Key: Proclaim
PROCLAIM the essentials of the Gospel in understandable ways
Following the example of the believers who first brought the Gospel to their home communities, the team proclaimed the Good News in a manner that was both culturally meaningful and plainly understood by the people. They used a balance of “words, wonders and works” to present the Good News.
Words: After His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples the vital elements of the message they were to spread: “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” [1]
This is the message Stephanas and his coworker told:
- Who Jesus is (The Christ, revealed in the Scriptures[2])
- His death
- His resurrection
- Forgiveness of sins in His name, for all who repent
Wonders: Jesus told the 72, “heal those…who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”[3] Likewise, the team prayed for the sick to be healed and demon possessed delivered. They relied upon God for signs and wonders. Paul wrote, “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power….”[4]
Works: Mindful of Jesus’ teaching about the Samaritan on the road to Jericho, the team showed love in practical ways—serving people through both word and deed. Compassionately meeting practical needs was an important part of their outreach. They were confident that as they modeled this kind of lifestyle, the new churches would begin to do the same.[5]
The church planting team spread the Gospel in faith, and applied the law of the harvest: “If you sow abundantly you will also reap abundantly.”[6]
[1] Luke 24:44-48; Paul reemphasized what Jesus said in I Corinthians 15:1-4
[2] At that time Jesus meant the Old Testament. Today we have the Gospels too. We should use both.
[3] Luke 10:9
[4] I Thessalonians. 1:5. Danny Lehmann says, “God designed evangelism in such a way that He won’t do it without us, and we can’t do it without Him.”
[5] Luke 10:25-37; Galatians 2:9-10
[6] Abundant Evangelism: A UNIVERSAL ELEMENT IN CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENTS “If prayer links a Church Planting Movement to God, then evangelism is its connection with the people. Essential to every movement is the principle of over-sowing. Just as nature requires a tree to drop thousands of seeds to produce a single sapling…so it is with evangelism. In Church Planting Movements we find hundreds and thousands of people hearing the gospel every day and out of this abundant sowing (through personal and mass evangelism), a growing harvest begins to take place.” David Garrison, Church Planting Movements, How God is Redeeming a Lost World, page 177.