Lausanne World Pulse – Research Articles – “A Northstar for Evangelization Strategy”: Looking Toward Cape Town 2010

By Paul Eshleman

  • The Great Commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40). Living as Jesus told us to live is our number one priority.
    • Love God.
      • Be holy, for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16; Leviticus 11:44).
      • Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
      • Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
    • Love Your Neighbor.
      • Love your brother. This means that (1) we need to love one another (John 13:34) and that (2) God never forgets the good works we do for our brothers (Hebrews 6:10).
      • Love strangers. This means that we should (1) give a cup of water in his name (Matthew 10:42) and (2) provide food and clothing, care for the sick, hospitality for strangers and visit those in prison (Matthew 25:35-36).
      • Love your enemies (Luke 6:27). This means that we should (1) pray for and do good to those who persecute us (Luke 6:27), (2) love our enemies and do good to them (Luke 6:35) and (3) lend to our enemies without expecting return (Luke 6:35).
  • The Great Commission. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me; therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). Scripture goes further to clarify our purpose and objective.
    • Preach the gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15).
    • Our promise is that forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations (Luke 24:46-47).
    • As the Father sent Jesus, so he sends us into the world to seek and save the lost (John 20:21).
    • We will be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
    • He has given us the ministry of reconciling people back to God (2 Corinthians 5:19).
    • He has made us his ambassadors (2Corinthians 5:20).

4. A Framework for Change
As we look at a framework for discussing world evangelization in the future, we realize that we must be about reaching all nations and every people. Very simply, our Northstar must be to find out where the Church is NOT, and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, do something about it. Our basic direction must involve the following:

As followers of Christ, united in love and purpose, we are called to:

1. Reach every person with the whole gospel 2. in a language he or she understands 3. with access to a nearby local church or fellowship

4. led by a trained pastor or elder.

In order to see the evangelization of the world, there are four things we need to ask God for:

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Paul Eshleman is chairman of the Lausanne Strategy Working Group and vice president of Campus Crusade for Christ. He also founded and directed the JESUS Film Project (JFP). During his twenty-five years of directing the JFP, the film was translated into nearly nine hundred languages and shown in 236 countries.