As one preacher said, “To ‘evangelize’…does not mean to win converts…but simply to announce the good news, irrespective of the results” (135). We certainly hope to see God powerfully move in a person’s heart and save them! However, if you share with someone and they reject the gospel, you have done the work of evangelism. Keep being faithful to share the good news! We won’t be held accountable for the results, but we will be held accountable for our faithfulness. 

We continue to look at marks of a healthy church that are seldom emphasized today. Using 9 Marks of a Healthy Churchas our guide, we’ve examined expository preaching, biblical theology, the gospel, and a Biblical understanding of conversion. Today, we’ll look at the next mark: a biblical understanding of evangelism.

Five Things Often Confused as Evangelism

Evangelism is something that all believers are to do. It is not something where church members can sit back and let the paid ministers do alone; the call in the great commission is for all believers to go and make disciples! However, there is sometimes confusion as to what evangelism is. Dever provides five common things that are often mistaken for evangelism (130-137):

Evangelism is not imposition– Some see evangelism as imposing their beliefs on others, therefore they refrain. However, when we evangelize, we are simply telling others the good news of the gospel. We can’t make anyone believe, we simply communicate the message in love.

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