Evangelism vs Soul Winning

What is evangelism? What is soul winning?

Do you know the difference, or is there one? There are schools of though that actually say that these are one in the same. But I would actually say that this is very far from the truth.

Evangelism is the preaching or activity of spreading the Gospel while soul wining is a subset of the evangelistic experience. At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus selected his disciples and in that process brought them into acceptance that He was indeed the Christ. He one their soul first, then he began to evangelize to them. A process that took some three years and even then it did not fully win over all of them (think Judas).

Soul winning is the sharing of the message of Jesus Christ for the purpose of saving one's soul. "Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins? Do you believe that he hung, bled, died, and rose again on the 3rd day?" These non-trivial questions are the hallmark of the soul-winning experience and lay the ground work that the Holy Ghost to enter into the heart of the sinner so that they may be saved. Is this evangelism?

I think there are correlations that between these two but when compared side by side, where soul winning stops, evangelism is just getting started. In his best selling book, "The Master Plan of Evangelism", Robert Coleman points out some eight crucial processes of evangelism that Jesus employed to not only save the men he called,  but to prepare them to be disciples and later apostles and preachers. Jesus poured into these men a part of himself each and every day of the course of years and when he was gone, they had a really good idea of what to do because they could answer the axiom, "What Would Jesus Do?" They were with him long enough to know the answer to that question.

My concern in this day in age is that we don't confuse the work of an evangelist with that of a soul winner or vice-versa. Evangelism takes time but done correctly can leave the lasting effect that I think we are really looking for in the people that we are ministering to.

We have arrived.....

Greetings and salutations in the name of the Jesus!

Welcome to the electronic home of Pastor James Alberts II (blogging). In the coming days and weeks, I will be uploading and writing about various subjects and topics of our day in age. In many cases these will be about and because of my religious perspective on the world in which we live and operate. HOWEVER, i will promise you that from time to time there shall be times when the posts will be abstract, even detached, from the world of religion as you may have come to know it. I aim to shock, just as much I as aim to educate any an all that read and partake of my ramblings. I hope that we can take this journey together and grow with to a Higher Understanding of all things around us....