Prophetic Evangelism

 

“Go and make disciples of all nations” – Matthew 28:20

 

Jesus tells each one of us to be an Evangelist, but this does not imply that we each have to go to Asia, Africa or South America; it is however important that we are available when God calls us to speak to our next-door neighbour or our fellow Mum at the school gate.  The well-known evangelist J John famously said, “A missionary isn’t necessarily someone who crosses the seas, it’s someone wbo sees the Cross!”  Every Christian has the above verse as a direct command from Jesus just prior to His Ascension, but it can be a very daunting task.  Most of us today are neither John Wesley nor Billy Graham; we neither stand and preach the Gospel on street corners nor fill big stadia to address huge crowds, but we are each given the command to evangelise even if it only involves meeting a friend for coffee.

 

Sometimes the church may conduct an exercise as a team; this may begin with something simple like a Prayer Walk around the village, which can then lead on to individual encounters with those whose hearts the Holy Spirit has prepared in advance.

 

Ephesians 4 lists the Ministries to be found in an active church and Evangelism is one of these.  Also 1 Corinthians 12 lists the Gifts of the Spirit available to all Christians, which include that of Prophecy; these two Works of the Holy Spirit work closely together when the church undertakes a project to evangelise groups of people.

 

When beginning any such exercise, if it to be successful (that is to say, to achieve a positive outcome for the Kingdom) the team needs to start in prayer to listen to God and receive prophetic input from Him, which may be relevant to the person or group to be reached.  We typically begin our Prayer Walks with a Prayer of Commission.  Perhaps instead of a simple prayer this should be a 15-minute session (or longer) to seek God, to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying; also if the location is well-known to us, it is worth bearing in mind that situations change wirh time and what the Spirit says today could be different from what He said last week, perhaps if a new family has moved into the area for example.  The follow-up could be to engage in personal encounters, but always as led by the Holy Spirit.  It is perfectly valid to stop and wait in the street and engage in a moment of prayer to ask the Holy Spirit if He has any specific prompting for our next move, even if it is just to move to our next location.

 

Our objective is to help people to connect with God and show them ways to develop a relationship with Him – the Holy Spirit’s power can enable this to happen, but human agency is always needed on the ground – we need to act specifically to build relationships through friendship in the same way that we would in a secular context.  An established friendship forms a good starting context to bring the subject of faith into the conversation.

 

The following pointers can be helpful:

 

●       Remember that evangelism is God’s work and not ours – we are simply a catalyst.  We try to hear Him and align with what we see Him already doing.

 

●       Are we aiming at the right target group or people?  Again some areas have a fluid population, particularly for example in an area with a high student population, or where there may be itinerant construction workers.

 

●       Do we feel God is already speaking to one or more people in our target group?  Do we discern God’s heart in this work in this location?

 

●       Do we sense specific needs or situations where we can minister in the Holy Spirit?  All too often today someone may be going through a broken relationship and so need extra help.

 

●       Can we discern God’s timing so that we align with it rather than conflict with it?

 

●       Are we guided by the Holy Spirit?  We may get prophetic insights about individuals in situations where God is already at work.

 

●       Follow up any encounter with a process leading to conversion and discipleship.

 

I have talked here about Discernment, another Gift of the Holy Spirit; this Gift may well be something we should pray for during our time with God before we start out.  Luke 11:13 reminds us that we can ask God for the Gifts of the Spirit and He will give them to us.

 

Some Biblical examples:

 

●       Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream without being told what it was (chapter 2)

 

●       Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, totally a work of the Spirit (Acts 8)

 

●       Peter is prompted by the Spirit and goes to see Cornelius (Acts 10)

 

If we truly aim to be a Church in the heart of the Community then we can have as our ethos the objective to be a New Testament-style church and think outside the box:

 

“God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean” (Acts 10:28).

So we must be careful not to write anyone off because they happen to be “different” to ourselves.

 

Following this, what comes next Lord…?