The Changing Face of Evangelism (Part 1)

Text: Acts 11:19-30

Introduction: There is a new vocabulary in vogue for the 21st-century church, and we need to be familiar with it. There are new words expressing—

• How we worship: blended, traditional, or contemporary
• Where we worship: on campus, multi-site, or organic (not in a specific church building)
• The focus of our worship: Bible teaching, emergent in philosophy, or missional in outreach

We are not only attempting to wrap our arms around these new labels, but we’re also getting accustomed to the changing face of evangelism. Like me, you may have experienced evangelistic meetings, bus ministries, Evangelism Explosion, and many other outreach events. But the critical issue for the 21st-century church is the discovery of what constitutes effective outreach today. Is there a New Testament model we can use? I believe the answer is yes, and the model church is Antioch. Their story is found in Acts 11:19-30. How does this story help us? I believe it is an effective model in eight ways:

1.    This church was planted in a metropolitan city by laypeople (11:19-21).
Paul seemed to focus his church plants in major cities. Antioch was the third-largest city in the Roman Empire. It was diverse racially, advanced scientifically, and loaded with temptations—a first-century church with a 21st-century profile! This big-city challenge was met not by “trained leaders” such as Peter or James or John but by men and women from Jerusalem who were “on the run” to escape the furious persecution led by Saul of Tarsus. As they went north, the apostles remained in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1). This is the first model we can follow today. The cutting edge of outreach was in the hands of laymen. This story puts an end to the myth that evangelism is accomplished only by pastoral staff. Laypeople planted one of the great churches of the first century. They had no formal training. What they had was a passion to share the good news.

2.    This church was planted by laypeople with a relational style (11:19-21).
It’s important that we embrace what really happened at Antioch. We might get the wrong idea when we read 11:19-20 and find the word preaching in the text of the New King James Version. These people were not preachers and the words in the original Greek text help us: laleo, to share the word in a conversational style, and euangelidzo, to share the gospel.

Translated into our world, this is friendship building, the over-a-cup-of-coffee kind of sharing the good news. It is not confrontational; it is relational. It’s building a bridge of friendship so that the day arrives when the gospel is shared. One of the churches where I served as a pastor had a sign over the doors leading out of the sanctuary that read, “You are now entering the mission field.” The Jerusalem believers fleeing the persecution of Saul met with success in Antioch because they lovingly shared the message of Jesus that had changed their lives!

3.    This church experienced the hand of God (11:21).
What is the significance of this phrase “the hand of God”? The Nehemiah story helps us immensely. Nehemiah, the king’s cupbearer, suddenly became Nehemiah the wall builder. His request for a leave of absence from the pagan king he served in Persia was granted. Nehemiah had heard of the sad plight of his kinsmen in Jerusalem. And even though it was an 800-mile journey, his heart was moved to help. So off he went for the wall-building project (see Nehemiah 2). For anyone involved in a major building campaign, much can be learned from walking in the footsteps of this man:

• He rested a few days before he started.
• He took a few men with him to share the vision.
• He did his homework. He quietly viewed the damage in a midnight ride around broken gates and burned walls.
• He shared encouraging news at just the right time.
• His news was about the hand of God (2:17-18). This was news about a king who was not a worshiper of Jehovah, but who gave his cupbearer an escort of soldiers, passports through foreign countries, and a requisition for all the lumber he would need. How do we explain this kindness from a pagan king? It can only be explained by God’s working. How do we explain the amazing turning to God at Antioch? The hand of God at work!

Conclusion: In part 2 of this outline, we will continue our pursuit of the lessons to be learned in the planting of the vibrant Antioch church. For a 21st-century counterpart, you may be interested in reading the account of the planting of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City under the leadership of Timothy Keller.