The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 178

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178

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

A Method of Personal Evangelism.

In these columns our Christians have often been
urged to do personal work to gain people for Christ.
It is a pleasure to know that these appeals have
touched the hearts of some readers and impelled
them to become “fishers of men” in a greater and
larger measure than they were before. Of some
readers we know that they formerly labored under
the impression that their duty as Christians con-
sisted in going to church more or less regularly,
contributing a greater or less sum toward the up-
keep of the local congregation and Synod’s work,
and abstaining from gross transgressions of the
Moral Law. However, God has graciously opened
their eyes to see that a live Christian must be more
active than this; that one in whom dwells the love
of Christ will not only sit at Jesus’ feet and hear
His blessed words of life for himself, but will do
all he personally can to induce others to come to
Jesus and become partakers of the joys which only
He can give.

One of our readers who wants to become such
a personal worker for Christ desires to be given
some directions as to how to go about this blessed
work, and because the writer believes that others
may have the same wish, this article is being written.

First, where may personal evangelism begin?
Christ says: “Go ye into all the world and preach
the Gospel.” Does this mean that every Christian
who desires to carry out this command must sell
his property, give up his present work or business,
and go to some foreign country as a missionary?
Surely not; for most of us the “world” where we
are to “preach the Gospel,” where we are to work
for Christ and His kingdom, is where we live, our
neighborhood: the shop where we work, our office,
our place of business, the company in which we
spend our leisure time — our own personal little
world. It is in this little world that I am to fulfil
the Lord’s command, keep alive my love for Him
by bringing souls to Him, and help carry out His
program for the salvation of men.

Knowing, then, where our sphere of action is to
be, we ask, secondly, how we are to go about the
work of winning souls for the Savior. If we want
to win souls for Jesus, He must, first of all, have
won our souls for Himself. We must have sur-
Tendered ourselves to the Savior. ‘Like Stephen,
we must be’ “full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.”
: ‘Then, as in Stephen’s case also, we may expect
| that through our work “people will be added unto

There must be no doubt in the mind of the
soul-winner that man in his natural condition is.
a lost and condemned creature and that his only
hope of salvation is to be found in Christ. If a per-
sonal worker is not fully convinced of man’s utter
sinfulness, helplessness, and damnableness outside
of Christ, he cannot be an efficient soul-winner for
Christ; he will not be able to plead with that
earnestness that is required to bring lost souls to
a realization of their lost condition and of the abso-
lute need of coming to Christ as their only Savior.

Further, the soul-winner must have a passion
for souls; his heart must yearn for their salvation.
The personal worker’s heart must be filled with love.
You know you can’t force men to Christ; they must
be wooed. Of course, we can’t make ourselves love
our Savior, as little as we can make ourselves believe
and trust in Him. But as sure as we have become
the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
just so sure the Holy Spirit will shed abroad in our
hearts this love of others. As the Holy Spirit enters.
our hearts, they will be emptied of self, and love
will fill them. And this love will not let us rest and
enjoy the Savior alone, but will compel us to bring
others to.share His joys and blessings.

The personal evangelist will begin and continue
all his work with prayer. Prayer brings you into
closest union with God. It teaches you that all
your power and all success must come from Him-
But through prayer God will also give you power-
No man ever enters into the presence of God in
prayer without coming away with new grace and
strength. But prayer also sets God to working.
Prayer, we may say, releases the energy of God. We
pray— God does! We pray, and God does things.
which to man seem impossible. The personal evan-
gelist prays to receive power from God and to direct
the blessed energies of God toward the object of his
personal work.

The place to begin our work on those whom we
wish to bring to Christ is upon our knees. Having
made this beginning, we are ready to deal personally
with them. Let us be tactful in dealing’ with those
we wish to win. We should not be forgetful of the
fact that the Holy Spirit works through our heads
as well as through our hearts. Let us ever make
use of good common sense. Courtesy and patience
are two very important qualities in the soul-winner.
He should never lose his temper. He should never
assume a patronizing, condescending manner.

The writer feels like saying to the personal
evangelist, “Never argue.” The purpose of the
soul-winner is to present Christ as the Savior. If