Evangelism in the Early Church

 Evangelism in the Early Church

By Jake Kohl

     Evangelism in the early church was much different than we see today. In the beginning, while the disciples were learning from Jesus, we can see many missed opportunities they failed to see and understand when it came to evangelism. After the Holy Spirit fell upon them, they began to proclaim Jesus with “boldness”. The early church was not afraid to speak the truth and spoke of Christ even while being threatened with death.  The church was not considered as an organization, but a body of believers with one mission in mind, and that was the “exponential power of multiplication” (Earley, & Wheeler, 2010, p 134) “The disciples noticed the needs of the people and meet those needs.” (Earley, & Wheeler, 2010, p 134) They followed in the teachings and footsteps of Jesus. The early church sent out disciples to all regions, making other disciples and fulfilling the Great Commission as Jesus commanded them.

     Jesus’ approach to evangelism was to all who were lost. Jesus would start the conversation by stepping out of His comfort zone and bridging any ethical barriers that may be in the way. Jesus would take His opening conversation and turn it into a spiritual conversation as He did with asking the Samaritan if she wanted to drink living water. When evangelizing, Jesus shows us that being able to listen to what another has to say can help build our relationship and report’ with the person we are speaking to. He would listen carefully.  Jesus remained focused and refused to be sidetracked from His purpose of His original conversation, which He started with the initiative of His message. “He was patient and not quick to engage a person that would ultimately lead to the truth.” (Earley, & Wheeler, 2010, p 124) Jesus would then point out the sin(s) of the person, which in turn would lead to His introduction of Himself, or in our case, Him.

After His resurrection, the disciples approached evangelism with an unwavering boldness that was not seen in them earlier. Their boldness lead them to evangelize in the same manor and in the same way that Christ also evangelized, causing thousands to convert; enhancing the multiplication effect greatly.

     In today’s church, we see a falling away from the style of the early church. We do not have the faith to boldly proclaim Jesus the way the disciples did. It seems as if we are accustomed to a lax atmosphere and the rules and bi-laws of an organization rather than the true meaning to fulfill the Great Commission.  If today, we were faced with the same circumstances as the disciples did in the early church, including imprisonment and even the ultimate sacrifice of our death, I believe there would be many who would deny Him, just as Peter did.   

     I however, believe that the Holy Spirit will sweep this globe and rise up a new generation of Christ believers and Christ followers who will model after the early church and proclaim His name to the ends of the earth, all the while being persecuted, tortured, imprisoned and put to death. My question is… why not now and why not you?

Reference

Earley, D, & Wheeler, D. (2010). Evangelism is . . .: how to share jesus with passion and confidence. B&H Academic.