[BBC List] evangelical malpractice

Wed May 3 10:29:38 EAST 2006

William MacDonald

Evangelical Malpractice

There is a curious problem today in the evangelical [and fundamental] world
— one that poses sobering questions for the church and for the individual
believer. The problem in brief is this: a great army of personal
soul-winners has been mobilized to reach the populace for Christ. They are
earnest, zealous, enthusiastic, and persuasive. To their credit it must be
said that they are on the job. And it is one of the phenomena of our times
that they rack up an astounding number of conversions. Everything so far
seems to be on the plus side.

But the problem is this: The conversions do not stick. The fruit does not
remain. Six months later there is nothing to be seen for all the aggressive
evangelism. The capsule technique of soul winning has produced stillbirths.

What lies at the back of all this malpractice in bringing souls to the
birth? Strangely enough it begins with the valid determination to preach the
pure gospel of the grace of God. We want to keep the message simple —
uncluttered by any suggestion that man can ever earn or deserve eternal
life. Justification is by faith alone, apart from the deeds of the law.
Therefore, the message is “only believe.”

>From there the message is reduced to a concise formula. For instance, the
evangelistic process is cut down to a few basic questions and answers, as
follows:

“Do you believe you are a sinner?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe Christ died for sinners?”
“Yes.”
“Will you receive Him as your Savior?”
“Yes.”
“Then you are saved!”
“I am?”
“Yes, the Bible says you are saved.”

At first blush the method and the message might seem above criticism. But on
closer study we are forced to have second thoughts and to conclude that the
gospel has been over-simplified.

The first fatal flaw is the missing emphasis on repentance. There can be no
true conversion without conviction of sin. It is one thing to agree that I
am a sinner: it is quite another thing to experience the convicting ministry
of the Holy Spirit in my life. Unless I have a Spirit-wrought consciousness
of my utterly lost condition, I can never exercise saving faith. It is
useless to tell unconvicted sinners to believe on Jesus — that message is
only for those who know they are lost. We sugar-coat the gospel when we
de-emphasize man’s fallen condition. With that kind of watered-down message,
people receive the Word with joy instead of with deep contrition. They do
not have deep roots, and though they might endure for a while, they soon
give up all profession when persecution or trouble comes (Matt. 13:21). Many
have forgotten that the message is repentance toward God as well as faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ.

A second serious omission is a missing emphasis on the Lordship of Christ. A
light, jovial mental assent that Jesus is Savior misses the point. Jesus is
first Lord, then Savior. The New Testament always places His Lordship before
His Saviorhood. Do we present the full implication of His Lordship to
people? He always did.

A third defect in the message is the tendency to keep the terms of
discipleship hidden until a decision has been made for Jesus. Our Lord never
did this. The message He preached included the cross as well as the crown.
“He never hid His scars to win disciples.” He revealed the worst along with
the best, then told His listeners to count the cost. We popularize the
message and promise fun.

The result of all this is that we have people believing without knowing what
they believe. In many cases they have no doctrinal basis for their decision.
They do not know the implication of commitment to Christ. They have never
experienced the mysterious, miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in
regeneration.

And of course there are others who are talked into a profession because of
the slick salesmanship techniques of the soul winner. Or some who want to
please the affable, personable young man with the winning smile. And some
who only want to get rid of this religious interloper who has intruded into
their privacy. Satan laughs when these conversions are triumphantly
announced on earth.

I would like to raise several questions that might lead to some changes in
the strategy of evangelism.

First of all, can we generally expect people to make an intelligent
commitment to Christ the first time they hear the Gospel? Certainly, there
is the exceptional case where a person has already been prepared by the Holy
Spirit.

But generally speaking, the process involves sowing the seed, watering it,
then sometime later reaping the harvest. In our mania for instant
conversion, we have forgotten that conception, gestation, and birth do not
occur on the same day.

A second question — can a capsule presentation of the gospel really do
justice to so great a message? As one who has written several gospel tracts,
I confess to a certain sense of misgivings in even attempting to condense
the good news into four small pages. Would we not be wise to give people the
full presentation as it is found in the Gospels, or in the New Testament?

Thirdly, is all this pressure for decisions really Scriptural? Where in the
New Testament were people ever pressured into making a profession? The
practice is justified by saying that if only one out of ten is genuine, it
is worth it. But what about the other nine disillusioned, bitter, perhaps
deceived; enroute to hell by a false profession?

And I must add this: Is all this boasting about conversions really accurate?
You’ve met the man who solemnly tells you of ten people he contacted that
day and all of them were saved. A young doctor testified that every time he
goes to a new city, he looks in the phone book for people with his last
name. Then he calls them one by one and leads them through the four steps of
salvation. Amazing enough, every one of them opens the door of his heart to
Jesus. I don’t want to doubt the honesty of people like this, but am I wrong
in thinking that they are extremely naive? Where are all those people who
are saved? They cannot be found.

What it all means is that we should seriously re-examine our streamlined
capsule evangelism. We should be willing to spend time teaching the gospel,
laying a solid doctrinal foundation for faith to rest on. We should stress
the necessity for repentance — a complete about face with regard to sin. We
should stress the full implication of the Lordship of Christ and the
conditions of discipleship. We should explain what belief really involves.
We should be willing to wait for the Holy Spirit to produce genuine
conviction of sin.

If we do this, we’ll have less astronomical figures of so-called
conversions, but more genuine cases of spiritual rebirth.

Charis, 

Mike Abendroth 

"Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to
be contented with half truth when whole truth can be won.  Endow us with
courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns
to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth
are in jeopardy."

 - West Point Military Academy Cadet Prayer 

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