5 Church Evangelism Principles

Mark 6:7-13

1. Believe in the authority of Jesus (Mark 6:7)

“He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits.” (Mark 6:7, CSB)

When you are sharing the Gospel, you are involved in spiritual warfare. You have to realize that this is not just about technique. This is not just about methods and models. This is about serious warfare. You have to believe that Jesus gave you the authority to speak in His name.

One proof of that is power over demonic forces. Here again, we see in the Gospel of Mark, the power of spiritual forces and how Jesus has power over them. Now, He transfers that power to His disciples, and by extension, you and me.

The question for us today is this: Do we still have power over unclean spirits? Is that just for the time of Jesus, or is that ongoing principle? I believe that it is an ongoing principle. We still deal with Satan today until He is locked up. As a result, we will still deal with unclean spirits.

2. The pattern of sending (Mark 6:7-9)

“He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits.” (Mark 6:7, CSB)

Here, we see that Jesus didn’t rely on an evangelist to come to the community. Instead, He sent His people out. As Christians, we are called to be a “sent” people. Jesus sends us to people who need to hear the Gospel.

There are two patterns in Scripture concerning church evangelism. The first pattern is the “attraction” model. In this case, we invite people to come to the church. We “attract” people to the Gospel by what the church provides for them. One sees this in the invitation that Matthew gave to his tax collector friends. He invited them to a party and then they came and heard the Gospel.

The second pattern is the “sent” model. In this case, as the church, we go out to the community to share the Gospel with individual homes, families, and communities. This is the pattern here in Mark.

“He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a staff—no bread, no traveling bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not put on an extra shirt.” (Mark 6:8–9, CSB)

One can see that the “sent” model is harder. In the “attraction” model, opportunities or gimmicks can be used (like meals and parties) to attract people to hear the Gospel. In the “sent” model, there are no gimmicks. This model relies on relationship-building. Similar to cold calls, one goes to the community to reach people.

3. The power of church evangelism can be prevented by the attitude of the community (Mark 6:10-11)

“He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place. If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”” (Mark 6:10–11, CSB)

Jesus told His disciples to go to a person’s home and stay there until their work of evangelism in the community is completed. However, there can be barriers to effective evangelism in a community.

Sometimes, there are location barriers. This is why Paul spoke first at the synagogue and then a lecture hall. He changed locations to reach different audiences. You see it today when the church uses tent revivals or a neutral location like the school.

Sometimes, there are attitude barriers. The community can choose to be unwelcoming to the Gospel. They refuse to come to an event because they have difficulties with people in the church. The responsibility is on the community to accept Christians who share the Gospel. If a community has a negative attitude toward the Gospel, then the Christian leaves to go elsewhere. The community misses out on the benefits of the Gospel because of their resistant attitude.

4. Evangelism is about life change (Mark 6:12)

“So they went out and preached that people should repent.” (Mark 6:12, CSB)

The best benefit that a person can receive is a changed life that receives eternity as a result. For a person to receive that benefit, they must make a life change. The meaning of the word repent is to “change your mind.” It is a change of state of mind or life change. Christians therefore, are in the business of changing lives.

5. Life change will show immediate positive results (Mark 6:13) 

“They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” (Mark 6:13, CSB)

Remember earlier, that Jesus couldn’t heal people in His hometown. The problem was that the people were unbelieving. Unbelief prevents life change. Here, we see it work. People were turning to God. As a result, they were being changed. Demons were fleeing. The sick were being healed.

Life change will show immediate positive results. You will know that God is doing His work because there will be positive results in the lives of people who are turning to God. When a community is welcoming to Christians as they share the Gospel, then God shares positive results.

Photo by Chris Dixon on Unsplash