“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” That statement is the starting point for much of personal evangelism.1 Is there a Reformed way to do evangelism? Yes. It relates to the principles recognized, the approach, the message, and the goal. But is it effective? Could we be more effective evangelists or witnesses if we abandon our Reformed principles? My argument in this article is that the most effective and God-honoring witnessing is one which teaches the unadulterated Scriptures. The theological summary of what Scriptures teaches can be easily summarize with the acronym TULIP,2 which is drawn from the Canons of Dort.3
The Sovereignty of God
The glory of God is the goal of evangelism, and recognition of his sovereignty over all must be in sight. Evangelism is what the church is called to do. It is the calling of the church, built upon the great commission of Matthew 29:16–20, to send out missionaries to bring the gospel to those who have never heard it or who have rejected it. The church ordains men for such a task. There is also the calling of the local church in applying the gospel to its own community in which God has placed it. Every individual member is involved in this task of witnessing.
A Principle
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls all believers lights in a dark world (Matt. 5:14; cf. Isa. 43:10). This recognizes the fact that naturally, man is in a state of depravity and spiritual darkness.
Without the interceding work of the Holy Spirit, natural man will perish everlastingly. This statement by Christ in Matthew 5 is even more startling when we recognize that he called himself the light of the world (Latin: lux mundi) in John 8:12. This truth informs the call of the individual Christian and the call to witness.
Though faith is solely the work of God, he calls us to be part of the means to teach others the faith. He is the primary cause of bringing one to justification through the instrument of faith. However, we are secondary causes used by God. He entrusts those who hold the gospel in jars of clay. There is nothing passive about this role. It is God’s call to those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).
God-Centered
The message of evangelism is the good news of Jesus Christ. This message is a God-centered message. When you look closely at John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but will have eternal life,” you learn much about God. He is a God who loved the world enough (“so loved”) that he sent Jesus Christ. He is a God who acted first. Adam or Abraham did not ask for a Savior. God came to the world with his divine plan of redemption. God is the one who accepts sinners as righteous because of the work of Jesus Christ. God grants eternal life wholly by his grace. He sent Christ and the gospel to the world. The gospel did not stay in Jerusalem, but in fulfillment of what God promised to Abraham in Genesis 12 and then repeated to the patriarchs through covenant history, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). Evangelism and witnessing, like the gospel, is God-centered.
The Role of the Holy Spirit and Prayer
It is God alone who can turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Regeneration or bringing from death to life is a work of the Holy Spirit. In evangelism and witnessing, the witness must recognize this important truth. There are far too many missionaries who could look upon their work as a failure due to few converts if they thought it was up to them to save people. God saves! Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2). It is our prayer that the Holy Spirit changes hearts and lives.
Power of the Word
What should we share with the lost? The greatest gift we can give is the Scriptures themselves. If we believe what we confess about the Scriptures, that they are the inspired Word of God, powerful to bring the dead to life by the Spirit, then it is the Scriptures that we share, for the Scriptures teach Christ.
My barber is a Muslim. In fact, the whole barbershop of eight barbers are all Muslim: four Sunni and four Shiite. My barber is a Sunni Muslim from Iraq. He has a respect for the Bible. For thirty minutes each month I have an opportunity to show him what the Bible means in my life. When I speak with him, I see one or two of the other barbers notice. He is genuinely interested in what I believe, and I am genuinely interested in what he believes. He is hearing the Bible for the first time.
Memorize a half dozen key Scriptures regarding sin and salvation, and you will be equipped to share your faith and answer some of the questions the lost might have.
Lives Changed
The gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. The Bible’s teaching on total depravity shows us that there is nothing in fallen man that is not touched by sin. The will, emotions, and actions are all polluted. The gospel touches each area that was impacted by the fall. The whole life is changed. The goal and purpose of life is different when one believes. The goal of life becomes to glorify God and enjoy him forever (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q/A 1). God is able to make the foulest clean.
When I pass a homeless person on the side of the road, my heart breaks. This person might have a mental illness, maybe made many horrible decisions in life, maybe have squandered many opportunities. I am never sure. But one thing I am sure is that without God’s grace, that could be me. Instead of entering the ministry, I could have become a drug addict and spent all my money on booze and wicked living. Understanding grace moves us to sympathy for the lost. If we know what we are capable of in sin, we will be brought to humility. The gospel can change the most pitiable sinner into a saint.
John 3 and John 4
The Scriptures are full of examples of lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. For example, the great persecutor of the church, Saul, was converted and became the great evangelist of the church, Paul. Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives.
In John 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of seventy men who presided over all things ecclesiastical. He was also a teacher in Israel (John 3:10), which might have been an official title. He was the religious of the religious, and Jesus tells him that he must be born again. He likely didn’t believe Jesus’ message until Jesus died and he teamed with Joseph to bury Jesus.
In John 4, we see someone who is opposite of the type of person Nicodemus was. The Samaritan woman at the well (she is nameless) was at the lowest end of society. She was living with a man to whom she was not married, and she had five previous husbands. She went at noon to draw water, likely because the women of the village would not let her draw in the morning when it was cooler. Jesus commits a social faux pas by speaking to a woman.
The differences between Nicodemus and the woman could not be starker. Nevertheless, they both needed the same thing: the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is an example that no one is too lofty for salvation (Nicodemus) and no one is too lowly for salvation (the Samaritan woman).
But there is one more great difference between these two. After the encounter with Jesus, it was the woman who believed and went and told her village about Jesus. What was the result? John 4:39 says, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony” (Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version). This woman, who was a social outcast, became a witness of the greatest news ever told: the Messiah has come, and he is the Savior.
A Covenantal Message
There are a couple more principles of evangelism that one would identify as Reformed. As the gospel of Christ changes hearts and lives, converts become members of the covenant. If they are the heads of families, then their families also come into the sphere of the covenant. This has tremendous implications. Becoming a member of the covenant means that God will deal with you covenantally. This means that the promises of the covenant become yours. These promises were given in Genesis. God told Abraham that he would be the God of his descendants (Gen. 17:7).
A further benefit of being welcomed into the covenant is that people are welcomed into a covenant community. This means that they are now connected to the family of God. Fellow believers will be praying for and with them; they will have the advantage of using the Christian day school, of catechism for their youth, of Bible studies, and all the other ministries of the church. They will receive these benefits as they use their own gifts for God’s glory in the local church.
An Antithetical Message
As our nation(s) grow more and more secular, the pressure from the world continues to grow against the church. There is a spiritual battle taking place (Eph. 6) all around us. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the power of darkness. When the light shines into the darkness, those in the darkness will not like it. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:19, “the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” Christians are countercultural.
A few years ago I was leaving a professional baseball game. The problem was that in order to get where our car was parked, we had to walk around the stadium to the other side. This would have been fine if it was not for the fact that everyone else was walking in the opposite direction. So, I held onto my son’s hand and slowly made our way as we bumped into people. It would have been more convenient to go with the crowd. This is the plight of the Christian. The unbelieving world is walking one way and the Christian is walking the other way. The Christian is counter spiritual in that they reject a pure materialistic worldview.
Add to this tension the fact that the people who are walking in the opposite direction are the objects for evangelism. Though they are image bearers of God, they are yet walking in darkness.
A Winsome Method
There are books written on the method of evangelism that are much more fulsome than a couple of thoughts offered here.4 Nevertheless, the application of Reformed witnessing is seen in the method. It is important to understand what the Bible teaches about God, sin, Christ, man, the Holy Spirit, and the church. But the method is also important. Let me share three thoughts in closing regarding our calling as witnesses.
First, we are to love the lost. Jesus gives us the golden rule to love our neighbor as ourself. How might that apply to witnessing? Put yourself in the shoes of an unbeliever. Would you want your neighbor to share the cure to the terminal illness you have? Of course. Love compels us to witness. This might be out of our comfort zone. We might get afraid or nervous. But it all starts with a heart of love. Richard Philipps gives this honest and tough assessment: “We do not care enough for the eternal destiny of friends, family members, and coworkers to risk the social hazard of talking about the Lord. Our lives are focused on our own needs and those of our families, so we have no time to participate in outreach ministries. For many of us, the first step in evangelism is simply to care enough for the lost to become weary in the gospel.”5 Do you love the lost?
In John 4, there is an interesting phrase in verse 4. In speaking of Jesus, the text says, “And he had to pass through Samaria.” But he didn’t have to from a geographical point of view. Many went around Samaria to get from Jerusalem to Galilee. Jesus had to go to Samaria because there was a lost soul who would meet him there at a well. Love compelled the Savior, for love compelled his Father.
Second, share the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15). In John 4, Jesus tells this Samaritan woman about the water of life. Some of the most effective witnessing today takes place by building meaningful relationships with unbelievers. There can be wisdom in not sharing the gospel in a first conversation with a neighbor or co-worker, but eventually the time will come. If you truly love someone, you must tell them about the most important thing in the world.
There is no need to water down the gospel or to take the edge off the call to faith. We should explain to those who don’t know concepts like hell and judgment, sin and righteousness. Don’t compromise the faith in explaining it. Don’t apologize for God or belittle God (e.g., regarding election, judgment, the Old Testament warfare, punishment). Remember, it is the message, accompanied by the Holy Spirit, that God works in hearts and lives.
Third, continue to support and minister to those God brings into your life. Rarely is someone’s heart changed the first time they hear the gospel. Continue to follow up with them. Continue to apply the world to everyday life. Continue to show in your own life how grace impacts your day to day living.
Conclusion
A right understanding of evangelism (done officially by the church) and personal witnessing (done by all believers) will motivate believers even more to spread the gospel. It isn’t up to us to change people’s hearts. God is sovereign in salvation; let him be sovereign in evangelism as well. The Word is powerful, and when it is combined with prayer, we see God do wonderful things. What a privilege that we should be tasked to give an answer to the hope that is in us. May God be praised.
1 A helpful distinction should be made between evangelism, which is a task given to the church as an institution, and personal witnessing or personal evangelism, which is a task given to all believers.
2 TULIP is an acronym that stands for total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints, the five heads of doctrine contained in the Canons of Dort (though the order is technically ULTIP).
3 Rev. D. H. Walters argues that these are the distinctive truths which determine our approach. His chapter in Reformed Evangelism (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1948), 71–89, is an excellent work regarding a principled approach to evangelism. Though the book is dated and there is a lack of an emphasis on relational evangelism, it is still a helpful resource.
4 There continue to be a growing number of helpful resources for sharing the faith. A couple that I have been blessed by are Will Metzger, Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1981); The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationship Right Outside Your Door (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012).
5 Richard Phillips, John, Reformed Expository Series 1 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2014), 218.
Steve Swets is the pastor of Rehoboth United Reformed Church in Hamilton, ON, and the co-editor of Faithful and Fruitful: Essays for Elders and Deacons (now available at reformedfellowship.net).