The job of the evangelist is to spread ?the good news', from the Greek ?euaggelion'. William Barclay in his excellent work ?New Testatement Words' gives the etymology of the term ?euaggelion'. Initally, it was the reward a messenger received for bringing good tidings. However, over time it came to mean the ?good tidings' themselves. The euaggelion was something a man was tasked with, it was laid upon you, not chosen. For example, a slave bringing good tidings of his generals victory to a town. Likewise, the gospel is not something we have a choice in sharing, before His ascension Christ laid the responsibility of spreading the euaggelion (good news) on us.

The good news we are to share is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ that has brought salvation to all men, in a nutshell it is the message of John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son."

Here's 7 steps for more effective evangelism.

1. Know your audience and tailor the message to them, don't just do things the way you always do. Take the gospels as an example of this, there are 4 accounts each tailored to a specific audience, addressing the needs of each group. But the message remains consistent (i.e. Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World).

2. Be led (Acts 16:6, 9-10). Paul wanted to go to Asia but the Spirit forbade Him. He was led to Macedonia (Europe) and that's where the ministry was effective. Likewise, Philip was led into the desert to the Ethiopian (Acts 8), it seemed crazy to leave a thriving Samaritan revival and go into a desert of Gaza, but that's where he was led and as a result the gospel travelled down into Africa with the Ethiopian.

3. Be burdened. According to 1 Cor 13 the gifts work by love. Without love and a burden for souls we won't reach them.

4. Preach Jesus. Be single minded in your message. It should be Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Don't preach your pastor, your church rules, politics or anything else - focus on Jesus and esp. what He has done / means to you.

5. Be empowered (Acts 1:8). Without the indwelling Holy Spirit you can not be an effective witness for Christ.

6. Be agreed. Imagine if Peter & John did not agree at the Gate Beautiful, imagine if Peter wanted to go to get some cash, while John wanted to pray for him. Thanks be to God they both said: silver and gold have we none, but such as we have we freely give, rise up and walk in Jesus Name. Make sure you are walking with people who agree on doctrine when you go out to share the faith.

7. Have faith (Mark 16:16-18). Believe that souls will respond to the call. There's nothing worse than an unbelieving evangelist. why bother? The excuse that ?we told them so they can't say they didn't hear the gospel on judgement day' simply is not good enough. Everyone won't respond positively to the call, but as good stewards we should be of the view that with God NOTHING shall be impossible.

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