Or “You don’t have to know a drowning person to save their life.”
There has been enormous emphasis placed on the need for relationship with people as the prerequisite for evangelism. So much so that some go as far as saying that relationship with others should be the only motive and not the hidden agenda of evangelism.
Relationship-Relationship-Relationship…This seems to be the word of the hour. I spoke to church planters who had not succeeded in their efforts to launch a ministry. As I dug deeper it became apparent that they made a lot of friends and very few disciples. In fact they admitted, they rarely got to the Gospel. “We focused on building relationships first.”
So here’s the question: how soon should the Gospel be introduced in a relationship with someone?
Looking at the ministry of Jesus, many times He spoke directly to people in their first encounter.
- The woman at the well
- Nicodemus
- Legion – He cast the devil out of him during their first meeting. Jesus called people to follow Him with no relationship at all. (It doesn’t appear that He even had introduced Himself fully yet.)
Paul had a similar pattern in his witness.
He preached immediately after his salvation.
He was beaten and suffered as a result.
He confronted strangers in Athens, in Macedonia, in much of what was recorded in Acts.
I believe that the Gospel comes sooner in biblical examples of witness not later. For me, the Gospel has actually produced authentic, lasting relationships with others.
Things to remember:
Preaching the Gospel takes boldness.
The Spirit must fill us with His passion and power. If we are honest, our reluctance to preach the Gospel may just be a case of being a man pleaser or being ashamed of the Gospel.
Preaching produces persecution.
It’s much easier to say nothing. If the Apostles would have only done community service or waited on tables they would not have been persecuted as severely. If they hated Him they will hate us. We are an aroma of life to the saved and an aroma of death to those who are perishing.
Preaching the Gospel produces faith.
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. No preaching means no faith. In order for them to believe they are going to have to hear the Gospel.
I certainly believe building relationships is important.
Many times it takes a number of hearings of the Gospel to be saved. I also believe there is wisdom in knowing when we should speak to people about Christ and how we can maximize the impact of our witness.
Someone recently told me “We must earn the right to be heard.” As I pondered this statement, something didn’t sit right with me. As much as I tried to understand what he really meant I couldn’t help but think that according to the Scripture, Jesus earned that right for me as well. We preach in the authority and righteousness He earned through His life and death.
In fact if a person’s eternal soul is at stake then we should have some sense of urgency in our efforts. Remember, you don’t have to know a drowning person to save their life.
June 21, 2011 at 4:57 pm
such a great reminder… so much of our contemporary literature leaves out these crucial truths. This is a message we church planters need to constantly be wresting with…. Thanks!
June 22, 2011 at 10:46 am
Matt- thanks for taking the time to comment- it would be good to give the readers a little context to your work as a Church planter.
June 22, 2011 at 6:43 am
I just returned from a missions trip to India and this article has helped give me some great insights! What fantastic, God-given perspective! Thank you for sharing/publishing this!
June 22, 2011 at 8:16 am
Well said Rice!
There’s also a backing off of the gospel through the emphasis on Mission and the idea that Mission is bigger than gospel. Yes, Mission is not simply evangelism, however, just like other aspects of church, mission must be gospel-shaped.
Thanks for this!
June 22, 2011 at 8:23 am
Tom- you are a courageous Church planter there in Scotland. Thank
you for your boldness for Christ and the Gospel.
June 22, 2011 at 9:02 am
KEEP ENCOURAGING AND PROVOKING US LIKE YOU ARE DOING! GREAT PIECE.
June 22, 2011 at 9:09 am
Larry- you are one of the great Evangelists of our
generation. Thank you for your example
as a faithful witness.
June 22, 2011 at 9:12 am
I believe that relationships are essential to the whole kingdom culture, but not understanding the condition of sinful man can leave us with a compromised over emphasis on relationships and relevance, not dealing with the issue of separation, no relationship with God is not relational at all. The best relational thing we can do is to restore people as soon as possible to God from whom they are separated, truth defines relationship and not relationship, truth. I think we also must remove preaching from the pulpit only context, but people living and sharing their faith loving and uncompromisingly. Great post Rice.
June 22, 2011 at 10:40 am
Phillip
The fact that people are separated from God- spiritually blind
requires that we trust God’s ways not our own reasoning.
We are to preach the Word! God’s Spirit will move as this happens.
Many times the people who seem to be the most closed to the Gospel
are in fact the most responsive.
June 22, 2011 at 9:27 am
Excellent insight for our generation! I’m encouraged AND provoked.
June 22, 2011 at 10:03 am
Great article Pastor Rice! Thanks for keeping the torch of evangelism and the gospel lit.
I too have found that relationship is important & obvious for on-going discipleship, but not a prerequisite for evangelism. Even Jesus Himself called people to “fellowship” before there was “followship.” I believe it’s a pretty good basis for a friendship when a stranger shares with you not impossible advice about how you should live, but the “good news” of what Christ has done for you.
Keep up the good work. You’re a real blessing to the body of Christ!
June 22, 2011 at 10:29 am
Mike/ thanks for your input and insight.
Great comment on fellowship and followship.
It’s an important thought when talking about Jesus and His
ministry to others- even His fellowship (before followship)
was around the Word, the Gospel, the Kingdom.
June 22, 2011 at 10:46 am
GREAT encouragement Pastor Rice! Thank you for the article!
June 22, 2011 at 11:16 am
This is very compelling, Pastor Rice, especially since I just finished reading K.P. Yohannan’s book, Revolution in World Missions. Like you, he says that Jesus was all for relationships and meeting the physical needs of people, but when we do that at the minimizing/neglect of sharing the Gospel, we’ve missed the mark. This lifetime is just a fleeting moment in what we were created for-eternity-so I’ve been provoked again to keep people’s eternal destiny in mind as God brings them across my path.
Thank you for your words and your example!
June 23, 2011 at 7:57 am
Anna- thank you for caring enough to read a book on missions. Please continue to pray for Christ to send out laborers into His harvest field.
June 22, 2011 at 12:24 pm
This is a great article for people like myself who are very relational. This helps keep us focused on the the great commission to go and preach, then disciple through relationships. Thank you Pastor Rice
June 22, 2011 at 8:16 pm
We’ll said. A balance of communicating the gospel message(urgency) and sustaining it through relationships.
June 24, 2011 at 10:52 am
This past Sunday in church, a man came down front after the service, expressing a “nominal rationship” with Christ. The truth is- he was drowning. Without “relationship” with him, we went immediately to the matter of gaining authentic relationship with Jesus. He confessed Christ (Rom 10:9) on the spot! Within 24 hours we met to being a friendship. Your word rings true Pastor Rice! Carry on.
June 24, 2011 at 10:52 am
This past Sunday in church, a man came down front after the service, expressing a “nominal rationship” with Christ. The truth is- he was drowning. Without “relationship” with him, we went immediately to the matter of gaining authentic relationship with Jesus. He confessed Christ (Rom 10:9) on the spot! Within 24 hours we met to being a friendship. Your word rings true Pastor Rice! Carry on.
June 24, 2011 at 11:53 am
“Remember, you don’t have to know a drowning person to save their life.”
Lord, help me to look at people in this way – that I will see that they are drowning and do as the old hymn says, “Throw out the life line.”
June 24, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Ps. Rice,
Thank you for being a consistent voice on issues like this. The is a reminder that the Gospel is what brings growth and life to the individual and in turn, the Kingdom. A good reminder that the Gospel does well as a headliner, and never in desperate need an opening act to feel comfortable before taking the center stage.
June 24, 2011 at 9:25 pm
MVB
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. The Apostles couldn’t stop telling others the Gospel- we can’t seem to start the conversation. Maybe that’s why they turned the world upside down.
June 26, 2011 at 8:16 am
This article totally echoes in my heart. Coming from a recent missions trip, God showed me this same revelation. I’ve been thinking relationships bec supposedly this is so evident in this culture but this kept me from opening my mouth and preach the gospel when the need is already glaring at me. Too much analyzing if I will say something or not and if I have gain enough authority to speak in their lives kept me from speaking. Well said Pastor Rice!
June 27, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Wow! This is such a comfort to read. I got saved and discipled in the Philippines and moved back to the USA about 10 yrs. ago. I have been called a fanatic or aggressive for wanting to see souls drowning in sin saved. It is comforting to be reminded of the persecution that comes with carrying on the call to reach the lost……for His glory. Thanks, Pastor Rice.
June 28, 2011 at 9:02 pm
I couldn’t agree more.
The pendulum has swung way too far on the side of cautioning Christ’s people from being socially insensitive and relationally disconnected from those to whom we are called to serve as witnesses. If the early church had embraced this philosophy of ministry, one wonders if the gospel would have ever turned the world upside down. The result in our day has been an evangelistically impotent church that consistently second-guesses its divinely mandated responsibility to actually “preach” the gospel.
To be sure, the church doesn’t need obnoxious believers unnecessarily alienating the non-churched with verbal proclamations of the gospel which lack genuine interest in the persons to whom they speak. But this is not the greater concern of the hour. Christians who have been told that relational development is paramount to the point that it has resulted in evangelistic hesitation and double-mindedness is by far the greater concern of our day.
Thank you for saying what needs to be heard. May a fresh movement of evangelism by God’s rank and file believers be stirred among us!
June 30, 2011 at 12:47 am
Thanks for your insight and balanced remarks.
June 29, 2011 at 9:33 am
I was just on a short term trip, discussing this very thing with a missionary friend in Berlin (where my family and I will soon be moving). I just found your article today, but like you, I shared that Jesus earned the right for me to share the gospel. Thank you, thank you, thank you for singing this song, Mr Broocks! The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, not my friendship. It still shocks me that so many of us unwittingly place a higher value on our relational skills than on that which God has ordained to save the lost.
Don’t get me wrong, I so want to be the friend of every lost man I meet, but I’ve got to tell them about my Jesus before they can truly know me. We don’t hesitate to tell new friends about all the other exciting developments in our lives, so why is Christ not given precedent among these? Preach on Brother Broocks, may the gospel be the foundation of any outreach relationships we form and not the fear of man (and his rejection).
As a side note, I highly recommend a little booklet by Jon Speed for anyone looking to dig into this topic a bit more. It’s called Evangelism in the New Testament (A Plea for Biblically Relevant Evangelism). It actually compares the types of evangelism in the bible (contact versus friendship) giving some startling biblical percentages of how those who “delivered the faith unto the saints” went about the business of evangelism.
June 30, 2011 at 1:00 am
Brian- more and more people are rediscovering the power of the Gospel.The only way it can be stopped is to prevent it from being voiced. When it is preached, it will prevail (Acts 19:20)
June 30, 2011 at 1:55 am
After reading this I just want to make disciples even more. Jesus is in the serious business of transforming lives and I’m so glad to be part of it! Thanks Ptr Rice!
June 30, 2011 at 6:14 am
Excellent…..well put. A wonderful reminder of Romans 1:16
June 30, 2011 at 9:32 am
Thanks for this, Pastor Rice. I think we often forget and underestimate the power of God’s Word. People must hear (the Word, not our opinion) if they are to believe. And as evangelists, it’s our job to teach and empower the Church to do the work of an evangelist- including reminding them and ourselves to take bold steps of faith and unrelentlessly preach the Gospel to release the power of God.
Your metaphor of “you don’t need to save a drowning person to save them” will surely help me when communicating this to others. Thanks for this post! Please continue with more! Young evangelists like myself need plenty to reminders and inspirations.
July 3, 2011 at 5:48 pm
Christene- women Evangelists have changed history thru their bold, fearless presentation of the Gospel. Thank you for your passion for proclaiming Christ.
June 30, 2011 at 2:48 pm
This is amazing insight to this matter. This is something that I’ve dealt with personally and this really spoke to me in a real way. Most normal human beings wouldn’t hesitate in helping another, in a life or death situation, so how much more important is the spiritual situation?? AWESOME! Thanks for being in tune with what God has to say to our generation.
July 3, 2011 at 5:45 pm
Zach- thanks for taking the time to comment. The burden to preach the Gospel to lost people begins with believing they are lost and if they remain that way, it could be for eternity.
July 21, 2011 at 2:15 pm
I love it. Jesus Christ is perfect theology. It’s so true, I’ve never read about Jesus putting relationship building before preaching the gospel. Although it is important, it’s not the principle thing. But there was something about his presence and the authority he had that made people listen. If that same spirit is in us, why don’t we walk in that same authority? Sometimes I think even after years of being a Christian that we still don’t fully know who we are in Christ.
July 31, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Jenia- you made a significant point about authority. That’s the word Jesus used before He commanded us to go and make disciples. He has sent us with a message of reconciliation.
I just want to be faithful.
August 10, 2011 at 2:42 am
“..you don’t have to know a drowning person to save their life..”
I live in Europe and I also agree that the above sentence makes a significant point but sometimes in order to save a drawing person you have to think of the right strategy and use the right tools. Maybe it is not always the same…
Here is a very small video to see what I mean..
“How to reach people with the gospel: David Watson”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2nqiNwlrnM
January 27, 2012 at 7:29 pm
Hi, I understand what you are trying to say and agree. I have seen friendship and the desire to relate in order to present the gospel become a barrier to actually presenting the gospel in case it spoiled the relationship and prevented attempts to preach the gospel … I know this is possible because it also happened to me.
But I think there is a danger of misunderstanding the reality behind the concept. It is not only that some evangelists have acted like headhunters and dropped people when they did not (immediately) respond – note, not “When they did not respond” but when they did not respond to a timescale or in a manner considered appropriate by the “evangelist”. I had to deal with the pastoral fallout of such an approach which damaged the relationship of two vulnerable elderly people to the church. They had not understood the “evangelist’s” witness and she had not attempted to understand their response which showed a background of faith that was not fully formed. These people developed a relationship with a Christian who simply abandoned them.
The second factor is context – theologically Jesus has won my right to speak, but culturally I may not have the right to speak. Of course, that does not mean silence, but if we compare Peter’s results on the day of Pentecost with Paul’s in Athens, Peter has more visible fruit. This is because the Jewish audience were prepared by their culture and history for the coming of Israel’s Messiah and for the New Covenant – In Athens, Paul is speaking to those who have no biblical background, no culture of monotheism and no longing for the eschatological Kingdom of God. It was still right for Paul to preach, but relationship (in the latter case, a lack of history and cultural readiness) is the deciding factor. The point is not about a purely personal relationship between the evangelist and a non-believer, but about relationship with the gospel and the body of Christ. The Church is not only to prove the truth (in a cognitive sense) of the Gospel but to demonstrate its plausibility (through lifestyle, etc) – Jesus Himself says that it is our love for one another that will enable people to “know” that Jesus is alive – this is not a purely intellectual thing. You focus on the preaching of the apostles, rightly, but in many instances in Acts their preaching flowed out of the actions of God and the transformed life of the Church – Luke makes this point clear multiple times in the early chapters of Acts. The apostles were not anonymous and not “lone ranger” types – their audience knew about their common life and witness. Even Paul, the prototype pioneer into new territories spoke of “to the Jew first” – not because of racial chauvinism, but because a) they deserved to hear of their messiah and b) the synagogue and their attendant “God-fearers” provided the best platform for gentile evangelism. The god-fearers had heard the Torah and were in a sense “prepared” by their involvement with Israel for the gospel. This helps to explain why Paul could plant a church and move to another city, leaving the new church to do the work of evangelising the surrounding smaller towns and villages, they had the cultural relatedness to convince their pagan neighbours who would not have listened to a Jewish critic of their life.
Look for “Lifestyle Evangelism” by Jim Petersen for much more on this.
I live in the UK, where the cultural situation is far more post-Christian than the US, of course we should still witness, in season and out, but the surrounding culture has dismissed the gospel because of its [mis-]understanding of history. Verbal proclamation without authenticity has no impact, esp when the church is seen as wanting control, whilst being corrupt and sinful. Many people are as ignorant as the Athenians, but they are not “innocent” in their ignorance – the Athenians knew they had not heard this message before, the average Brit either thinks he HAS or thinks that he doesn’t NEED to because it has already been discredited.
Relationship, in the sense of the visibility of a Christlike Church that is authentic and challenges these illusions, is essential to establish the possibility and plausibility of the Gospel. Finally, Paul’s message at Athens and his message to the pagans at Lystra are different and do not include the same biblical content as his synagogue preaching. He understood the cultural needs differed, even if the ultimate need was the same. In the UK and the US there is a need to belong and many churches are finding that “Belonging” (aka – relationship) has to precede “Believing”.
For some, belonging and beginning to practice (behaving) the life leads to deeper believing. Note how Jesus simply invited 2 disciples to “Come and See” in John ch 1. Encounter preceded preaching and commitment – they certainly heard the gospel, but it took 3 years, miracles and Calvary and Resurrection, followed by Pentecost, for them to really “get it”.
Every lasting convert I have seen has come from long-term commitment to people, often deeply broken people. Viv was attempting suicide 2-3 times a month, joined my Bible study to “destroy it” and heard the Gospel through the love of the Church and became a Christian and now, 19 YEARS later, is undergoing Ordination training. Because of America’s Christendom background you may be underestimating the distance that completely non-churched and un-churched people need to travel.
“Christian” America is like Israel on the Day of Pentecost, prepared if not always ready and willing, much of the rest of America and certainly Europe is like Athens in Acts 17, but an Athens that has decided it has no need of the “idle babbler” that is the evangelist or his incomprehensible message. Relationship should help us improve our ability to speak our listener’s language, if nothing else.