Reforming Evangelism
1. Introduction
2. Preparation
3. Is it Biblical?
4. Practice
5. The Diagram
6. Assurance
Most Americans go to church and believe they are “Christian.” Many believe they are even “born again.” But helping people to see where they really stand before God can be tough. Even when laying out law/gospel for someone I have found it helpful to draw a diagram that gives him or her something to look at. It takes me one minute to draw it, and 5 to 10 to talk someone through it. Check it out below (here is a larger version).
I explain that everyone in the world is somewhere on this diagram. That, in fact, we all start in the same place: spiritually dead, not interested in the things of God. Some never move forward, others may do so early because of family or friends, and some later. These move from uninterested to interested, and some make progress to actually seeking God as they hear the Gospel. Those who are seeking God sense that they do not have a relationship with him, experience conviction over their sin, are perhaps attending church, reading the Bible, praying. Yet none of this eases their conscience. They remain spiritually dead, separated from God. They are not yet converted. I sometimes explain the concept of God drawing people to himself while in this section. It all depends on the person and how close I believe they are to believing.
Fewer still move forward on the diagram and are “converted.” I explain the ends of this doctrine immediately. God changes the heart (regeneration/new birth), and makes us spiritually alive. This produces faith and repentance. I spend a little time explaining the result of the change. And then how God typically gives assurance of salvation at or around the same time easing the conscience with peace. In other words, you not only have eternal life, but you know you have eternal life.
After this people begin to grow in the faith, change, and become who God wants them to be.
I then ask them to show me where they think they are on the diagram. “Put a mark where you think you are.” I am sure it will happen some day, but so far no one has placed himself or herself in the “alive” section when not a Christian. No one has presumed to say/believe he is a Christian after getting the big picture. Some say they are not interested, but in my experience most say they are starting to seek God. I ask them to explain this to me. Talk about it. I always want them to use their own words. So far, I have not told anyone they are going to hell. They have all told me. Each person has shown me where they believe they are, and conclude they are separated from God. We talk about the consequences of this reality.
Once they get some clarity on where they are we talk about what they need to be doing. Seeking God becomes their priority. The means of grace are explained and encouraged. I pray with them and they take home the napkin, or piece of paper the diagram is drawn on. We meet regularly to talk about where they are in their seeking. I urge them to believe, expressing the need to respond to Christ at the moment. Yet the whole time they are being connected to the church. All of this is a brief summary, I am leaving a lot out because formulaic approaches do not work. I draw the same diagram every time, but talk people through it in somewhat different ways.
In the last post in this series I will explain what it looks like as they make progress through the chart, and how God has given assurance to those he brought through this process.
I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship; husband to Jen; Dad to Katherine, Elias, Madeline, and Kilian. If you're in town you can probably find me in the local coffee house or running through the neighborhoods.
{ 16 comments }
You’d have more comments if your diagram was computer generated or written neatly in Sharpie.
I believe you have created a very helpful diagram. I look forward to using it.
Steve, I almost created one in PSP, but thought it would cheese it out. I only quickly scribble it out (in a bit more detail than what is here) for people and it works great.
Jason, thanks for stopping by. You’re a church planter right? Have you been where you are since its beginning? Grace is only a few years old here in Northern Illinois.
Pencil has more character. It looks more like something you would actually write on the spot. But for fun, you should create a slick “Chick Tract” version of it. I think that would be tremendously useful.
LOL. The Chick Tract Conversion Chart with campy cartoons of people burning in hell. I can see it now.
i agree that pencil has more character.
anyway, i’ve come into this series too late, i’m afraid! this is an encouraging and refreshing series, joe. i enjoy the diagram “revisited.” i’ve talked about a similar diagram with some of my friends who are believers, but never considered talking about it with pre-believers. duh. makes sense.
Thanks Adam. I have not been able to use the other models out there because 1) I have theological issues with Gray’s matrix and Engel’s scale. 2) They are not designed for seekers as much as evangelists. And 3) they seem to me (not trying to be harsh here) to be needed only where theology has been neglected. A good understanding of the “ordo salutis” makes them unnecessary.
I wanted something to show a seeker that would make sense. It is not always necessary, but often helpful.
Joe,
I find this excellent. I just have one question. You say that a few people are in the ‘seeking’ category but that ‘fewer still’ move on to conversion. Would not the reason for the seeking attitude be the drawing of the Spirit? If so, does the Spirit ever draw someone whom He does not convert? It seems to me that all who enter the seeking mode would eventually become converted unless their seeking is based on something other than the drawing of the Sprit and if so, what would that be? OK, I guess that’s two questions.
God bless…
Larry
Larry,
I have overstated it there and really should only say that some are interested and fewer seek and are converted, but I do not believe that seeking is necessarily fruit of election or God’s drawing. All of the elect will seek, all who are being drawn will seek, but not all who seek are being drawn. Some begin and participate and then fall away. But in my experience, the majority of those who seek continue and are converted. John Owen actually argues that some are “enlightened” but never converted. Still, drawing seems to always result in conversion.
Hey I found a Chick Tract in the bathroom at Cracker Barrel tonight!!! Was it wrong that I took it out and threw it away?!
I would have found a *use* for it while in there.
Thorny, did you tear it up first? Always a good precaution. You never know who might be going through the trash.
makes sense, joe. thanks.
Thanks for the clear thoughts. Thanks for including both dialog and truth. Found you through Pete Williamson. Looking forward to reading on…
Joe,
I like your diagram. I do have one observation. I know that some feel that regeneration and conversion are instantaneous and that there may be no perceivable time between the new birth and faith/repentance. But wouldn’t the drawing be slightly more accurate if the “new birth” arrow preceded the “faith/repentance” arrow?
I enjoy reading your blog.
Thanks for visiting guys.
Greg, regeneration does preceed faith (even chronilogically, not just in terms of “theological priority”), though it seems that most often regeneration and faith are experienced very near one another. In general I believe that faith and repentance are the immediate repsponses to regeneration – and so I put the arrows in the same place to show the seeker that on the one hand God is regenerating, and in response to that we believe. I think potential problems arise when counseling the seeker and leading him to anticipate a time between regeneration and conversion. The diagram is not that helpful without explanation. So for me, the arrows are where they are for a reason, of course others may want to move things around. That’s the beauty of doodling on napkins.
Joel, it’s been a while. You going to the Pastor’s fellowship Sept. 1st? I guess this whole series is about what we are doing (not only our church, but other young leaders in the Convention) to approach evangelism in a better way, and obviously some of this stuff is exactly what we should use in the practice of evangelism.
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