The Master Plan Of Evangelism
by Robert Coleman
Introduction:
"Philosophers have only interpreted the world differently; the point is, however, to change it." -- Karl Marx
"How do we go forward with an evangelism...that is continuous, contagious, and compelling?" -- Paul Rees
Preface:
The Master & His Plan "I am the way." - John 14:6
"Are our efforts to keep things going fulfilling the great commission of Christ?
"Do we see an ever--expanding company of dedicated people reaching the world with the gospel as a result of our ministry?
Purpose of the Book:
1. To see the principles governing the movements of the Master.
2. To determine from those principles his methods for ministry.
The Life of Christ: A Perfect Example
1. His objective was clear.
2. He planned to win.
Principle #1 - Selection
"He chose from them twelve..." - Luke 6:12-13; Mark 3:13-15
His Method:
"His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow.
Men Willing to Learn:
Unlearned, Ignorant, but........."they were teachable."
Concentrated on a Few:
"One cannot transform the world except as individuals in the world are transformed, and individuals cannot be changed except as they are molded in the hands of the Master."
"...there was a rapidly diminishing priority given to those outside the Twelve."
Observation: "...other things being equal, the more concentrated the size of the group being taught, the greater the opportunity for effective instruction."
Sensitive to the Masses
Arousing the Multitudes
Few Followers
His Strategy: "Jesus was not trying to impress the crowd, but to usher in a kingdom. This meant that he needed people who could lead the multitudes."
The Principle Applied:
"We must decide where we want our ministry to count--in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of our lives in a few chosen people who will carry on our work after we have gone."
Questions:
1. How would you state the principle in your own words?
2. Which generation is our ministry reaching?
3. How is this decision reflected in our priorities and our programming?
4. Where are the leaders/influencers in our target audience?
5. What are we doing to reach them?
Principle #2 - Association
"He appointed twelve--designating them apostles--that they might be with him" -- Mark 3:14a
He Stayed With Them :
"Amazing as it may seem, all Jesus did to teach these men his way was to draw them close to himself. He was his own school and curriculum."
We must live it if our disciples are to learn it.
"Knowledge was gained by association before it was understood by explanation."
"He gave increasingly more time to the chosen disciples, not less."
"He actually spent more time with his disciples than with everybody else in the world put together."
Still Ministering to the Masses:
He modeled ministry for them.
"Preaching to the masses, although necessary, will never suffice in the work of preparing leaders for evangelism."
His Strategy:
"Having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being with them. This was the essence of his training program--just letting his disciples follow him."
The Principle Applied:
"There is simply no substitute for getting with people, and it is ridiculous to imagine that anything less, short of a miracle, can develop strong Christian leadership. After all, if Jesus, the Son of God, found it necessary to stay almost constantly with his few disciples for three years, and even one of them was lost, how can a church expect to do this job on an assembly line basis a few days out of the year."
Questions:
1. How would you state the principle in your own words?
2. Who are our disciples and what do we do to "associate" with them?
3. Where will following us lead them?
4. What is the impact of our presence on their life?
5. Does our life raise questions for our disciples? If so, what are they?
Principle #3 - Consecration
"Take my yoke upon you" - Matthew 11:29
He Required Obedience:
"Jesus expected the men he was with to obey him. They were not required to be smart, but they had to be loyal."
"No one will follow a person in whom he or she has no trust, nor sincerely take the step of faith unless he or she is willing to obey what the leader says."
The Way of the Cross:
"They liked to be numbered among his followers when he filled their stomachs with bread and fish, but when Jesus started talking about the true spiritual quality of the Kingdom and the sacrifice necessary in achieving it, many of his disciples ‘went back, and walked no more with him’." (John 6:25-59, 66)
Count the Cost:
"Jesus did not have the time nor the desire to scatter himself on those who wanted to make their own terms of discipleship."
Few Would Pay the Price: Will I?
To Obey Is To Learn: "Jesus patiently endured these human failings of his chosen disciples because in spite of all their shortcomings they were willing to follow him."
The Proof of Love:
"Supreme obedience was interpreted to be the expression of love."
Demonstrated by Jesus:
"Absolute obedience to the will of God, of course, was the controlling principle of the Master’s own life."
The Principle in Focus:
"A father must teach his children to obey him if he expects his children to be like him."
The Principle Applied:
"We are engaged in warfare, the issues of which are life and death, and every day that we are indifferent to our responsibilities is a day lost to the cause of Christ."
"There is no place in the Kingdom for a slacker."
"If this task seems to be too great, then we will have to start like Jesus did by getting with a few chosen ones and instilling into them the meaning of obedience."
Questions:
1. How would you state the principle in your own words?
2. How are we counting the cost of following Jesus?
3. You don’t catch disciples you challenge them. What’s the difference?
4. What do our disciples learn about obedience from the message of our life? How are we doing at obeying - God, Our Master (employer), Our Laws (i.e. speed limit)
5. How are we demonstrating commitment to the cause of Christ?
Principle #4 - Impartation
"Receive the Holy Spirit" - John 20:22
He Gave Himself Away:
"...in receiving his Spirit they would know the love of God for a lost world."
"His was a life of giving--giving away what the Father had given him."
"He gave all he had--nothing was withheld, not even his own life."
Compulsion of Evangelism:
"....he lost no opportunity to impress on his followers the deep compulsion of his own soul aflame with the love of God for a lost world."
"..in giving himself to God, Jesus gave himself to those about him so that they might come to know through his life a similar commitment to the mission for which he had come into the world. His whole evangelistic plan hinged on this dedication, and in turn, the faithfulness with which his disciples gave themselves in love to the world about them."
"Just as they had seen for three years, the disciples were to give themselves in selfless devotion to those whom the Father loved and for whom their Master died." - Jn. 17:23
The Work of the Holy Spirit:
"..evangelism was not interpreted as a human undertaking, but as a divine project which had been going on from the beginning and would continue until God’s purpose was fulfilled. It was altogether the Spirit’s work. All the disciples were asked to do was to let the Spirit have complete charge of their lives."
The Comforter: Guide, Show, Teach, Help
The Secret of the Victorious Life: "The superhuman work to which they were called demanded supernatural help"
A Truth Hidden from Pre-Christians
The Principle Applied:
"We must have his life in us by the Spirit if we are to do his work and practice his teaching. Any evangelistic work without this is as lifeless as it is meaningless. Only as the Spirit of Christ in us exalts the Son are people drawn unto the Father."
"..we cannot give something away which we do not possess ourselves."
Questions:
1. How do you "know" the love of God for a lost world?
2. What does "knowing" compel you to do?
3. What mission is your life calling your disciples to give their life to?
4. How is the Spirit of God working in your life?
5. What do you wish you had to give away to your disciples?
Principle #5 - Demonstration
"I have set you an example...." - John 13:15
He Showed Them How to Live:
"He recognized that it was not enough just to get people into His spiritual communion. His disciples needed to know how His experience was to be maintained and shared if it was to be perpetuated in evangelism."
Prayer:
"It was no accident that Jesus often let His disciples see Him conversing with the Father."
"Unless they (and we) grasped the meaning of prayer, and learned how to practice it with consistency, not much would ever come from their lives."
Scripture:
"That which Jesus believed was to be cherished by His disciples."
Evangelism:
"Practically everything that Jesus did had some relevance to their work of evangelism,..."
"He did not have to work up teaching situations, but merely took advantage of those about Him, and thus His teaching seemed perfectly realistic."
Teaching:
"Jesus was so much the Master in His teaching that He did not let His method obscure His lesson. He let His truth call attention to itself, and not the presentation."
"All the disciples had to teach them was a Teacher Who practiced with them what He expected them to learn."
Class Was Always in Session!
Principle in Focus:
"He did not ask anyone to do or be anything which first He had not demonstrated in His own life, thereby not only proving its workability, but also its relevance to His mission in life."
"His training classes were never dismissed."
"People are looking for a demonstration not an explanation."
Principle Applied:
"...those of us who are seeking to train men must be prepared to have them follow us, even as we follow Christ."
"We are the exhibit."
"There can be no shirking or evading our personal responsibility to show the way to those we are training, and this revelation must include the practical outworking in life of the deeper realities of the Spirit."
Questions:
1. What have we learned personally through the demonstration of another?
2. What does our life teach our disciples about prayer, the word, or evangelism?
3. When was the last "teachable moment" you have shared with your disciples?
4. How would my teaching be affected if I could only talk about the things I was doing?
Principle #6 - Delegation
"I will make you fishers of men" - Matthew 4:19
He Assigned Them Work:
"Jesus was always building his ministry for the time when his disciples would have to take over his work"
"He was never premature in his insistence on action."
"His method was to get the disciples into a vital experience with God, and to show them how he worked, before telling them they had to do it."
"...these early disciples really did not do much more than watch Jesus work for a year or more."
"They needed now to put into practice what they had seen their Master do."
Briefing Instructions:
1. Affirmed their purpose in life. (Purpose)
2. Told them whom to see first. (Priority)
3. God would supply their needs. (Provision)
Follow His Method: "...establishing a beachhead in a new place of labor by connecting with a potentially key follow-up leader in not to be minimized."
Expect Hardship: "Jesus never let his followers underestimate the strength of the enemy, nor the natural resistance of self-serving people to his redeeming gospel."
A Dividing Gospel: "There could be no compromise with sin, and for these reason, anyone holding out on God was sure to be disturbed by their teaching."
One With Christ
Two by Two: "Together they could help one another, and when adverse circumstances greeted them as surely often would be the case, they could still find solace among themselves."
Post Resurrection Commands: "They were to be the human instruments announcing the good tidings, and the Holy Spirit was to be God’s personal empowerment of their mission."
The Principle:
"Jesus did not leave the work of evangelism subject to human impression or convenience."
" Christian disciples are sent men and women."
"Evangelism is not an optional accessory to our life. It is the heartbeat of all that we are called to be and do."
Questions:
1. If God were to remove you suddenly from you present ministry situation, what would happen?
2. What areas of your ministry have been delegated to your disciples?
3. What areas of your ministry could be delegated you your disciples?
4. What should be done in the next 30 days to prepare your disciples to take over the ministry? 90 days, 6 months, 1 year?
5. How do you communicate the priority of evangelism to your disciples?
Principle #7 - Supervision (Coaching)
"Do you still not see or understand" - Mark 8:17
He Kept Check On Them:
"What time he was with them, he was helping them to understand the reason for some previous action or getting them ready for some new experience."
"...after the disciples were sent out to work, they were expected to share their experiences, later, with the group."
"As he reviewed some experience which the disciples had he would bring out some practical application of it to their lives."
The Principle Observed:
"He rejoiced in their success, but nothing less than world conquest was his goal, and to that end he always superintended their efforts."
"The important thing about the supervisory work of Jesus was that he kept the disciples going on toward the goal he had set for them. He did not expect more from his disciples than they could do, but he did expect their best, and this he expected always to be improved as they grew in knowledge and grace. His plan of teaching, by example, assignment, and constant checkup, was calculated to bring out the best that was in them."
The Principle Applied Today:
"We dare not assume that the work will be done merely because we have shown a willing worker how to do it, and then sent him or her out with a glowing expectation of results."
"There can be no substitute for total victory, and our field is the world. We have not been called to hold the fort, but to storm the heights."
Questions:
1. What was the last success you celebrated with your disciples?
2. What goals have you set for your disciples?
3. What do you assign them and how do you check up on them?
4. What can we do to give our disciples a sense of vision and responsibility for the whole world?
Principle #8 - Reproduction
"Go and bear fruit--fruit that will last" - John 15:16
He Expected Them to Reproduce:
"Jesus intended for the disciples to produce his likeness in and through the church being gathered out of the world. Thus his ministry in the Spirit would be duplicated many fold by his ministry in the lives of his disciples. Through them and others like them it would continue to expand in an ever-enlarging circumference until the multitudes might know in a similar way the opportunity which they had known with the Master. By this strategy the conquest of the world was only a matter of time and their faithfulness to his plan."
"His whole evangelistic strategy--indeed, the fulfillment of his very purpose in coming into the world, dying on the cross, and rising from the grave--depended on the faithfulness of his chosen disciples to this task."
"If his disciples failed to impart his Spirit and method to others who would keep this work going, then his ministry with them all these years would soon come to nought."
"In various ways, and among all kinds of people, Jesus called men to evaluate the product of their lives. This was the revelation of what they were. In fact, where fruit bearing is seen in its larger context of reproducing the Christ life in human personality, first in ourselves and then in others,practically everything which the Master said and did pointed to this principle."
"The test of any work of evangelism thus is not what is seen at the moment, or in the conference report, but in the effectiveness with which the work continues in the next generation.
Similarly, the criteria on which a church should measure its success is not how many new names are added to the roll nor how much the budget is increased, but rather how many Christians are actively winning souls and training them to win the multitudes."
"When will we realize that evangelism is not done by something, but by someone?
It is an expression of God’s love, and God is a person. His nature, being personal, is only expressed through personality, first revealed fully in Christ, and now expressed through his Spirit in the lives of those yielded to him. Committees may help organize and direct it, and to that end they certainly are needed, but the work itself is done by people reaching other people for Christ."
Questions:
1. Who are your spiritual children (disciples)?
2. Are they walking in the truth? (3 Jn. 3,4)
3. How has your ministry in their lives been reproduced in the lives of those whom they minister to?
4. In what ways is our ministry adding too or subtracting from the time it will take to fulfill the Great Commission?
5. What should be done to help our disciples become effective at sharing the gospel and training others to do it as well?
Epilogue
Is This Your Vision?
"The world is desperately seeking someone to follow. That they will follow someone is certain, but will that person be one who knows the way of Christ, or will he or she be one like themselves leading them only on into greater darkness? This is the decisive question of our plan of life. The relevance of all that we do waits on its verdict, and in turn, the destiny of the multitudes hangs in the balance."
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