PERSONAL WITNESSING

I received several emails in the past few days relating to the salvation of family members.  Praise God!  It’s such a joy to hear of people turning to Jesus for salvation. Truly, God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3 : 9b)

In these conversion experiences, there is one common factor, that is, they heard the gospel from a Christian who is either a family member or a believer from a local church.  Personal witnessing has been the most effective way of reaching the unbelievers.  The disciples knew Jesus through personal evangelism.  Please read John 1: 35 – 51.

The largest gospel rally held in Singapore in the last two and the half decades was the Billy Graham Crusade in 1978.  The crusade’s special commemorative magazine reported an average attendance of 65,000 people for the 5-night meeting.  Some 11,883 received Jesus Christ into their lives for the first time.  For many people, the result was staggering; the organizing committee was elated by the response.  The following year in 1979, Christian Profile Survey conducted by the Graduates Christian Fellowship (GCF) revealed that of the 966 persons who state that they had been Christians for less that 5 years, 103, or 10.7% were converted at the Crusade’s meetings.  This survey shows two things:

1.   Many were converted through the   personal witnessing of the believers.   Very small percentages are fruits of big massive type of gospel rallies.

2.                    The drop out rate of those who made profession of faith in the Billy Graham Crusade was significant.  The survey conducted in April/May of 1979, some five months after the event.  If we take the result of the survey and compare it in relative to the number of converts in the crusade, then the number of converts who are still going to church would be very small; maybe ten to fifteen percent out of the 11,883 conversion. 

GCF Director Dr Bobby Sng commented on the effects of the crusade this way:  “It would be naïve to imagine that all the 11,883 persons who

received Jesus Christ for the first time would continue as church members over the years.  Some will simply fall back into their old ways; others, with a previously Roman Catholic background, will probably be discouraged from joining a Protestant church.”  (In His Time, page 302)

The conclusion I have made does not mean that I disparage big scale gospel meetings.  They have a place in evangelism.  In the past God did use such crusades to convert many people.  However, the observation shows that personal evangelism is more effective and produces long-lasting results in comparison to large scale meetings.  How many of us are converted during gospel rallies?  It took twenty years of preparation in bringing Billy Graham to Singapore.  In his meeting, 11,883 people were converted.  But, if the 50,000 Christians (assuming 15,000 of the 65,000 who attended the crusade were unbelievers) had won one person to Christ every year, there would be well over a million conversions in twenty years’ time.  Is this figure not more staggering than the 11,883?

The life and ministry of Jesus and His disciples proved that one man alone could turn the world upside down.  They were not mere visionaries; they were fully persuaded by their faith in the Word of God.  They worked hard in sharing the gospel to the lost.  Some of them were martyred, others died because of sickness and diseases while working in foreign countries.  We have heard the story of Hudson Taylor.  He went to China as a medical missionary.  Everyday, he walked from house to house, village to village, preaching to every one whom he came in contact with.  Today, there are millions of Christians in China who fondly remember this “hong mao ren” who came knocking at their doors, telling them about Jesus Christ.

The Bible says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10 : 13 – 15)  Are we ready to go?                                 

 ~ Rev. Lim Chee Boon