Equipping Personal Evangelists at Life Community Church in Owensboro, Kentucky

Abstract

Chapter 1 builds an argument for the need to equip church members to become personal evangelists. The chapter outlines the context of Life Community Church, a church plant located in Owensboro, Kentucky, and the reasons for an equipping class. The chapter explains the purpose of the project, the desired goals of the project, and how the project was conducted and measured. Definitions and delimitations specific to the project are also included.

Chapter 2 argues that the pastor should be able to lead his church in evangelism. The chapter exegetes four biblical texts to build the argument. The first section exegetes Acts 8:4-15 to show that the pastor should lead the church in evangelism because of examples of church leaders. The second section exegetes 2 Timothy 4:1-5 to show that the pastor should be able to lead the church in evangelism because he is commissioned to do the work of an evangelist. The third section exegetes Acts 16:11-34 to show that the pastor should be able to lead the church in evangelism by modeling evangelism. Finally, the fourth section exegetes Ephesians 4:7-16 to show that the pastor should be able to lead the church in evangelism because his duties involve the equipping of the congregation for ministry.

Chapter 3 argues that evangelism should primarily occur as a result of the development of personal evangelists. The chapter is divided into four sections that utilize the thoughts of various authors in regard to evangelism occurring through personal evangelists. Section 1 illustrates that evangelism occurs when the evangelist is taught a biblical and adequate definition of the gospel. Section 2 illustrates that evangelism occurs when the evangelist identifies and prays for the lost. Section 3 illustrates that evangelism occurs when the evangelist has exposure to various gospel techniques. Section 4 illustrates that evangelism occurs when the evangelist is encouraged through the building of confidence when leading someone to Christ.