Reaching the unsaved of a religious mission field means three things.
- Inspecting fruit (looking for change of life that came from their Salvation)
- Letting the Gospel do its work (don’t force a decision)
- And going to them with Scriptural truth
Going to them refers to taking the initiative (not expecting them to come to you)…….
And consistently sharing the Gospel
Particularly in religious mission fields evangelism is hard, slow work. This is because the unsaved are totally convinced their actually saved since they say, and do the right things. Also the religious unsaved agree with what the Bible teaches, but haven’t placed their faith in it.
So reaching the unsaved takes what I call “long-term evangelism”
Long-term evangelism is a form of outreach that explains the Gospel slowly and repetitively over a long period of time. It usually begins with a Gospel presentation, and then develops into Bible studies with the individual.
This evangelistic outreach is difficult because it requires two things:
- Patience
- and a strong knowledge of Scripture
In the early days of long-term evangelism the focus can be on “reasoning” or answering questions people may have about the Bible. In some cases reasoning takes extra patience because the individual aggressively defends beliefs not found in Scripture. But as we give them answers from an open Bible, the Holy Spirit will soften hearts.
The important thing about long evangelism is remembering that Gods Word won’t return void. This means we don’t have to spend time trying to change the person. Instead we simply point back to the Gospel, and truths of Scripture. And then allow the Holy Spirit to do the work. This makes it better than our “short-term (fast) evangelism” because we aren’t trying to force them into a decision. Long-term evangelism does take a great commitment and can be discouraging. But it’s work the work to see the Holy Spirit begin to reveal God’s truth, and convict of sin.
Like Christ the good shepherd who seeks out the wandering sheep, we must continue going back to the lost with Gods truth. Till the day we can bring the wandering sheep home with rejoicing.
Johnhwilburn.org 