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What is Evangelism?

The word evangelism comes from the Greek word translated as good news, or gospel, in the New Testament. An evangelist is someone who proclaims good news.

So, when we think about the task of evangelism, we have to ask the question, “Why is this good news?” It must first truly be good news for the evangelist, and then it must resonate with the hearer of the message.

Imagine going up to a friend and telling them, “Good news! I just won an all-expenses paid trip for four to the Bahamas!” Your friend knows you will probably take your spouse, which leaves two extra tickets. Your friend probably thinks your telling them this because you are planning on taking them with you.

The trouble with evangelism is that there are always assumptions being made about why the news about Jesus is good for people.

For the first Apostles, the news was supposed to be good because it meant the Jewish Messiah had come and God was fulfilling his promise to rescue Israel. The problem was, many of the Israelites wanted the Messiah to destroy their human oppressors, the Romans.

Therefore, the news was only good for those whose aim it was to enjoy unhindered fellowship with God and who saw their own sin as the true enemy. It was good because Jesus defeated sin and death, allowing us to experience eternal life with God.

When we share the gospel with others, we must first ask ourselves why they might be open to the idea that the news we are sharing with them is good. This often means entering into their deepest longings and struggles. It requires trust and vulnerability.

Not everyone is ready to hear that Jesus is the answer to their deepest longings. Many of us would rather try and figure things out ourselves.

This is where it is so important for the church to be a place that models new life in Christ.

In his commentary on today’s passage in 1 Thessalonians, John Stott wrote:

The Church Which Passes on the Gospel Must Embody It. No church can spread the gospel with any degree of integrity, let alone credibility, unless it has been visibly changed by the gospel it preaches. We need to look like what we are talking about. It is not enough to receive the gospel and pass it on; we must embody it in our common life of faith, love, joy, peace, righteousness and hope.¹

When there is a constant and faithful presence of a local church who lives out the gospel, and when people know they can come and be welcomed here, they will come once they are willing to surrender to the life that Jesus gives them.

The focus of this message is to show that the primary task of evangelism has as much or perhaps more to do with our life together as a church than with what we say to those who do not yet believe in Jesus.

We are looking today at the first letter that Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church. Paul visited Thessalonica in A.D. 50 during his first missionary journey. Thessalonica was a large Greek city with estimate of up to 200,000 people, which was the second largest in the region behind Philippi. It had a significant Jewish colony, in which there was a synagogue.

We can read about Paul’s visit there in Acts 17:1–10

When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go. As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

A year after these events, on Paul’s second missionary journey, he wrote a letter following a report from Timothy’s earlier visit to them. This letter, which we refer to as 1 Thessalonians, is believed to be the very first letter in the New Testament written by Paul.

The letter was written to encourage and strengthen the Thessalonian Christians in the midst of the persecution they were experiencing.

They lived in a Greek city, surrounded by two primary groups of people. There were those who didn’t have any interest in the Israelite God, and there were the Jews who were completely opposed to the notion of a crucified messiah from Nazareth and saw the Christians as trouble-makers.

We will see in this opening section of the letter several observations that Paul makes about the Thessalonian church. Paul, Silas, and Timothy are trying to encourage the believers in Thessolonica to stay faithful, that they are on the right track in how they are receiving and transmitting the message of the gospel.

Their faith spread to their community because of the way they were living as a community of followers of Jesus. A picture you could imagine is that of a communications tower which receives a radio message and then broadcasts it far and wide. This was the method of spreading the gospel message. It would come to a community, a church was established which would then broadcast the gospel to that community.

I believe that if we can head in the direction of being a community like this, we will not struggle with evangelism. So, let’s look at what sort of community this was, how they received and how they shared the gospel.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

In this short opening chapter, Paul begins by describing the church which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The word church means assembly, which was a word used in a variety of ways, both religious and secular. In the case of the Christian church, it is an assembly that finds its identity and source in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Thessalonian church was likely only a few months old and its members are very new Christians. They would have been converted from either Judaism or a pagan religion. Yet, Paul is confident in them because he has confidence in God.

Paul expresses his gratitude on behalf of himself and his companions for the people in the church and prays for them constantly. Then he goes on to explain why he is grateful for them and is confident that God has chosen them to be the bearers of good news, or evangelists, in their city.

A Good News Community

The section from verse 3-10 outlines what a good news community looks like. First, it is a community marked by faith, love, and hope. These three qualities are not mere ideas, but have tangible evidence in their community.

Faith, love, and hope are evidence that people have been transformed by the Holy Spirit. They reorient our lives so that everything we do takes on a new purpose and meaning.

John Calvin referred to verse 3 as a brief definition of true Christianity. Work produced by faith, labour prompted by love, and endurance inspired by hope in Jesus. When said in this way, the Christian life is really quite simple.

A good news community is confident in its identity as God’s chosen people, loved by him. That word chosen in verse 4 can also be translated as elected. In Deuteronomy 7, God said to Israel, “The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you…”

We are here today as God’s church not because we are worthy to be here, but because God loves us. The idea of election, or God choosing us, is meant to foster within us the assurance that we are where we belong based on God’s decision, not our holiness.

So, we cannot be proud of ourselves, for we did not earn our spot in God’s church. A good news community is open to everyone because the best posture is to assume that everyone is chosen. Some may take their time accepting the invitation, but we continue to share the gospel in word and deed.

This brings us to the final identifying marker of a good news community, which is outlined in verses 5-10. A good news community is one that receives and passes on the gospel with words and with power from the Holy Spirit with deep conviction.

There is a three-part narrative to what Paul says here. First, he says ‘our gospel came to you.’ Second, ‘you welcomed the message.’ Third, ‘the Lord’s message rang out from you.’

This is the sequence of evangelism. We hear the message, we welcome the message, we share the message.

How did the message come? With words. Paul, Silas, and Timothy brought it by sharing it in the Synagogue. Initially, there was not a peaceful reception by many. Only a few welcomed it. But, it spread through the city and more people heard and welcomed it.

This was the work of the Holy Spirit. Only a heart that is prepared by God can receive the good news about Jesus. The sharing of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.

I like the phrase “holy gossip” to describe how the gospel spreads through a community. Imagine overhearing in the grocery store someone whispering to another person, “Did you hear about what’s happening in Hoadley? My brother-in-law recently started attending there. I heard from his neighbour who is sick that he brought her some frozen meals from the church and prayed for her.”

We have seen some evidence of holy gossip, haven’t we? I wonder what sort of stories you’ve heard from others about the good things happening among us.

Paul wrote, “You became a model.… the Lord’s message rang out from you… your faith in God has become known everywhere.”

I’ll remind you of the quote from John Stott that I shared earlier: No church can spread the gospel with any degree of integrity, let alone credibility, unless it has been visibly changed by the gospel it preaches. We need to look like what we are talking about. It is not enough to receive the gospel and pass it on; we must embody it in our common life of faith, love, joy, peace, righteousness and hope.

If we want to be a good news community, a truly evangelistic church, then this is what is required of us. It may include programs and ministries, but most of all, it requires knowing and embodying the gospel.

As a good news community, people will see and wonder what is going on. We will have opportunity to share the gospel because people ask us.

How to Share the Gospel

With all this said, I do want to leave you with a simple way of sharing the gospel when the opportunity arises. This is based on what we see in the opening verses of this letter.

First, the gospel has specific content which must be articulated with words. While our lives are witnesses to new life in Christ, there is still a need to communicate using language that others can understand and reflect on. They do, however, need to be words carefully chosen based on the relationship you have with the person and what will resonate with them. There is no cookie cutter gospel presentation.

Second, words spoken by imperfect humans will be insufficient unless confirmed with the power of the Holy Spirit. You can work hard to come up with the perfect presentation, but it will fall flat unless you acknowledge that hearts are changed only by the work of God. Pray and seek God’s direction as you enter conversations with people about the gospel.

Third, the gospel must be internalized. The presenter must be completely convinced by the gospel, which requires deep understanding and surrender. If you are sharing the gospel only out of fear or guilt, it will be a struggle and the hearers will likely not respond well.

Above all, the greatest witness we can provide for those around us is a life saturated in the love of God, the hope of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

1. John R. W. Stott, The Message of Thessalonians: The Gospel & the End of Time (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 44. ↩︎