When it to comes to sharing Jesus with others, have you ever asked these questions?

• How to share about Jesus?
• How to share the gospel simply?
• How to share the gospel effectively?
• How to do one on one evangelism?

There are many evangelism methods available to the church today. This has not always been the case. It was during the nineteenth-century revivals that such methods were introduced by Charles Finney through the influence of pragmatism, and have since then, grown in popularity. They are now often seen as the default way to share the gospel, yet seem rarely assessed as to their Biblical accuracy and actual effectiveness.

Such methods often codify a few Biblical truths into a simple method to follow. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for Christians to share their faith. The assumption is that a one-size-fits-all approach will be equally relevant and impactful for many people.  They tend to  focus on repentance, sin and hell and seek a fast-track decision for Christ.

What some methods seem to miss is that the gospel is primarily about a person rather than a response. When we share the gospel we are introducing the person of the gospel. The gospel is about Jesus and his kingdom, and repentance is about following him. When we repent, we move from being self-governed to king-governed.

How can they be helpful?

• For new Christians, it can be helpful to use a method to start sharing their faith. It may help them get going quickly and start learning to talk about Jesus with family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues.
• They can also be helpful to use at evangelistic meetings, where a single speaker addresses a crowd. It is not as easy at such events to contextualise the gospel message to each individual within the crowd.

How can they be a hindrance?

• Methods usually don't help identify or encourage the unique evangelistic strengths in each Christian. These are God-given strengths that can dramatically increase the impact of sharing our faith, improving our evangelistic effectiveness and fruitfulness.
• Methods rarely present the full kingdom gospel. They tend to over-emphasise sin and repentance, rather than making known Jesus' kingdom as the pearl of great price and the motivation for repentance (Matthew 13:45-46).
• They can assume that people's greatest need is repentance. We have been given a ministry of reconciliation, not a ministry of repentance (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). Evangelism is primarily about reconciling people to God, which repentance is only part of.
• The mention of hell and judgement may create a fear-based response in the hearers rather than an opportunity to count the cost of following Jesus (Luke 14:28), encounter a God of love and make a heart response to surrender to Jesus, and become his disciple.
• They often pressure people for an "on the spot" decision. Evidence shows that the majority of people in Western society get saved through a process. This is clearly explained by James Dr Engle.

How effective are they?

• Many evangelism methods tend to have poor results despite any initial figures quoted. Follow-up assessments of evangelism crusades found that on average 95% of those who responded to an appeal did not continue in their faith.
• Many Christians can struggle with these methods and find them clunky to use. This can lead them to conclude that they are not good at evangelism. The impact of this should not be underestimated. In the West eighty per cent of all Christians do not consistently witness for Christ.
• These methods are also less effective in twenty-first century as they were not designed for postmodernism and identity politics contexts.

Are they Biblical?

• Finney's theology influenced his method based approach. He did not see conversion as a spiritual rebirth but rather a moral choice. Finney did not believe in original sin, a substitutionary atonement, and the divine nature of the new birth.
• Because he believed conversion was a moral choice, his methods put sin and repentance front and centre to encourage people to make a moral choice to change. He introduced the Altar Call and the Anxious Bench to increase the number of people who would respond to this moral choice.
• His methods were not designed to invoke faith in Jesus and his atonement on the cross, because he did not believe in people being spiritually born again. Methods like this are contrary to how we understand the salvation process.
• Jesus and the apostles did not use such evangelism methods. Jesus gave clear instructions to his disciples on how to share the gospel with both Jews (Matthew 10:1-20) and Gentiles (Luke 10:1-23).
• Each of Jesus's interactions with people was unique, whether he was healing people, choosing disciples, publicly preaching or speaking with an individual. He did not rely on formulas but created culturally relevant bespoke evangelistic moments, which transformed many lives.

In summary evangelism methods may create more problems than they solve. It is time to reimagine evangelism and trust that Jesus' example is the best and most effective way to seek and save the lost.