EVANGELISM VISION PAPER

Student's Name

Course Title

Date

Introduction

Evangelism is not an easy calling as many people may perceive it to be. It requires total commitment and to live a holy life worth of the calling. After I started this course I discovered there was a lot which I needed to do in order to perfect my life in evangelism. It became clear to me as I went through the course materials that perfection in evangelism is a multi-faceted process, involving worship and witnessing. For instance, one must work to improve his or her prayer life; this is achieved through apt intercession and worship. Also, one needs to perfect his or her fellowship life as this is inevitable in achieving growth in faith, this can be perfected through attending various Christian fellowships such as bible study groups [1]. In addition, to be perfected in evangelism, one must also be an apt reader of the scripture, this is crucial in discovering God's will in ones life; it also contributes in building a person's faith as the scripture states that faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God[2]. Going through the course materials, I have come into light about the many challenges that come into an evangelist's life. Nevertheless, the course material has been of great help to me because it has provided a framework through which I can overcome the challenges. The course has set a benchmark for me through which I have been able to carry out a self-evaluation of my evangelical life, noting weaknesses and what I need to make my mission in evangelism more fruitful. I this paper, I will carry out a self-evaluation of my evangelical life fostered by the course content, noting the changes that I need to do in various aspects of my life in order to refine my vision for evangelism.

The Course Content that has challenge my Perspective on Evangelism

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There are many principles I have learned through the semester that have impacted on my prior perspective about evangelism. To begin with, I have come to learn that evangelism is more than just preaching the word of God[3]. Previously, I had viewed evangelism as a calling that could be accomplished without integrating it with other aspects of the ministry; I viewed it as comprising of pure preaching. However, this view was substantially challenged as I went through this semester's content. I have learned that evangelism must be bended and integrated with other aspects of the Christ's mission to make it more fruitful and effective. To begin with, I have learned that, for evangelism to be more productive, it must be combined with intercession. I have learned that it is through prayer that one can commune with God. It is through the communion that an evangelist can discover God's will on him or her. This prevents one from propagating his or her own interests in ministry work; instead one is able to carry on with the will of God it is only through fulfillment of God's will that ones work in ministry could be perfected. I have learned in the semester content that reaching out to lost and hungry souls is more than just preaching to them, an evangelist needs to be prayerful, in order to break Satan's bondages on people, for the word of God to have an impact on them[4].

Secondly, I discovered that evangelism is not only about preaching to people and converting souls to Christ, it is about making disciples out of people. Previously I vied evangelism from the perspective of preaching in crusades, and paying for people to receive Christ, I did not think of any more work for an evangelist after praying for people to receive Christ. However, my view has been remarkably challenged as I went through the course material. I have learned that after praying for the people, an evangelist should not leave it at that. He or she must take measures aimed at the new converts faiths. For instance, he or she must move forward to propose appropriate churches and bible study groups that would help the new converts to grow their faiths. For the evangelism work to be even more effective the evangelist should establish a personal touch with the new converts, this can be enabled through getting assistance from the bible study members. Maintaining a personal touch with the converts would enable the evangelist to carry out follow up visits to the converts to strengthen their faiths through prayer and scriptures and to prevent them from backsliding [5].

Personal Vision towards integrating Evangelism in every aspect of my life

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After going through this course, I discovered my evangelism mission has not been refined in the right way. To make my evangelism more effective, I am planning to make it part in all aspects of my life. I feel that this step will go a long way in making my evangelism life more fruitful, and achieving the great commission as provided by Jesus. I plan to incorporate evangelism in various aspects of my life including my leisure time, and in my personal and family and ministry life[6].

Specific Changes I need to make in order to achieve my Vision

To make my vision come true, I am planning to make practical and specific changes in my personal and ministry life. To begin with, I am planning to substantially incorporate evangelism in my leisure time activities. Specifically I am planning to make evangelism a paramount component of my free time activities. For instance I am planning to dedicate a substantial part of my free time reading the scripture. Personal reading of the scripture during my free time when I am not disturbed by environmental factors will ensure that I will have a close communion with God and greater understanding the will of God. I also plan to dedicate part of my free time to prayers. Specifically, I will be fasting twice per week during my free time to commune with God in prayers. The leisure time fasting will not be on full day basis; I am planning to be skiving a meal or two during my free time and dedicate the time to prayer. Thirdly, I am planning to make worship part and parcel of my leisure time. I have learned through the course that worship is one of the strongest pillars of evangelism. For this reason, I am planning to dedicate part of my leisure time to worship, in the worship sessions I will sing hymns and pray[7]

I am also planning to make evangelism a component of virtually all aspects of my life by dedicating various encounters in my personal life to spread the gospel. For instance, I will use each opportunity I get to visit different institutions or sites to spread the gospel, even if it means preaching to a person or two. Also, to make evangelism a key component of my life, I am planning to introduce worship and fellowship to my family members, this will involve reading the scripture, sharing the word of God and praying each night before we go to bed. This will enable me to raise a God fearing family in the future, which will be crucial in helping me attain my evangelism goals. I am also planning to make my life more evangelistic by joining more ministries at my local church. For instance, I am planning to join the intercessory and outreach team. The two ministries will refine the fellowship dynamic in my life, which will nurture my faith. It will also enable me refine my evangelism through spending more time in evangelistic missions [8].

How the changes will affect my family in future

The above changes will enable me to raise a God fearing family in the future. This will be crucial in fostering success for my ministry life because it will alleviate hindrances that face evangelists who come from non-believers family. For instance, my wife will be free to give me the opportunity to attend various missions without having to worry about my whereabouts; this is because the changes will instill trust in my family [9].

How my relationship with the community will be,

I am planning to make my life free and open to members of various communities, for instance in my place of work, I will interact with in order to bolster my efforts of spreading the gospel to them. One way to achieve this will be assuming the role of stewardship in the community. This will give me an opportunity of appealing to the communities and consequently spread the gospel to them more efficiently. Adopting the role of a servant will be paramount in boosting my future ministry in evangelism. Like Jesus set the example through washing the feet of His disciples, I will be able to serve my followers more effective, this will make my ministry far reaching in them. To become more verbal and effective in witnessing, I am plan to start witnessing more ton people of different walks in life, this will enable me cultivate courage in witnessing to diverse communities in the future [10].

My Future Ministry in relation to Evangelism and Multiplication

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I envision playing a pastor's supportive role in future in bolstering my work in evangelism. I believe that this role will be highly crucial in evangelizing and most importantly in winning more souls to Christ. In playing this role, I will be able to effectively win people to Christ. This is because as a support pastor, I will have the opportunity of nurturing new converts' faiths. As Jesus put it, the role of a pastor is comparable to that of a shepherd, which involves taking care of the flock. This indicates that a pastor does not go around preaching and converting people to Christ without steps towards helping them to grow in faith. Therefore, having the role of a support pastor in future would enable me evangelize to people and take subsequent measures that would help to edify their faiths. The measures would include organizing bible studies and fellowships for the new converts; these would be crucial in helping the new converts to grow the measures may also involve follow up visits to the converts to pray with them and share the word of God. Playing the role of a support pastor will give me the opportunity to play all of these roles[11].

Developing true disciples who passionately desire to multiply their witness is not a one step evangelism process. It involves combining evangelism with measures geared towards growth the faiths of people who accept Christ as their savior. People who accept Christ are usually at a high risk of backsliding; as the scripture states, there are wolves that lay in the paths waiting to trap them and bring their faiths down. Due to this, new converts are at a high need for nurturing, leaving them to walk the path of salvation alone may expose them to temptations that they may not be able to bear in the short-run. This will be one factor that I will consider more important in developing passionate disciple. Playing the role of a support pastor will be crucial in enabling me to propagate this objective pastors have the role of taking good care of the flock.

True biblical evangelism fits into my future role as a support pastor this is because I have always had passion of making true disciples of people. This was influenced by my early life in salvation. When I got saved, I did not have much people to take care of me and to help me grow. For this reason, I had to do many things on my own. As a result, I met remarkable challenges in my early life as a born again Christian. For example, I did not have the knowledge of how to leave my previous company and peers by witnessing to them. The many challenges that I went through after getting saved, brought me into light about the many challenges faced by new converts, as a result, I developed a passion in nurturing newly converted souls to smoothly transition into the lives of believers. I believe the role of a support pastor will be a good opportunity for me to realize my passion. I am planning to start planning this role by starting to witness to people and carrying out follow up procedures for them to ensure that they get a strong foundation on their faiths in Christ [12].

Conclusion

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In conclusion, it goes without saying that this course content has been of remarkable importance to my present and future life in ministry. The course readings have given me practical steps that I will apply in my ministry life to make it more effective and fruitful. For instance, I have learned the paramount aspects that must be blended with evangelism to make it more effective. For instance, I have learned that the life of an evangelist must be coupled with worship and prayer to make his or her evangelic mission more successful[13]. The semesters reading has also enabled me realize areas in my life that require refining to make my evangelism more successful. For example, I have discovered that introducing prayers, worshiping and witnessing in my leisure time would go great extent in bolstering my evangelism life. Lastly, I have discovered my passion in playing the role of a support pastor in the future this role would give me the opportunity to develop true disciples who have a passionate desire to multiply their witness.

Bibliography

Allison, Norman Ernest. A response to Training missionaries to resistant peoples (1997).

Beuving, Mark., Platt, David and Chan, Francis. Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples. USA: David C. Cook, 2012

Combs, William W. The Biblical Role of the Evangelist Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 7 (2002): 23-48.

Chira, Roberta M. "A qualitative survey of current practices in missionary candidate assessment (2002).

McMinn, Mark R., R. Allen Lish, Pamela D. Trice, Alicia M. Root, Nicole Gilbert, and Adelene Yap. "Care for Pastors: Learning from Clergy and Their Spouses." Pastoral Psychology 53, no. 6 (July 2005): 563-581.