The “Master’s Plan” Of Evangelism

This afternoon I was reminded of a class I took in college, which stirred a desire in me to go hunting for some of the information I learned in that class. I have tried to keep most of my papers and class work that I did in both my undergraduate and graduate classes. In our Discipleship and Evangelism class we read a book called “The Master Plan of Evangelism”. Churches tend to desire a well structured strategy or plan for evangelism, so the purpose of the book was to present eight different guiding principles that Jesus used in evangelism. Since we’ve recently been discussing evangelism I thought this might be an interesting addition to the subject. I’ll simply summarize the eight guiding principles of evangelism from the life of Jesus according to “The Master Plan of Evangelism”. The focus of the book is helping people who are leaders in the church realize that they need to be about the business of making more leaders. It’s the idea of multiplication rather than addition.

1. Selection – Jesus started by calling men to follow him, which revealed that his concern was not with programs to reach people, but with men whom the people would follow. Jesus chose men as his method for winning the world to God. The genius of Christ’s strategy was not for him to reach the masses of people by himself, but for him to devote himself to these few disciples, teaching them to be like him so that they would all go out into the masses of people and spread the good news.

2. Association - Jesus made a practice of being with these men, letting his disciples follow him, and by doing so he was teaching them everything they needed to know. It is vitally important that our association is with Jesus, but it is equally important that leaders in the Church spend some personal time with others, building more leaders who will go out and build more leaders. This will ensure the message of the gospel will be spread to all nations.

3. Consecration - Obedience was required. Following Jesus meant that they had to give their whole life to him in absolute submission to his sovereignty. If the disciples were going to be fit vessels of service, they were going to have to pay the price, which is still true today. Just as Jesus wanted his disciples to be obedient to him, he set the tone and example of obedience by being obedient to the father. The church needs leaders who will lead God’s people by example, being completely obedient to God, showing and teaching it’s members how to be obedient.

4. Impartation – Jesus was constantly giving of himself. He came to serve, not to be served. The disciples saw this practiced before them in many different ways, and they saw how the master denied himself many of the comforts and pleasures of the world and became a servant. The disciples were to give as freely as they had received and love as he had loved them, in doing this, showing this love to the rest of the world, the multitudes would know that the gospel is true. Leaders in the church should be completely willing to give of themselves, and become servants among the people, to again lead by example. It is also noted that the Spirit of God is the one who enables one to carry on the redemptive mission of evangelism. We must be willing to be led by the Spirit.

5. Demonstration – Jesus led by example. When his disciples were with him they were able to see him pray to the father, they saw him use scripture, preach, heal, and do a variety of other things that were completely open for the disciples to see and learn. Practically everything that Jesus said and did had some relevance to their work of evangelism, either by explaining a spiritual truth or revealing to them how they should deal with people, and in fact the disciples were absorbing this wisdom without knowing that they were being trained to evangelize. It is a responsibility for the people in the church to live their lives in a way that those watching learn spiritual truth from it every moment, in everything they do. Knowledge is not enough. We are what we do, not just what we say.

6. Delegation – In his foreknowledge Jesus knew that he would not be in the world for very long, so he continued to build his ministry for the time when his disciples would have to take over his work. There came a point in time where the disciples had seen enough and needed to put into practice what they had learned so Jesus sent them out into the world to do what he had been training them to do. Jesus warned them of the hardships that they would face, and of the people that would reject their message, in doing so he made a point to them that this mission was not different in principle or method from his own and in view of this he began to give them his own authority and power to do his work. He didn’t send them out alone but in pairs of two providing needed companionship between the disciples. Jesus did not leave this work of evangelism subject to human impression or convenience, rather he has commanded it to be done. Just as it was then it is now, evangelism is not an optional accessory to our life, it is the heartbeat of all that we are called to be and do. It is not enough for this to be expressed as an idea, and it is not enough for this to be knowledge, but it must also be action. The church should provide evangelism assignments and instructions, and expect them to be carried out. There needs to be not only a time for teaching and learning but a time for putting into practice the thoughts and principles that are learned.

7. Supervision – Jesus did not just send his disciples out and forget about them, he made it a point to meet with them following their tours of service to hear their reports. He kept after them constantly, giving them increasingly more attention as his ministry on earth came to a close, and in doing this he continued to help them improve as they grew in knowledge and grace. In the same way the leaders in the church should watch over those who are going out to do the work of God. There is no point in training someone to do a job and then just letting them go and forgetting about them, we must keep them constantly learning and sharp at what they are doing, and bring them to full maturity.

8. Reproduction - . The whole purpose of everything Jesus did with his disciples in training them and teaching them, and choosing them is that he expected them to reproduce. His original intention for them was to produce his likeness in them so that they would go out and produce that in others, all of which would create a cycle that would reach the whole world. Jesus revealed that the whole purpose for not only himself but his disciples was to bear fruit. He ultimately sums it up in The Great Commission, saying that the church is to make disciples of every nation. This is where we are today, still left with the command to bring the gospel to every nation, making disciples that will carry on the work of Christ. Again we must go back to the question this book asked in the beginning, do our efforts fulfill this great commission and are there people who continue the work of Christ through our ministry?

In theory this book reveals an idea that shouldn’t fail since it is taken straight from the life of the greatest strategic man who ever lived. For us to take the bible, examine Jesus’ life and strategies and do what he did should be an unfailing plan of evangelism. Jesus has not only commanded us to evangelize but he has shown us and provided the means by which we can do it. Just as the disciples followed Jesus, and learned from his commands putting them into practice, we also should view what Jesus has done, learn how he has done it, and then put into practice what we have learned.

So is this it? Should the church continually be discipling people and making leaders who will also disciple more people and make more leaders who will also disciples more people and make more leaders? That sounds like a good start. While the book does cover a strategic plan for evangelism itself, it really lacks the element that we’ve been discussing on the blog, which is how should we specifically do the act of evangelism.