4 articles.
Models of discipleship are helpful tools for evangelism and discipleship practices. They seek to systematically present the contents, doctrines, and imperatives of the Bible concerning such disciplines concisely so that they can be incorporated into Christians' ministries. This paper will evaluate three of these models built by various Christian institutions.
Gospel plans and tracts are beneficial ways of sharing the Gospel clearly, for they often incorporate a substantial amount of Scripture and present the Gospel in a form that is appealing to the eyes through graphics and understandable to broad audiences. This brief paper will examine four plans in light of various elements of the Gospel: humanity and sin, God and Christ, and faith and repentance.
Regarding evangelism and its Message, Charles Spurgeon declared, "If a man is to be used as a winner of souls, he must have spiritual life to a high degree… When the Holy Spirit dwells within a living child of God, He later rises out of the very midst of Him as a fountain or a river, so that others may come and participate in the Spirit's gracious influences." Spurgeon's declaration is best noticed in the life of Jesus, who possesses this spiritual life to the utmost degree and "serves as a model evangelist." Furthermore, the latter part of Spurgeon's quote demonstrates the perpetuation of the Gospel in that Jesus personally evangelized His disciples first to save them and then to make them "fishers of men." These followers, empowered by the Holy Spirit they received at Pentecost, are mimickers of Christ's evangelistic endeavors insofar that they would go on to evangelize the entire world.
As defined in the book Invitation to Evangelism: Sharing the Gospel with Compassion and Conviction by Timothy K. Beougher, Evangelism is "the compassionate sharing of the [G]ood [N]ews of Jesus Christ with lost people, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of bringing them to Christ as Savior and Lord, that they in turn might share [H]im with others." The spirit of evangelism is compassion, the method is sharing, the content is Good News, the recipients are lost people, the power is the Holy Spirit, the purpose is to bring them to Christ as Savior and Lord, and the perpetuation is that they might win others to Christ.