First Baptist Church
A Formula for Evangelism
Matthew 28:18-20
April 8, 2001
Have you ever been given a difficult job to do, but were not told how to do it? You were left to figure it out on your own. It is an overwhelming feeling. Before coming to Ashland, I worked in 2 churches and 2 hospitals. I graduated from seminary, have a masters degree, am a board certified chaplain, and am ordained. You would think I am well qualified to be a minister. Yet, I remember the first day that I sat behind my desk at church. I thought, okay, now what? Where’s the manual that tells me what to do? Of course, I did figure out what to do, I made coffee.
One of the most frustrating experiences in life is to be given an enormous task to accomplish, but not to be given the details how to accomplish it. Many times in life we are given jobs that seem so big that they appear to be impossible.
And it seems that God has given us a seemingly overwhelming task -- “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” In other words, we have the task of telling every person on this planet the good news of God’s love.
To refer to this as the “GREAT COMMISSION” is an understatement! In fact, the Great commission is the purpose of 1st Baptist Church. In essence, we exist to fulfill the Great Commission. After giving us this divine message, Jesus tells us nothing about doing it. It’s one thing to tell me to put together a bicycle, but it’s another thing when there are no instructions.
And yet God calls each one of us to make disciples. Nobody is excluded. Jesus doesn’t say, ‘pastors only’ nor does He say ‘women only’ or ‘men only’ or ‘only those between the ages of 23-48, who were born when Jupiter was aligned with Mars’ are to make disciples. There are no exceptions.
There is no job that can appear more daunting and overwhelming than this one. We’ve been trying to accomplish it for the past 2,000 years. To give you an idea of how far we still have to go before we’re done, picture two cars on a highway, leaving New York City headed toward Los Angeles. One car is traveling at the rate of 10 MPH and the other is traveling at 100 mph. The car traveling at 100 MPH represents the expansion of the world population, and the car traveling at 10 MPH represents the rate at which we are currently reaching the world for Christ. It seems like a losing battle.
So, how is it possible to begin to make a difference in our corner of the world? It basically involves Christians becoming multipliers. You see being a disciple means that not only do we follow Christ . . . we also multiply ourselves by leading others to Christ, and those people lead others to Christ and so on. Suppose every person who is a Christian were to lead one other person to Christ in the next six months, and each of those persons were to reach one other person in six months, and each of those were to reach another person, and so on. It’s like a legal pyramid scheme. The entire world would proclaim Christ as Lord and Savior in a mere 32 years!
For this to work every believer must think of themselves as a multiplier. Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, has come up with a mathematical formula:
HP + CP + CC = MI
High Potency plus Close Proximity plus Clear Communication equals Maximum Impact. So, what does all this mean. Well, let’s take a look at this formula so that we will have a better understanding of how to share our faith in a way that will make it possible for us to fulfill the purpose of our church, the Great Commission.
1. The first part of this formula is “H.P.” which stands for HIGH POTENCY. It means that we have a highly potent relationship with Christ. A vibrant walk with our Lord that is obvious to all who know us. In Colossians 4:6 Paul said, “Let your speech ... your LIFE ... be seasoned with salt.” To have an impact on the world, we must have a relationship with Jesus that is so deep and real that every moment of our lives, even our daily conversations, are “salted” with the love of God. Have you ever eaten fritos without the salt? Yuck!! The best thing about them is the salt. When something is seasoned with salt, you know it. Salt is what gives food flavor. So when our speech and conduct, in other words, our lives, are filled with the salt of God, it is evident to all the world. People recognize us as God’s children.
To lead people to Christ, others must see evidence that we follow Him. It means that when we’re in difficult situations, we stand above everyone else. It is a challenging and difficult task, because when you want to scream and yell, you can’t; and when you want revenge or to make fun of another person, you can’t. I have said it before, “you may be the only Bible someone will ever read.” We must spend time with Jesus — through prayer, Bible study and worship, and when we allow His Spirit to work in our spirit, others will know we are disciples of Jesus.
Friends, people are watching us. They’re looking for flaws in our relationship with Jesus. When we live inauthentic Christian lives, when our faith is shallow and we don’t live out the truths of the Gospel, we do more to harm the Great Commission than to help it. This is why it is so important that our relationship with Jesus is genuine and HIGHLY POTENT!
A wealthy Christian lady living in Nairobi, Kenya, told the story of a young man who was employed as her houseboy. After three months, he asked the lady to give him a letter of reference to a friendly Muslim some miles away. The lady, didn’t want the houseboy to leave just when he’d learned the routine, and she offered to increase his pay. But, the young man replied that he wasn’t leaving for higher pay. Rather, he said that he had decided he would become either a Christian or a Muslim. This is why he had come to work for the lady in the first place. He wanted to see how Christian’s act. Now he wished to work for the sheik for three months to observe the ways of the Muslims. Then he would decide which way of life he would follow. The Christian lady was stunned as she thought about all the times that she had “blown it” in her relationship with the houseboy. As he was leaving she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me at the beginning?”
Nobody should ever have to tell us, our faith should be evident to all. We either have a dynamic, highly potent relationship with Christ or it’s a meaningless religion with nothing to offer. Now we add the second part of the equation, C.P. . . .
2. which stands for CLOSE PROXIMITY
You see, it doesn’t matter how POTENT our relationship with Christ is if we never get close to people who don’t know Christ themselves. If we’re going to impact our world for Christ, the most effective approach will be through friendships. To really influence our community we must leave the church and go out there, making friends with people and sharing our faith. We are mistaken when we think if ‘we just build it they will come.’ We are told that we must go into the world for Christ.
Jesus is our example in this. He met Peter at the water, the woman of Samaria by the well, Matthew in his tax booth, Zaccheus in the tree, and scores of others while they were in the process of their daily pursuits. To complete our God-given mission we must go to where the people are and build relationships with them.
Think about it. When you have a problem or a crisis in life, who do you go to first for help and comfort? FRIENDS. A recent study asked 10,000 Christians how they came to Christ and their church....
½% said they did so as a result of a revival service... 2% said they went because they had a special need...
3% went because liked the church programs 5% liked the Sunday School
6% liked the minister.... 79% came to Christ because they were invited by friend/family!
This means almost 80% of the people who respond to Christ do so because of an already established relationship. And it gets better, 80% of the people won to Christ through relationships become actively involved in a church. They become multipliers themselves! We proclaim Christ to the world one life at a time by putting ourselves in CLOSE PROXIMITY to non-Christians with a HIGHLY POTENT faith. Now, we add one last element to our formula...C.C...
3. ... CLEAR COMMUNICATION.
We must know the gospel message and be ready to communicate it clearly. Don’t be like the professor that was talking to a man whose car had broken down. The professor said, “Your tubular air container has lost most of its rotundity.” The motorist replied, “What did you say?” The professor restated, “The cylindrical apparatus which supports your vehicle has been decompressed.” The motorist answered, “I beg your pardon?” The professor tried one more time, saying, “The elastic fabric surrounding the circular frame whose successive revolutions bear you onward in space has failed to retain its pristine roundness.” Finally a little boy came shouted, “Hey mister, you have a flat tire!”
Real communication takes place when I say something and you understand what I said. For evangelism to make an impact, it must involve clearly communicating who Jesus is. In Colossians 4:4, Paul said, “Pray that I may proclaim the message CLEARLY, as I should.” We must talk to others in terms they understand. In other words, keep it simple!
In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 Paul wrote, “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Paul’s message wasn’t complicated or fancy. And if we are to do our part to win the world to Christ we must know how to verbalize the central truth of the Gospel simply and clearly.
Friends, many of you are sitting there thinking, “yeah right! There’s no way I can do any of that, besides I don’t have a story to tell.” Well, if you think that way you’re wrong. If you’re a Christian you have a story. Maybe it isn’t a radical conversion, but it’s a story filled with times when you were tempted, and didn’t give in; times when you were troubled and experienced God’s presence and your spirits were lifted; times when you were sorrowful & grief stricken, not knowing if you could get out of bed, yet here you are today.
You don’t need a super impressive story to tell, what you need more than anything is to let your walk with Christ do the talking. If you are genuinely concerned about those you know, they will know it, and you will be sought after for counsel. There are always little openings we can use to tell others about Jesus. We can talk about a wonderful worship service. We can comment that we attend church. We can talk about upcoming events and programs and see if the other person comments. Don’t do it just one time, do it many times, and don’t feel rejected, because they are not rejecting you, but Jesus.
You can mention how the Lord is changing your life on a daily basis. How your thought process is changed, how your heart is changed. Explain how God is helping you raise your children, do your job, improving your family life, and your outlook on life. This is particularly helpful if you sense a similar need in your friend.
Your story has power. It's personal. It’s conversational, it's not a sermon and it shouldn’t be. It can be shared over a cup of coffee or after a round of golf. No one can dispute it, unless you talk about being in the whale for 3 days, it’s your story. If you have joy, peace, and love in your life as a result of knowing Christ, that will be evident. It's natural for friends to want to know more about each other. Even if your friend is antagonistic to the Gospel, he/she may still be interested in why you value your relationship with a man named Jesus.
Point people to Jesus. This is your story, but it has meaning only because Jesus is part of it. The purpose of your story is so that the other person will come to Christ. Explain the Gospel message, doing it as clearly and simply as possible. Share key Scripture verses that impact your life.
Avoid abstract Christian terms. As a test, define the following terms as simply as you can, so your non-Christian friends understand them: saved, born again, sin, faith, repentance, receiving Christ, lost, eternal life.
When appropriate, explain how you accepted Christ. Share enough detail so the other person will know what to do if he/she has the desire to know Christ. Often, not knowing the logistics of receiving Christ keeps people from doing what their hearts long for.
Invite people and pick them up or promise to meet them at the door. You can ask for suggestions about a ministry that you’re involved in. Get outside points of view.
I read about one pastor who would bring his books to help him in writing his sermons at a Burger King. The owner noticed him and asked what he was doing, so he explained, and eventually, the pastor would ask for suggestions and opinions of this man who did not attend church. Ultimately, this man began to attend church as a way of critiquing the sermon, and now is moving very close to becoming a Christian. Remember, when you are surrounded by Christians, it becomes more difficult to understand how the non-Christian thinks. So, learn how the other person thinks.
Okay, let’s review our math lesson. High Potency + Close Proximity + Clear Communication = Maximum Impact
If you aren’t a Christian, then remember the good news of God’s love, grace, forgiveness and joy is available just for the asking. I hope to begin a series called Building Contagious Christians, in which we will learn more about talking to others and sharing our faith in Christ. I would hope that you would prayerfully consider learning more about being a witness for Christ.
Friends, I believe each of us has a powerful, powerful story, one that is filled with hope in Christ, and I believe that if we tell others about Christ, we will find lives changed in His name.
