to change the people who make up the world, we must change their hearts.
And if we want to change their hearts, we must plant the incorruptible seed of the Gospel in those hearts.
God has chosen to change the world through the gospel.

Getting the church to put evangelism as its priority is often like pushing water uphill with a rake. So many people have decided they are not evangelists and they don’t do evangelism and that’s that. That attitude has stemmed from two things – a fear of people and a misunderstanding of evangelism – what it is and how to do it. Today I want us to understand evangelism better and see that it is not as hard as we thought.

In Matthew 28:18-20 the only command is ‘make dsicples’. The other verbs – going, baptising, teaching – are participles. They describe the means or the process of making disciples. Hence it says, ‘Going, make disciples’. As you go, whatever else you are doing, be sure to be making disciples. Disciples are made in the midst and context of life. We can’t take people out of life and make them into disciples and put them back into life to live as disciples of Christ. It just doesn’t work. It is through the situations of life that our Christian character and manner of life is formed. So it is with evangelism. It is in the real life contacts and relationships that the gospel is shared. And don’t fear what people may do, say or think of you because you have the Holy Spirit going before you and all the power and authority of Almighty God backing you up.

We are helped by a better understanding of evangelism. There’s a process to evangelism and we can identify 6 steps to bring a person from unbeliever to Christian.

Ploughing – preparing hearts to receive the gospel – there are many things we can do here.
Sowing – sharing/proclaiming the gospel – only this one is evangelism!
Watering – providing good conditions for the seed to sprout and grow. Again many activities.
Growing – only God can do this one – it happens all by itself as far as we are concerned. Cf: plants.
Harvesting – bringing people into God’s kingdom.
Discipling – maturing as Christians, following Jesus. Involves ministry service.

Why do we serve the community? To love as Jesus loves; to make contact with people so as to share the gospel with them. We serve in order to plough – preparing people to receive the gospel, to water – providing good conditions for the seed to grow, and to disciple – Christians grow through serving others.

The Holy Spirit, through his people, has provided plenty of tools we can use. I’m introducing you to one that is right up to the minute. You have a computer. Look up this internet address on your computer. www.Biblein11.com The presentation that you will see summarises the Bible’s message in 11 minutes. On the website you will reach after the presentation are further gospel presentations and related information. Feel free to pass this URL on to others. To do so is to evangelise! More to the point, pass it on so that others, also, can learn how to be accepted by God.

So that’s the Bible in 11 minutes. There are other presentations of the gospel just as easily accessed as that one. You can get started on evangelism today by giving that card away. Give it to your children, grandchildren, their friends, your friends, people you meet anyhwere. And you’ll be evangelising. It’s that simple. Take as many as you can use.