The Master Plan of Evangelism explains Jesus’ plan to evangelize the world. Jesus’ plan is the best plan, it is not something we can improve upon. We drove to the capital on Monday (Buenos Aires). To see the incredible amount of people that live in this place and to think of how anyone or any team could possibly reach this mass of people with the Gospel is daunting! How can we possibly even begin? I think the answer is found in studying how Jesus set out to reach the world. The majority of His time was spent in training 12 men (one of whom would betray Him). This is how we as Christians will reach the world with the Gospel, by training men! So how did Jesus train His men? One of the things He did was demonstrate to them how to live! It was just “do as I say”, it was also “do as I do”. Jesus demonstrated how to pray, how to use the Scriptures, and how to win souls. Here are a few snippets from the chapter entitled “Demonstration”.
Jesus saw to it that his disciples learned his way of living with God and man. He recognized that it was not enough just to get people into his spiritual communion. His disciples needed to know how his experience was to be maintained and shared if it was to be perpetuated in evangelism. Of course, in a technical sense, life precedes action, but in a thoroughly practical point of view, we live by what we do. We must breathe, eat, exercise, and carry on work normally if we are to grow. Where these functions of the body are neglected, life will cease to be. That is why the effort of Jesus to get across to his followers the secrets of his spiritual influence needs to be considered as a deliberate course of his master strategy. He knew what was important.
All the disciples had to teach them was a teacher who practiced with them what he expected them to learn. Evangelism was lived before them in spirit and in technique. Watching him, they learned what it was all about. He led them to recognize the need inherent in all classes of people, and the best methods of approaching them. They observed how he drew people to himself; how he won their confidence and inspired their faith; how he opened to them the way of salvation and called them to a decision. In all types of situations and among all kinds of people, rich and poor, healthy and sick, friend and foe alike, the disciples watched the master soul winner at work. It wasn’t outlined on the blackboard of a stuffy classroom nor written up in a “do it yourself” manual. His method was so real and practical that it just came naturally.
Classes Always in Session. This was as true in his approach to the masses as his way of dealing with individuals. The disciples were always there to observe his word and deed. If the particular approach was not clear, all they had to do was to ask the Master to explain it to them. For example, after Jesus told the story of the sower to “a very great multitude” (Mark 4:1f.; see Matt. 13:1–9; Luke 8:4–8), his disciples “asked him what this parable might be” (Luke 8:9; see Mark 4:10; Matt. 13:10). Whereupon Jesus proceeded to explain to them in detail the meaning of the analogies used in the illustration. In fact, judging from the printed text, he spent three times the amount of time explaining this story to the disciples than he did in giving the initial lesson to the crowd (Matt. 13:10–23; Mark 4:10–25; Luke 8:9–18).
Coleman, R. E. (2006). The master plan of evangelism (p. 63, 66-67). Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.
Leave a Reply