TO EVANGELIZE is the supreme mission of the church. It is the primary business of every disciple. It is also the most important work in the universe, because it is the only business the gains of which will survive the wreck of this world and continue to pay dividends in the world that is to come. The Advent Movement is going to end soon with a great unparalleled outburst of Spirit-anointed evangelistic activity in the loud cry.
It is good to raise the question at the beginning of this study, What is evangelism? The word evangelize means to announce glad tidings, to bring good news, to confront people with the evangel in order that they may share in the fullness of life that it bestows. Evangelism begins with the conviction of the sinner and does not terminate until the believer has been conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and taught "to observe all things" that He commanded. Therefore, evangelism embraces the promotion of all aspects of the Christian life. It is not founded upon a collection of proof texts, but upon the total meaning of the Christian faith itself. The meaning of evangelism cannot be stated more pointedly than by the author of the Fourth Gospel: "These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name." 1
Any serious attempt to define evangelism indicates at once the central importance of this vital task. The Advent cause succeeds or fails on the issue of evangelism. Therefore it is utterly imperative that we give more and more consideration to that which lies at the heart of all true evangelism, namely, securing decisions for Christ and His truth. It is abidingly true that the number and lasting quality of the decisions we secure for the Lord are the real evidence of our calling and success in the work of God. Unfortunately, this is a weak point in the ministry of many workers. For it is not easy to press home to the hearts of men the need and urgency of their immediate response to God and His last-day message.
As we well know, there is the small group of comparatively few people who decide for truth just as fast as you can show them the way. But I believe the reason we are not getting larger results is that too often our evangelism is confined to or stops at this class who are on the verge of the kingdom just waiting for someone to invite them in. Beyond them is a great multitude of souls who would make good Adventist Christians, but they have problems; they are slow to decide. Did Ellen G. White have this larger group in mind when she wrote the following words?
Many are convinced that we have the truth, and yet they are held as with iron bands; they dare not risk the consequences of taking their position on the side of truth. Many are in the valley of decision, where special, close, and pointed appeals are necessary to move them to lay down the weapons of their warfare and take their position on the Lord's side.2
In these final crisis hours of human history the best thing we can do for any man is to bring him to a right decision; to lead him to act on what he knows to be right after we have taught him the truth. It is a matter of heaven or hell, life or death, for every soul as to how he receives God's last call; his destiny depends upon the decision he makes. Some of us will have to put forth far more effort on behalf of this larger segment of soul-winning potentiality than we have been doing.
What Is Decision?
First, let us seek to define decision in its relationship to evangelism, for the problem of decision lies at the very heart of the soul-winning task. We might say that decision refers to a decisive act of the will. A decision resolves a crisis by a radical determination that literally "cuts" the ac-tive agent off from other alternatives in favor of but one. A person, therefore, who decides, makes a definite stand. Thus decision, in the religious sense of the word, is a definite and conscious act by which God's revealed truth and His gracious provisions are personally received and appropriated. Because evangelism is so vitally concerned with decision every true worker whose heart is burdened to save men will anxiously inquire, "What can I do to bring more people to a lasting decision for Christ?"
The Power of the Will
The human mind is made up of three parts—intellect, feeling (emotion), and will. Each of these divisions plays its part when a man or woman surrenders to Christ. George B. Cutten says:
The place of the emotions in religion has been variously estimated. There is no doubt about their importance. As sources of religion they are probably primal, and for furnishing material for religion they take a prominent place. The intellect and the emotions furnish the material with which the will operates.3
Dr. Edward Scribner Ames, however, warns against too great an emphasis on the emotions:
Great emotion is not evidence of the presence of great ideas. . . . On the contrary, intense feeling arises most easily and gains most demonstrative expression where the higher intellectual processes, such as abstraction . . . , are absent or in abeyance.4
As showing the primacy of the will, James H. Snowden remarks that— the will is the power of the soul to control itself in its thoughts and feelings, decisions and actions.5
It is the will that is the most important element in decision. Roland Q. Leavell, a leading Southern Baptist educationalist and soul winner, tells us that our strongest effort "should be aimed at the lost man's will." 6 In a more recent book he further states:
The ultimate psychological basis of conversion is neither in the intellect nor in the emotion, nor in the two combined. The ultimate basis of conversion is the will.7
Yet how many of our sermons and Bible studies are one-sided in that they are confined almost wholly to evidences and proofs, exposition and instruction, which are all essentially intellectual. One of the weakest points in our evangelistic preaching is this failure so to present our evidences and proofs, in the setting of persuasion, that the will shall be moved to act upon these points of truth. It is not enough that the sermon shall convince the mind and stir the emotions; it must, above all, move the will.
The will is the governing power in the nature of man, bringing all the other faculties under its sway. The will is not the taste or the inclination, but it is the deciding power.8
Put your will on the side of Christ. Will to serve Him, and in acting upon His word you will receive strength.9
You cannot control your impulses, your emotions, as you may desire, but you can control the will.10
Your will is the spring of all your actions. 11
Look at the closing appeal of the Bible, the final invitation of the gospel. It is not to the intellect or to the emotional faculty, but to the will. This is deeply significant. The will is the finally decisive factor in relation to God. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." 12
However, no matter to what degree a preacher or worker educates the intelligence or stirs the emotions, unless he gets to the will he has failed of his true objective. We have all known people who go out from our meetings intellectually convinced in favor of the truth, and yet the will has not been prevailed upon to accept it. Similarly, we have known people who leave our meetings where their emotions have been deeply stirred by a passionate presentation of the claims of Christ, yet the will has not been moved to action, and Christ and His truth have not been received. The will is the final factor. It is the battle center. In the majority of cases the intellect is already on the side of truth, and the heart or emotions are drawn by the appeal of the Saviour's love, but the will fights against making a decision for Christ. The battle is on the will.
Christ's Method
This centrality of the will, in all real decisions, is graphically illustrated in the soul-winning methods of the Master Evangelist. Having a thorough knowledge of human nature (John 2:24, 25), He conducted His work so as to appeal to the whole of man (intellect, emotion, and will). Watch Him at work as He "preached the most important discourse inspiration has given us, to only one listener."13 He built up points of truth (intellect) and He stirred the emotions of the woman of Samaria by Jacob's well that day. But no-tice how He clinched that interest as He guided her will toward a decision for eternal life. Then think of blind Bartimaeus. The faint cry of faith on his part was not missed by Jesus. See Him tactfully stimulate the weak response of Bartimaeus as He led him to exercise his will, thus making him an ardent disciple. Zacchaeus had a number of wrongs to put right. Jesus goes to his home for a Bible study. Christ triggers his will, and very soon the little tax gatherer is carrying out his newborn decision. Yes, even in all the agony and anguish of Calvary darkness this Mighty Lover of men's souls heard the cry that came from the hardened heart of a dying thief and won his decision to become a candidate for the kingdom.
Qualifications of a Soul Winner
The worker who is successfully used of God in obtaining decisions will be one who has pondered deeply the value of a soul, what it cost, what a sacrifice was made to redeem it, its capabilities, and its eternal destiny for glory or despair.
To obtain decisions a worker must know three things:
1. He must know Christ and the anointing power of His Holy Spirit. "The call is for men who will go forth imbued with the Spirit of Christ, and work for souls."14
2. He must know the Bible and how to present its saving truths, "because that Word is to make the decisions with the people." 15 "Bring the people to a decision; keep the voice of the Bible ever before them." 16
3. He must know men and how to work according to the laws of man's mind. "In order to lead souls to Jesus there must be a knowledge of human nature and a study of the human mind." 17
Work of the Holy Spirit in Securing Decisions
We can by persuasion and manipulation get people to join a church, but only the Holy Spirit can baptize them into the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit works through individuals, but He must have possession of the individual. The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit; but the handle of that sword is in the hand of the individual worker, and the Holy Spirit can wield that sword only as He is able to control the hand of the worker who holds the sword.
True and lasting decisions come only under the operation of the Spirit upon the human heart. This is an absolute requisite. It is the enabling power by which alone we can win men for God.
The presence of the Spirit with God's workers will give the presentation of the truth a power that not all the honor or glory of the world could give.18
Inspiration reveals that the ministry of the Holy Spirit:
1. Opens the minds of men to truth (Evangelism, p. 169).
2. Helps in rightly presenting the truth (ibid., p. 663).
3. Guides into all truth (John 16:13).
4. Makes truth impressive (Evangelism, p. 124).
5. Gives power to the appeals (ibid., p. 285).
6. Convinces of sin (John 16:8).
7. Shows the soul its need of Christ (Evangelism, p. 283).
8. Gives victory over sin (Romans 8:2).
9. Leads to acceptance of the message and baptism (Acts 2:37, 38).
We have an outstanding Bible example of a Spirit-filled soul winner in Barnabas. "For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord."19 Notice the operation here of cause and effect. This can be true of each of us as we work under the Spirit's direction and power to become more effective and fruitful workers.
Power of Prayer in Winning Men
If there is one thing that is going to bring a change in the lives of our listeners and move them to decision, it is the power of prayer. Let the people know that you believe in prayer and that you are persuaded that prayer can do anything that God can do. Five minutes spent on our knees with the interested one, especially if we can get him to unite with us in prayer, will oftentimes achieve what hours of reasoning and studying will not accomplish. Often a burning prayer will make a man willing to give up the dearest friend in order to stand for Christ. It is the fervent prayer that helps break a man from his evil habits. Betimes it takes agonizing prayer to make a man willing to give up a good-paying job for the truth. There must be spiritual travail in prayer if souls are to be brought to birth in Christ. Paul knew this travail when he labored for the Galatian converts. 20
Some years ago there was a Bible instructor in our ranks who demonstrated in her work that prayer brings victory in decision. She would take six or eight names of the more advanced interested ones on her visiting list, people whom she felt ought to be making decisive steps toward the message. Three times a day as she knelt in prayer she would place this group before the Lord. She would often pray with tears and earnest pleading that each would accept the point of truth then being presented by the evangelist. After prayer she would go out to visit these people in their homes, and she got an unusual number of favorable decisions. She wrestled with God and prayed hundreds through to a full acceptance of the message.
Let ministers and evangelists have more seasons of earnest prayer with those who are convicted by the truth. 21
Accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will not, cannot, be without fruit.22
With all the preaching and counseling, the instruction and studying, let us not forget that the one thing that will help our people the most is our prayers. And as we pray with the people let us mention their names in prayer. It melts the heart. The secret of getting a verdict for God is
found in having the person kneel with us and tell the Lord what he intends to do. This posture of the body has much more to do with the element of submission to God on the part of the will than we may think. As a rule the bended knee is the end of all argument. Thus bowed before the Lord, a person will usually tell what is the honest intention of his heart. As dear old Elder Haskell used to say, "There is a way to connect a man with heaven in spite of himself and that way is through prayer." Let us follow his counsel.
REFERENCES
1 John 20:31 (R.S.V.).
2 Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 646.
3 George B. Cutten, The Psychological Phenomena of Christianity, p. 370.
4 Edward S. Ames, The Psychology of Christian Experience, pp. 165, 166.
5 James H. Snowden, The Psychology of Religion, p. 47.
6 Roland Q. Leavell, The Romance of Evangelism, p. 69.
7 Leavell, Evangelism, Christ's Imperative Commission, p. 183.
8 Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 513.
9 The Desire of Ages, p. 203.
10 Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 514.
11 Ibid., p. 515.
12 Revelation 22:17.
13 Review and Herald, March 23, 1886.
14 Evangelism, p. 435.
15 Ibid., p. 300.
16 Ibid., p. 296.
17 Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 67.
18 Ibid., vol. 8, p. 22.
19 Acts 11:24.
20 Galatians 4:19.
21 Gospel Workers, p. 65.
22 The Ministry of Healing, pp. 143, 144.
