Last year, I ran across several articles trying to answer this question: “Does evangelism still work?” I always have two immediate responses to that question. My first instinct is to reply, “Well, does breathing still work?” After all, the word “evangelism” literally means to share the Good News. Just as you can’t live without breathing, you can’t be a disciple of Jesus without sharing His Good News. It’s as natural as breathing.
But usually the intent of the question is about public evangelism: doctrinal meetings to which the public is invited. And this leads to my second, simple response: Absolutely yes.
Last year, we worked on campaigns with hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist churches throughout the North American Division. These are urban, rural and suburban churches, in red states and blue states, from highly churched to highly secular regions. No matter where you are, public evangelism can work. When you plan and execute an outreach event speaking to the needs of your community, and partner with SermonView to craft a clear invitation that demonstrates the value of what you’re offering, people come. God works through you to share the Good News, and lives are changed.
The proof is in the remarkable results that many of you have seen at your events. During the last 5 years, SermonView has introduced over 10 million families to Seventh-day Adventist churches throughout North America. And during the last year, our churches saw 10,000 guests walk through their doors, many with no previous connection to the church. Does public evangelism work? Absolutely yes.
That’s why when the door opened for us to team up with Shawn Boonstra and the Voice of Prophecy for Shadow Empire, we jumped in head-first. We helped over 600 churches across North America host the series, which led to many making the decision to connect with a local church or join Bible studies. And we are confident that God has big plans to reach even more people during the follow-up series, A Pale Horse Rides, in October 2017.
Yes, there continues to be a place for public evangelism. We see it working, because new people are continuing to walk through your church doors to learn about Jesus.
I sit here in awe of what God has done through our partnership together. Thank you for allowing us to join you in ministry this year, and for believing in the evangelism marketing process. I can’t wait to see how God is going to bless your evangelism efforts in 2017.
-Larry Witzel