When Jesus called Peter and Andrew to become his disciples he speaks about them becoming “fishers for people” (Mark 1:16-18). This became a metaphor for evangelism. The context for our activities in rural evangelism tend to incline us towards using the more agricultural metaphors of sowing and reaping. But some of the disciples would have been more familiar with the concept of a harvest from the lake.
I started my ministry as an evangelist in 1963, and did my initial training within an evangelistic organisation. I had no doubt about the purpose of an evangelist. It was to win men, women and young people for Jesus. My earliest opportunities were among my peers at a church youth club, members of my family, fellow students at school, and holiday makers on Hastings seafront and its coffee bars. I spoke at meetings where I could and in between undertook one to one evangelism.
The process involved obtaining the attention and interest of the person or people being evangelised, sharing something of the gospel story with them, and then encouraging them to respond. Whenever possible that would mean responding immediately. All three elements were seen as essential parts of the fulfilment of God’s call to be an evangelist. I would never tell anyone the story unless they had given me the right to do so. I would never dream of telling the story without adding the challenge to respond.
Of course, the context of rural evangelism into which I moved also taught me to modify all three aspects appropriately. But, for me, the purpose of sharing the gospel story remains to encourage people to take a step of faith, to become a follower or disciple of Jesus. To a great extent the pattern of evangelism in these islands has changed. Former models of mission are often seen as culturally inappropriate. At the same time churches have recovered their sense of responsibility for evangelism rather than it being the prerogative of specialist organisations. New initiatives such as Alpha have proved very effective, but some prefer to work through the regular church activities with occasional ‘specials’.
It is said that no one can claim to be a teacher unless people actually learn. It is outcome that justifies the process. When a farmer sows seed he doesn't do it to justify how he uses time; he does it to obtain a harvest. A professional fisherman does not want to influence fish, he wants to catch them. During one parish mission in the past I encouraged the vicar of the church to give the final invitation to people to respond to the gospel. Despite a lifetime of evangelical ministry he had never done such a thing before. He spoke simply and calmly (despite his nerves), then turned and knelt in prayer at the communion table as the closing hymn was sung. At the end of the hymn he rose to his feet and turned to find the front of the church lined with people. He was overwhelmed by what had happened and later had the joy of counselling and discipling those that had responded.
While I miss those opportunities for evangelism that came through the former models of outreach, I welcome the concept of local churches undertaking their own sustainable processes of making the good news known. But if we are going fishing from smaller boats rather than relying on a large trawler, please ensure that your nets are in good order before they are let down. If we are not seeing people won for Christ in significant numbers we need, not only to seek the Lord, but also to examine our methods.
