Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – Following Christ in World Evangelization

By Grant McClung
January 2008

The Heart and Ethos of Christ-centered Evangelization
 This story of simple and straightforward evangelistic witness gets to the heart and ethos of Christ-centered evangelization. Following Christ in world evangelization demands the pursuit of a personal experience with the Triune God through the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit—with a corresponding passion to make Christ known among the nations. 

It also means following Christ’s example in evangelization. How did Jesus go into his world and how does that model inform us as his followers today? How can and should we personally experience and follow Christ in a way that leads to effective evangelization? There are many ministry examples of Jesus described in the Gospels. In Luke 3-6, there are at least eight examples of following Christ.

Jesus went (and we follow):

  1. With God’s favor. At his baptism, “the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased’” (Luke 3:22).
  2. Full of the Holy Spirit/led by the Holy Spirit. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1).
  3. Guided by the Word of God. “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Man does not live by bread alone’” (Luke 4:4).
  4. With the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14,18-19). “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14). Jesus also said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
  5. With an intercultural focus. “I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:25-27).
  6. With authority in teaching, deliverance and healing. “They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority” (Luke 4:32). “’Be quiet!’ Jesus said sternly. ‘Come out of him!’ Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, ‘What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out’” (Luke 4:35-36). “They asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them” (Luke 4:38-39).
  7. With a vision for those who had not heard the good news. “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43).
  8. With an interdependent/cooperative team partnership. “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink” (Luke 5:6-7, italics mine). “For he (Simon Peter) and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.’ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:9-11, italics mine). “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles” (Luke 6:12-13).

Pages: ALL   Prev    1    2    3    Next   

Dr. Grant McClung, president of Missions Resource Group, is a member of the U.S. Lausanne Advisory Committee and missiological advisor to the World Mission Commission of the Pentecostal World Fellowship.