Many churches and Christians have fallen for the lie that evangelism, or at least some methods of evangelism, do not work today; debate about this goes on among Christians. All this happens in the church, while lost people—people without Jesus—are dying and heading for an eternal hell. Jesus calls every Christian to be His witness. The Great Commission is God’s mandate for making lasting disciples by taking the gospel to all peoples. Even so, the church lives as though God’s command for evangelism is an option.
In Breaking the Evangelism Code, author Victor Benavides helps Christians, including ministers and students preparing for the ministry, understand evangelism as it exists today. Benavides presents methods and approaches that have proved to be effective in sharing God’s Word. Missionaries have used these methods all over the world, resulting in hundreds coming to faith in Jesus. Evangelism is about obedience, which is about being holy. When people are obedient to God, they become more holy; when they are disobedient by saying no to evangelism, people are living an unholy life. Breaking the Evangelism Code will help those concerned share the Word and lead people back to God.
Jesus Christ said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the One who we owe our very lives to, commanded His followers to tell the world about Him. The world is in desperate need of a spiritual awaking. The Church is in desperate need to wake up and become the evangelistic organism that God intended the church to be, evangelizing the lost world. God has empowered the church to be able to carry the gospel out into the communities of America. The church has all it needs to see God turn this world upside down, if only God's people would repent, be obedient and begin witnessing. The church has fallen for the devil's lie that evangelism does not work. What a better lie to promote! He could not stop the church from doing evangelism by persecution. So he did the second most effective thing, tell the church that evangelism does not work anymore. The church today lives as though the gospel is powerless and acts as though the gospel is in some type of code. The church appears to be in a state of confusion and stumbling around as though intoxicated by some cheap wine or fermented drink that the devil has concocted when it comes to evangelism. The church seems as though it is in a thick fog and acts as though the gospel is in some type of cryptic code, needing to be solved before it can tell the world about Jesus. While the church struggles trying to discover a new approach or grasp which evangelism approach or which method works best, the world is going to hell on jet fuel. The declining church continues to listen to some of our leaders and individuals, whom we have deemed as the experts, who fan the flames of disillusionment and gospel-phobia, while the devil is running havoc on our families, our marriages, our churches, and communities. He continues to lead many lost people to an eternal fiery hell while we sit around trying to figure out how to grow the church without going outside of our walls or leaving our soft pews to do intentional evangelism. Evangelism is the good news that the world needs to hear. The message of the gospel is that God set up a road block to hell, it is called the cross. It is all about the cross. Jesus died on a cross so we would not have to pay for our sins in an eternal fiery place called hell. Salvation is available to all who believe. It is free to all who want to receive it from God. It is not cheap for it cost God His only Son, Jesus and it cost Mary her first born son. It is not cheap because it cost Jesus His life and the agony of taking on all of our sins that separated Him from the Father. It is actually easier to get into heaven than it is to get into hell. Let's illustrate that statement with this story that an eighty-nine year old man once shared. Mr. Brand told that at the age of seventeen, he had not yet trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A local church had invited an evangelist to hold a tent revival in their town for several days. Mr. Brand's mother kept encouraging him that he should attend the meeting. Of course he kept putting off going. Finally, on the last night of the revival meeting, he decided to attend the meeting. The evangelist made a statement that grasped his heart and bothered him. The minister said that people who go to hell would work harder to get into hell than Christians getting into heaven. Christians must believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of their sins. He said that people going to hell would have to climb over all the mounds of Bibles and gospel tracts people had offered and/or given to them. They would have to climb over all the prayers offered by their family, friends, churches. He said, ultimately, people going to hell would climb up the front side of the cross, that Jesus was crucified on, and down the back side into an eternal and fiery hell. People will work harder to go to hell than those going to heaven. So why should you evangelize people? The answer is simple, Jesus told us to do it, people are headed for a literal hell and God’s plan is for you to talk to them about Jesus. So what should you say to people? Tell them about Jesus Christ. If you are a professing Christian, share your testimony and what Jesus did for you. We have the greatest Truth of all time, and we act as though we need something else to say. Just go tell them about the gospel. As a popular ad says, Just do it!
Victor Benavides is one of today’s passionate leaders, practitioners and teachers on Church evangelism, prayer and disciple making. He has taught nationally and internationally. Through his evangelism efforts many have come to faith in Jesus Christ. His ministry includes mentoring men preparing for ministry, planting churches and leading Bible studies in the work place.