CHAPTER 7 Defining Evangelizing - Evangelism Unlimited

Thomas P. Johnston 289
c. James Gall’s The Evangelistic Baptism (1888):
1) Evangelise:
“The second great exhibition and experiment for which this world was selected as the theatre was
intended to show the grandeur and power of Divine love as the only antidote for sin; and commenced
upon the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost was poured forth on the hundred and twenty
disciples, and when they were definitely sent out to evangelise the world.” 388
“As it required an entire Christ to redeem and sanctify the Church, so it requires a whole Church
to evangelise the world.” 389
2) Propagative power:
“But Old Testament Christianity was not evangelistic, and had no propagative power.” 390
3) Evangelistic:
“What, then, was to be the special and peculiar work which the Holy Ghost was to carry on, after
the preliminary work had been completed, and when the Church was enabled to go forth, enriched and
equipped with the Holy Scripture complete? It was purely and strictly evangelistic.” 391
4) Witness-bearing:
“Witness-bearing lay at the bottom of the whole system, and without witness-bearing there is
no Paraclete. ‘After the Holy Ghost is come upon you,’ ‘ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in
Jerusalem, in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’ It was to fit them for
this witness-bearing that the Holy Ghost came upon them.” 392
d. Personal evangelism as “personal work”: D. A. Reed (1887) [quoted below], R. A. Torrey
(1901), 393 John T. Faris (1916), 394 Charles Zahniser (1927): 395
“In concluding, let me summarize: ‘What can the ordinary church do to reach the masses?’ … (6)
Make much of personal work, the efforts of individuals whose hearts are full of love for souls. Have a
band of men and women trained in the Bible, who shall know how to use it and love to use it, ready to
work in all meetings of an evangelistic character in the inquiry-room, ready to go and see individuals and
converse with them about their spiritual needs, wise to win souls.” 396
e. Door-to-door Canvassing:
Charles F. Thwing in The Working Church (New York: Baker and Taylor, 1888, 1889)
devoted a chapter explaining the importance that every church, city and rural, by canvassing
every home in their area to ascertain their spiritual needs. He called for the use of religious
surveys.
f. “Evangelization” in Modern Roman Catholicism:
1965-1968, Note the unusual change in the use of “evangelization” in modern Roman
Catholicism, remembering that neither Vatican II nor the 1993 Catechism of the Catholic
388James Gall, The Evangelistic Baptism Indespensable to the Church for the Conversion of the World, in
“Science of Mission” series (Edinburgh: Gall and Inglis, 1888), 29.
389Ibid., 45.
390Ibid., 49.
391Ibid., 101.
392Ibid., 101-02.
393Reuben A. Torrey, Personal Work [part one of How to Work for Christ] (New York: Revell, 1901).
394John T. Faris, The Book of Personal Work (New York: Doran, 1916).
395Charles Reed Zahniser, Case Work Evangelism: Studies in the Art of Christian Personal Work (New York:
Revell, 1927).
396Rev. Dr. D. A. Reed, “Proceedings of the Second Convention of Christian Workers in the United States and
Canada, Sept 21-28, 1887,” from Charles F. Thwing, The Working Church (New York: Baker and Taylor, 1888, 1889),
125.