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"The Preparation of an Evangelistic Message" Seminar One Paper at the Amsterdam 2000 (July 30, 2000, Amsterdam)
Rev. Myung Hyuk Kim, Vice-chairman, KEF
I am Pastor Kim from Korea. Kim is the most common name in Korea. Three political leaders in South Korea have been all Kims. The president of S.K. is Kim, the premier of N. K. is also Kim. Billy Kim, the speaker last night, is also Kim. If you call any Korean as Mr. of Mrs. Kim, you would be probably right. I am also Kim, Kim Myung Hyuk, pastor of a local church, professor of a theological seminary and vice-chairman of Korea Evangelical Fellowship.
The subject of this seminar one is “Preparation of an evangelistic message”. Rev. Gottfried Osei-Mensah prepared an excellent teaching material on this subject. My presentation will be depending upon Osei-Mensah’s material as well as my own experiences. In preparing and delivering an evangelistic message, five points should be remembered.
Point One : You should remember who you are. You should remember that you are a servant of almighty God. He is sending you to take his message to a particular people. This fact of self-awareness carries important implications. That is why Dr. Billy Graham often stresses that evangelism is not a technique but a person. Since you are a God-sent, servant of God, you should be totally devoted to God, that is, to be set apart to God, and to be sanctified to God. This sanctity or holiness is an essential element of an evangelist. As a pastoral evangelist, I could say that person rather than words play more important role in bringing men and women to Jesus Christ. Since you are a God-sent servant of God, you should also be totally dependent upon God in prayers. You should pray that the Lord would prepare you and make you his effective messenger.
Point Two : You should remember who they are. You should know as much as about your listeners, about the people to whom God is sending you. There could be various kinds of people; young people, old people, rich people, poor people, intelligent people, and illiterate people. Yet, there could be some commonness: search for pleasure and happiness, search for wealth and fame, rebellious and restlessness, empty and hopelessness. A fair knowledge of your audiences will make you an effective messenger of God. You have to also remember that your listeners are the objects of God’s concern and love. This will motivate you to come deep into their heart.
Point Three : You should remember what to preach. You should remember that you are sent to preach the gospel alone and that the heart of the gospel is Jesus Christ and him crucified and resurrected. The apostle Paul wrote: “For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.”(1 Cor. 15:3-4) “I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified”(1 Cor. 2:2). The purpose of the evangelistic message is not to magnify the evangelist himself but to flesh out the heart of the evangel, the gospel itself, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Point Four : You should remember who is doing evangelism. You should remember that it is not you but the Holy Spirit who is doing evangelism. The Holy Spirit is the supreme evangelist. “When the Spirit comes, he will testify about me”(John 15:26). Without his partnership, our witness to Christ will be fruitless. Therefore, we must seek his help in putting together and delivering our message.
Twenty some years ago I took college students of my church to a rural area to do summer evangelism to the children in the rural area. While the college students engaged in children evangelism, dozens of young people hindered and made fun of the evangelism ministry. I called them together and began to talk. I did not prepare or expect to preach. I just began to talk. They listened. I talked about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. I did not talk longer than 25 minutes. Yet, something happened. One youth came forward and repented. Another youth came forward and repented. On that night 14 youths came forward one by one and repented. I did not even give any initiations. Yet, they just came forward. I was totallly amazed to find out that it was not me but the Holy Spirit who did evangelism that night. I just kept praying about an hour a simple prayer, “Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord.” I had correspondences with the youths more than one year. We have to remember that it is not we but the Holy Spirit who does evangelism.
Point Five : You should remember for what you are doing evangelism. You should remember that the purpose of evangelism is not magnifying the evangelist himself or counting the numbers of converts. In 1983 Dr. Billy Graham confessed that he was before concerned about the numbers of the converts and the amount of money, but now ceased to be concerned. The purpose of evangelism is to glorify God and to magnify his mercy and love. If you keep this purpose in your mind, your evangelistic ministry will be healthy and faithful.
With these 5 points in mind, we could now write an evangelistic message in three steps as the following.
Step One : Describe and present a man as a person searching for happiness yet empty and hopeless. You could present one person from your modern society and another person from the Scriptures. You could choose a modern man whose empty life has been changed through the gospel. He or she could be an actor, singer, businessman, politician, or a sportsman, even a murder. You could point out some characteristics of modern man as wealth and pleasure seeking yet empty and hopeless. Luis Palau, when he preached an evangelistic message in an Open-Air Evangelistic Meeting at the Crow Park in Keswick England in the afternoon of July 16(2 weeks ago), he chose Paul Jones and Fiona as a model of modern man. They were successful singers, who slept together in sinfulness. They were rich and famous, yet they were empty and unhappy. Somehow they were led to hear the message of the gospel and repented. Their lives have been completely changed. They got married and became happy. They are now traveling doing evangelism as well as singing. You could now choose one relevant biblical person to bring your listener home in the message of God. You could choose the rebellious and selfish lost son in Lk 15, a pleasure-seeking empty woman in Jn 4, a greedy tax collector in Lk 19, a rich but poor man in Lk 12, 16, a self-righteous, rebellious religionist Saul in Tarsus in Acts 9, a demon-possessed Mary Magdalene in Lk 8, and a demon-possessed man in the tombs in Lk 8, and so on.
Step Two : Describe and present God as loving and forgiving sinners. Describe God as restoring the lost and broken sinners to be the dear sons and daughters of God. Describe God as loving the world so much as giving us his only begotten son. Describe Jesus as forgiving sinners such as the Samaritan woman, Cornellius the tax collector, and Saul the self-righteous religionist. Finally present the Cross as the only power and the only way to salvation.
Step Three : Stress the importance of repentance. The only request of us as sinners is repentance and belief. In the case of the lost son, he “came to his senses,” that is he came to change his mind (LK 15:17). He also changed his heart. He confessed that, “Father I have sinned against heaven and you”(18). He also changed his will. “He got up and went to his father”(20).
Now, please one Chinese, one Japanese, and one Korean, prepare and present a summary of an evangelistic message in your own context in about 5 minutes each. After that we will have time of free discussion. Thank you very much.
I am Pastor Kim from Korea. Kim is the most common name in Korea. Three political leaders in South Korea have been all Kims. The president of S.K. is Kim, the premier of N. K. is also Kim. Billy Kim, the speaker last night, is also Kim. If you call my Korean as Mr. of Mrs. Kim, you would be probably right. I am also Kim, Kim Myung Hyuk, pastor of a local church, professor of a theological seminary and vice-chairman of K. E. F.
The subject of this seminar one is “Preparation of an evangelistic message”. Rev. Gottfried Osei-Mensah prepared an excellent teaching material on this subject. My presentation will be depending upon Osei-Mensah’s material as well as my own experiences. In preparing and delivering an evangelistic message, five points should be remembered.
Point One : You should remember who you are. You should remember that you are a servant of almighty God. He is sending you to take his message to a particular people. This fact of self-awareness carries important implications. That is why Dr. Billy Graham often stresses that evangelism is not a technique but a person. Since you are a God-sent, servant of God, you should be totally devoted to God, that is, to be set apart to God, and to be sanctified to God. This sanctity or holiness is an essential element of an evangelist. As a pastoral evangelist, I could say that person rather than words play more important role in bringing men and women to Jesus Christ. Since you are a God-sent servant of God, you should also be totally dependent upon God in prayers. You should pray that the Lord would prepare you and make you his effective messenger.
Point Two : You should remember who they are. You should know as much as about your listeners, about the people to whom God is sending you. There could be various kinds of people; young people, old people, rich people, poor people, intelligent people, and illiterate people. Yet, there could be some commonness: search for pleasure and happiness, search for wealth and fame, rebellious and restlessness, empty and hopelessness. A fair knowledge of your audiences will make you an effective messenger of God. You have to also remember that your listeners are the objects of God’s concern and love. This will motivate you to come deep into their heart.
Point Three : You should remember what to preach. You should remember that you are sent to preach the gospel alone and that the heart of the gospel is Jesus Christ and him crucified and resurrected. The apostle Paul wrote: “For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.”(1 Cor. 15:3-4) “I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified”(1 Cor. 2:2). The purpose of the evangelistic message is not to magnify the evangelist himself but to flesh out the heart of the evangel, the gospel itself, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Point Four : You should remember who is doing evangelism. You should remember that it is not you but the Holy Spirit who is doing evangelism. The Holy Spirit is the supreme evangelist. “When the Spirit comes, he will testify about me”(John 15:26). Without his partnership, our witness to Christ will be fruitless. Therefore, we must seek his help in putting together and delivering our message.
Twenty some years ago I took college students of my church to a rural area to do summer evangelism to the children in the rural area. While the college students engaged in children evangelism, dozens of young people hindered and made fun of the evangelism ministry. I called them together and began to talk. I did not prepare or expect to preach. I just began to talk. They listened. I talked about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. I did not talk longer than 25 minutes. Yet, something happened. One youth came forward and repented. Another youth came forward and repented. On that night 14 youths came forward one by one and repented. I did not even give any initiations. Yet, they just came forward. I was totallly amazed to find out that it was not me but the Holy Spirit who did evangelism that night. I just kept praying about an hour a simple prayer, “Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord.” I had correspondences with the youths more than one year. We have to remember that it is not we but the Holy Spirit who does evangelism.
Point Five : You should remember for what you are doing evangelism. You should remember that the purpose of evangelism is not magnifying the evangelist himself or counting the numbers of converts. In 1983 Dr. Billy Graham confessed that he was before concerned about the numbers of the converts and the amount of money, but now ceased to be concerned. The purpose of evangelism is to glorify God and to magnify his mercy and love. If you keep this purpose in your mind, your evangelistic ministry will be healthy and faithful.
With these 5 points in mind, we could now write an evangelistic message in three steps as the following.
Step One : Describe and present a man as a person searching for happiness yet empty and hopeless. You could present one person from your modern society and another person from the Scriptures. You could choose a modern man whose empty life has been changed through the gospel. He or she could be an actor, singer, businessman, politician, or a sportsman, even a murder. You could point out some characteristics of modern man as wealth and pleasure seeking yet empty and hopeless. Luis Palau, when he preached an evangelistic message in an Open-Air Evangelistic Meeting at the Crow Park in Keswick England in the afternoon of July 16(2 weeks ago), he chose Paul Jones and Fiona as a model of modern man. They were successful singers, who slept together in sinfulness. They were rich and famous, yet they were empty and unhappy. Somehow they were led to hear the message of the gospel and repented. Their lives have been completely changed. They got married and became happy. They are now traveling doing evangelism as well as singing. You could now choose one relevant biblical person to bring your listener home in the message of God. You could choose the rebellious and selfish lost son in Lk 15, a pleasure-seeking empty woman in Jn 4, a greedy tax collector in Lk 19, a rich but poor man in Lk 12, 16, a self-righteous, rebellious religionist Saul in Tarsus in Acts 9, a demon-possessed Mary Magdalene in Lk 8, and a demon-possessed man in the tombs in Lk 8, and so on.
Step Two : Describe and present God as loving and forgiving sinners. Describe God as restoring the lost and broken sinners to be the dear sons and daughters of God. Describe God as loving the world so much as giving us his only begotten son. Describe Jesus as forgiving sinners such as the Samaritan woman, Cornellius the tax collector, and Saul the self-righteous religionist. Finally present the Cross as the only power and the only way to salvation.
Step Three : Stress the importance of repentance. The only request of us as sinners is repentance and belief. In the case of the lost son, he “came to his senses,” that is he came to change his mind (LK 15:17). He also changed his heart. He confessed that, “Father I have sinned against heaven and you”(18). He also changed his will. “He got up and went to his father”(20).
Now, please one Chinese, one Japanese, and one Korean, prepare and present a summary of an evangelistic message in your own context in about 5 minutes each. After that we will have time of questions and answers.
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