EVANGELISM, NECESSITY FOR
A young boy about seven years old went to Disneyland with his family, but in the excitement of going on all the rides, he was separated from them. He was having such a wonderful time that it was quite a while before he realized that he was lost. When he discovered the predicament he was in, he at first figured that he could find his way back to his family. But, after a time, it finally hit him that he didn’t know where he was going or how to get there. He was lost, really lost!
The same is true for unbelievers. They may not know it yet, because they may still be having a wonderful time, but they are lost all the same. Sooner or later it’s going to hit them that they don’t know where they are going or how to get there.
Two things were necessary for the boy to be reunited with his family. First, he had to recognize his condition. Second, someone had to show him where he could find his family. So, too, in evangelism—the Holy Spirit will first convict individuals of their lostness (John 16:8–10), but we Christians are commissioned to show them the way of salvation.425
Evangelist Vance Havner, preaching at the Moody Bible Institute’s Founder’s Week in 1974, stated: “Evangelism is to Christianity what veins are to our bodies. You can cut Christianity anywhere and it’ll bleed evangelism. Evangelism is vascular, it’s our business. Talk about majoring on evangelism, you might as well talk about a doctor majoring on healing. That’s our business.”426
The following excerpt is from A Quiet Revolution, (Waco, Texas: Word, 1977) by John Perkins, a black evangelist and social worker in Jackson, Mississippi.
Many years ago, before the term “civil rights” was a household phrase, one Southern state was reforming its penal system. The latest refinement was the installation of the state’s first gas chamber. The day had come for the chamber to be used for the first time. The victim, a black man, was brought into the chamber and strapped into the chair. He became hysterical and began to scream, “Save me, Joe Louis! Save me, Joe Louis!”
He had been found guilty by the courts. He paid the price. I don’t find any meaning in that. But his words, his last words, could be the words of a whole generation of black people, few of whom have heard the real truth about salvation through Jesus Christ. They represent the majority of black people looking for something to save them, to make them whole, to give them meaning and peace and happiness, but who are without access to the central truths of the gospel.427
Hudson Taylor told of a Chinese pastor who always instructed new converts to witness as soon as possible. Once, upon meeting a young convert, the pastor inquired, “Brother, how long have you been saved?” The man answered that he had been saved for about three months.
“And how many have you won to the Savior?”
“Oh, I’m only a learner,” the convert responded.
Shaking his head in disapproval, the pastor said, “Young man, the Lord doesn’t expect you to be a full-fledged preacher, but he does expect you to be a faithful witness. Tell me, when does a candle begin to shine—when it’s already half burned up?”
“No, as soon as it’s lit,” came the reply.
“That’s right, so let your light shine right away.”428