A NEW WAY OF DOING MINISTRY
By
JERRY FALWELL
A. INTRODUCTION.
“Behold I will do a new thing . . . ”(Isaiah 43:19). I know this first is a reference to the coming Millennium, but God has always been doing new things in ministry. Today, I want to remind you of the new things that God has done in the past, then challenge you concerning some new methods for the future.
B. NEW THINGS AT PENTECOST.
1. GOD GAVE THE STREETS TO THE NEW CHURCH.
In the Old Testament, God resided in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple. God’s presence in the Shekinah-glory cloud sat on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. God’s people came to a building, a sanctuary to worship Him. But on the Day of Pentecost, God moved into the streets. There was witnessing in the streets, preaching in the streets, baptizing in public places, plus teaching, fellowship, and testifying. God sent His new church into the streets for ministry.
In the past God has given the streets to Christians, i.e., John Wesley preached in the open, Southern Baptists went door-to-door in soul-winning, and Independent Baptists went door-to-door, filling Sunday school buses. Let’s never give up our ministry in the streets.
2. GOD GAVE SMALL GROUPS TO THE NEW CHURCH.
In the early Church, Christians met in homes for prayer. I think also they were teaching and collecting offerings in these small groups. When they were “breaking bread from house-to-house” (Acts 2:46), these were probably house churches where they worshipped the Lord with communion.
Also, the churches in history used small groups. John Wesley came with new methods and they called him a Methodist. He organized the Methodists into classes, small groups that met in homes. Later the Southern Baptists became authorities in the use of small groups, putting people into small Sunday school classes. And today, Yonggi Cho of the Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea, has over 70,000 cells that meet primarily in homes on Friday evening; these cells give strength to a church of 750,000 people.
3. NEW COMMISSION GIVEN TO THE NEW CHURCH.
Jesus gave the Great Commission which had new elements of ministry.
• Go into all the world, not just the Holy Land.
• Make disciples of all nations, not just focus on the Nation of Israel.
• Preach the Gospel to everyone, not just to Jews.
No one can deny that the impact of a new message transformed the disciples and they went everywhere, preaching until they “turned the world upside down.”
Is the Great Commission still our commission? Let me point out to you:
• The Great Commission has not been changed.
• The Great Commission has not been enhanced.
• The Great Commission has not been deluded.
• The Great Commission has not been fulfilled.
C. NEW METHODS IN OUR LIFETIME.
1. RADIO.
We have used the radio in our generation as a new tool of evangelism. Such stations as HJCB (Heralding Jesus Christ Beyond) and Trans World Radio have broadcasted the Gospel to the world.
Two of the original radio evangelists to own a radio station were J. Frank Norris of the First Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, and Aimee Semple McPherson of Los Angeles, California.
I was converted under the radio ministry of Charles E. Fuller, but think in terms of the great radio preachers, i.e., Theodore Epp (Bible To The Bible), and Billy Graham (Hour of Decision).
2. TELEVISION.
Approximately fifty years ago the Church got into the television ministry. Two of the first greats were: Oral Roberts and Rex Humbard. I first began in television in December, 1956 when I began a local television program on Sunday evening. Because of the blessing of God, we first went nation wide and then world wide. Think of the great television evangelists such as: Billy Graham, D. James Kennedy, and Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart (before their fall), and the world-wide ministry today of TBN and Paul Crouch.
3. MEDIA.
Obviously, radio and television belong under media, but what about the use of newspapers, mailings, and all other new forms of media? Thirty-one years ago I published a book, Church Aflame, and I coined a new phrase, i.e., saturation evangelism (using every available means to reach every available person, in every available time). I took the concept of saturation evangelism from Acts 5:28, “Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine.” Media is a way of filling your Jerusalem with the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
In June 1972 we had 18,019 people in attendance at our church in little Lynchburg, Virginia. Let me tell you what saturation evangelism did for us. We mailed a letter and postcard to every home in our zip code area, inviting them to church. We delivered a flier to every home in our zip code area announcing our meeting. Our high schoolers put posters in every store in our zip code, and our junior high schoolers put posters on every light pole in our zip code area. We ran an ad 60 times on the only television station at that time in Lynchburg, Virginia, and 60 slots on all 15 radio stations. We took out an entire page in the Lynchburg newspaper on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, inviting people to Sunday school. Through our bus ministry we went to every home, inviting them to ride the bus. We gave a brand new Scofield Bible to the person who brought the most visitors and had Colonel Sanders give his testimony that day, giving a fried chicken dinner to everyone who rode the Sunday school bus. One more thing, the students at Liberty University and the faithful members of Thomas Road Baptist Church phoned every number in the Lynchburg telephone book, inviting them to come to Sunday school. That’s saturation evangelism at work.
D. A BRIEF HISTORY OF NEW METHODS.
The followers of Jesus Christ have always been innovative in getting out the message of the Gospel. In the early days they preached on the street corners and in the marketplaces because that was the “public media” of their day.
The Lollards in the 1300s went two-by-two to every home in England, reading the Bible to the common people, i.e., the Bible that had been translated by Wycliffe.
Charles E. Finney, the great evangelist of the Second Awakening, in his book, Lectures on Revival, advocated “new measures” for evangelism and revival. Finney’s new measures were: giving the invitation (he was the first to use the Gospel invitation), tarrying at the altar, holding cottage prayer meetings, and confessing of sin. All of these “new methods” led to revival.
The Layman’s Prayer Revival of 1859 was the first to be popularized by the use of reports in newspapers. As information about the prayer revival was read in newspapers across the nation, revival broke out in every city where the newspapers carried the story.
Dwight L. Moody was the first to organize city-wide Gospel crusades.
Billy Sunday built his tabernacles and put down his “sawdust trail,” inviting people to come forward and “shake my hand” as a sign they were coming to Jesus.
Billy Graham began to use radio, television, Gospel films, and books to evangelize the masses. So what am I saying? The Church has always come up with new methods to get the job done.
Remember, we always use new methods, but we never change the basic biblical principles. Let the following slogan be your guide:
Methods are many,
Principles are few;
Methods may change,
But principles never do.
Let me explain what that slogan means. Our principles are always based on the Word of God and they never change. Our principles are communicating the Gospel, exalting Jesus Christ, promoting the purity of the Gospel preacher, and building the local church. Our principles never change, but methods do. What is a method? A method is the application of a principle to culture. By that I mean our methods are not transcultural; methods do not work in every culture and in every environment. Obviously, school busing wouldn’t work in the Amazon River regions or the Andes Mountains. That’s because busing is a method, but personally contacting people with the Gospel is a principle, and that works in every culture and in every age.
One more thing, a method does not transcend time. But principles do. That means that Sunday school busing would not have worked where there were no roads two hundred years ago, nor where there were no vehicles.
E. TRAINING PASTORS TO REACH THE WORLD.
Last summer, I was on the phone with Bill Bright and other church leaders talking about the great need to reach the world for Jesus Christ. Bill said the key to carrying out the Great Commission was pastors. Then he said if we can better equip local church pastors, we can reach the world for Christ.
Many Protestant pastors are untrained. Ninety-five percent of pastors around the world have not had any formal training, no Bible institute classes, not even lay leadership training at the local church level.
WHEN WE MINISTER TO MINISTERS,
WE MINISTER TO THE MULTITUDES.
There are 50 million believers in Red China alone; most of these are worshiping in house churches. Mission authorities believe that there are over 1 million church leaders or pastors in China alone and most of them are untrained.
WHEN WE MINISTER TO THOSE
CHINESE MINISTERS,
WE MINISTER TO THE
CHINESE MULTITUDES.
Around the world, there are approximately 4-5 million pastors or church leaders. I heard Tom Phillips of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association say that in one African country half the pastors can’t read; these are jungle churches and bush churches. When we help train these jungle pastors, we help evangelize the jungles where they minister.
America is not experiencing revival, but there is revival breaking out around the world. In 1980 one percent of Argentina was evangelical, today 15 percent of Argentina is evangelical. Most of that is Pentecostal-Charismatic growth; I praise God for every new believer and for every new church.
Bill Bright said, “One billion will come to Christ in the next ten years.” Think about that number . . . that’s astounding! That means we need more and better follow-up of new believers, more and better churches, more and better pastors. That’s where the Pastor’s Global Network will carry out the Great Commission.
I am Chancellor of Liberty University. Liberty has over 32,000 graduates, and another 32,0000 students who have been to our University to take Bible classes and evangelism classes. But that is a “drop in the bucket” compared to the great need that faces the Church today. I still pray for 10,000 students on campus and 40,000 in our External Degree Program. I still expect Liberty University to have over 50,000 students in one year. Obviously, to reach that goal, Liberty will need more freshmen than ever before, more money than ever before, more buildings than ever before, and more parking spaces than ever before.
But Liberty University and all the other Christian training institutions are not enough to meet the challenge. If we have a billion new believers as Bill Bright says, we will need instant training to teach . . . train . . . more than a million new pastors to carry out world evangelism.
A MINISTRY TO MINISTERS
IS A
MINISTRY TO THE MULTITUDES.
When you think of reaching the world, think of the vast potential of the Internet.
F. THE INTERNET: GOD’S NEW METHOD.
Ten years and three months ago, the first web page was posted on the Internet; now there are millions of web pages, and I read that 3 million a day are being published world-wide. I just have difficulty believing that figure, but that’s what I read.
A little more than five years ago I was asking for the Fax number of pastors; my son told me to “go for the email.” I told him, “No one has an email address,” because I didn’t have one. I was only able to gather around 70,000 Fax addresses for pastors. I was wrong about email addresses. Now I don’t even send Faxes, but I send emails weekly to over 200,000 pastors.
As stated at Billy Graham’s Amsterdam Conference on Evangelism, 83% of the pastors of the world have an email address or have access to email. If all those pastors don’t actually have an email address, they have access to email through someone in their congregation. That’s not just in America, that’s world wide.
I heard it said the other day that God will use the Internet to reach people for Jesus Christ, just as He originally used the Roman Road of Salvation and later used the Four Spiritual Laws.
Let me tell you what is happening on the Internet:
• We can feed our Gospel message into a computer, and it can accurately translate our message into 75 languages of the world.
• Today, a message is 85% reliable when translated by a computer. And they say that within five years, it will be 98% reliable.
• Within five years you can stream down a computer message or video to your watch, and view it on your watch face.
• We now have computers without wires; and one day we will have the potential to broadband to every computer in the world, no matter where you are, through a satellite connection.
• You’ll be able to download into your car any music or lesson or sermon you want to hear, and listen to it while you are driving.
• You will be able to download 40,000 messages you want to hear in one transmission, and listen to them one at a time.
OLD MAPS WILL NOT GUIDE THE CHURCH
INTO THE NEW WORLD
Understand me, the Gospel will NOT change. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). There will always be a place for preaching, even though to many preaching is foolishness today. Remember, they thought that preaching was foolishness in the time of Paul. So they will think it is foolish in the future. “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23). But listen to what God says about foolishness, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25). God also says, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27).
The method by which we reach the unsaved may change, but the message of preaching will never change. The Internet is just a new method; let’s use it to reach the world. Our churches must be the churches to lead the way to evangelize the world.
We must learn to preach on the Internet just as fifty years ago we learned to preach on television, just as fifty years before that we learned to preach on the radio; and just as fifty years before that, we learned to preach with a microphone to mass audiences. Every generation has its new challenge, and ours is the Internet.
If you’re not networking,
You’re not working.
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord,
I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
For more information on the TRBC Pastor’s Bible Class, log on to the Internet for TRBC Home page at www.trbc.org/pbc.
