Research Paper

McKean 1

Courtney McKean

Mrs. Lester

Adv. Comp.

28 September 2011

Strategies of Evangelism

How have Billy Graham, C.S. Lewis, and Chris Tomlin used evangelism to spread the

Gospel around the world? How did evangelism begin with just the spoken word and grow into

multi-media shows? Many people such as authors, singers, actors, and artists have brought

evangelism to a whole new level. The world is filled with different strategies for expressing

evangelism from books all the way to television broadcasts across the world. The list goes on

and on. Evangelism started with just one man in the city of Nazareth making the blind see and

the lame walk. How did evangelism go from Jesus standing up on a hill speaking words of

wisdom to common believers taking overseas mission trips and driving down the road hearing

the story of Jesus Christ through music? How did we get to this point? How have the strategies

of evangelism changed over the course of time in not only the United States but the entire world?

The issue of creating new strategies for evangelism begins with what evangelism is and

where it came from. Furthermore, “evangelism is the promulgation of the Christian religion

among those who are not Christians” (Hamilton). Evangelism is something Christians do to

inform non-Christians about Jesus. One thing God wants Christians to do is to tell people about

Jesus‟ story and encourage them to let Him into their heart, so they can go to Heaven when they

die. Also, “Billy Graham was the most successful and influential evangelist and Evangelical

Christian leader of the twentieth century.” Billy Graham founded Evangelism and began

Evangelistic meetings around his home in Charlotte, North Carolina. The movement quickly

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spread to other cities, and now it‟s all around the world. Lastly, “Billy Graham founded

Christianity Today, which became known as America‟s most widely read serious religious

journal” (Martin). Graham took advantage of what resources he had in his day and used those

resources to spread evangelism to other places. Graham used this magazine to tell people about

evangelism, the purpose of evangelism, and different ways of doing evangelism. However,

modern day evangelists continue to have an impact on people.

Developing new strategies for evangelism continues to have an impact on megachurches

and their people. With that statement being said, “in general, the typical megachurch is a large

or growing congregation that stresses outreach and growth” (Hoover). The megachurch focuses

on promoting outreach or other service projects to people in need of support. One of the goals

that the megachurch has is showing God‟s love to non-believers and giving them some hope.

Secondly, “through Kenneth Hagin‟s books and tapes, he helped expand the audience for these

teachings” (Harrison). Kenneth Hagin‟s uses books and other media to show how media and

religion work together. Times have changed a lot over the years for the better; there are now

new ways of promoting evangelism. Finally, “the religious „market‟ for commercialized

religious films, magazines, and books is now a multi-million-dollar industry worldwide”

(Hoover). Since media started to play a role in religion, a great deal of information has come out

in books and magazines telling people about Jesus. This breakthrough has led to many more

people finding out about the story of Jesus Christ and leading them to accept Him into their

heart. Nevertheless, how will evangelists reach even more people in the 21st century?

Strategies used to increase the number of people who hear the Gospel will continue to

grow in the 21st century. First, “ways of expressing evangelism include preaching, Sunday

schools, catechism classes, music, drama, publishing, radio, and television broadcasts”. One

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way of continuing evangelism is to have resources like these to get the word out. There are

many different ways of doing evangelism, and these are just a few. Also, “most evangelical

organizations focus on evangelism, social services, overseas relief and development, foreign

missions, education, and media communication” (Hamilton). Evangelism has spread from the

time when Jesus healed people in Nazareth to today in the entire world. Since the beginning,

people have been coming up with new ways of performing evangelism overseas and in their own

area. Lastly, “scholars of religion and media are describing this interaction in its reception and

the experiences of individuals and groups as they encounter media culture and work to inhabit

religious lives in relation to it” (Hoover). Media has become a big part in the world of religion

and evangelism. Without media, it would be very difficult to spread evangelism across the world

to countries such as Togo, Ecuador, Haiti, and India like we are able to do now. By using media

and other resources, evangelists are continuing to develop new strategies of sharing evangelism.

The outlook for new strategies for evangelism is very positive. To begin, there is a very

long and bright future ahead for evangelism. Since there are so many ways people around the

world do evangelism, it will continue for a very long time. Upcoming evangelists will continue

to create new ways of expressing evangelism, and those techniques will last until the end of time.

Some might even attempt to improve on strategies and techniques used for evangelism in the

future. There is always room for improvement on techniques in the religion world (Hamilton).

Evangelists will continue to use resources in media to spread evangelism to non-Christians.

Authors such as C. S. Lewis, Francis Chan, and Max Lucado live to write books that encourage

and introduce people to God. Following that, singers like Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, and

Mercyme have pursued a career in music devoted to lifting people up by using God‟s Word.

There are never-ending ways of using media these days to promote various topics (Hoover). As

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long as there are resources available, evangelists will continue to use them to inform non-

Christians about Jesus Christ. Evangelism is not anywhere near the end of its run; it has just

begun and has much to look forward to in the future.

By analyzing the research on this topic, one can conclude that evangelism is a good

career to pursue. Knowing that God‟s work never ends should tell one that evangelism is never

going to end. Evangelism is not going to fade out in a couple of years like some career fields

will. This profession has a very bright future ahead of it, and one would be blessed to become a

part of it. Media will continue for a very long time, and new media will come up. Soon there

will be countless strategies people can use for evangelism; it will get to the point where people

cannot escape evangelism. For someone to pursue a career in evangelism she has many options

on what she could do. One could become a singer, write her own songs about God, and perform

them in front of an audience. One could also become an author and share the story of Jesus

Christ through books or magazines. Another thing someone could do if she is interested in

pursuing a career in evangelism is go around the world. Evangelism will not grow if it stays in

one place. Many churches around the world send teams to different countries for either short or

long term trips. There they will help the natives find hope and at the same time, tell them of

God‟s unconditional love for them. Nothing beats the joy of seeing people who are hurting,

either physically or mentally, smile. As one can see, there are numerous strategies of

evangelism. The Kingdom of God is growing!

Works Cited

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Hamilton, Michael S. Rev. of Evangelicalism and Rivivalism. Gale Virtual Reference Library.

NGale, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2011.

<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&i

nPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=cant48040&tabID=T003&searchId=R1&re

sultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&curre

ntPosition=3&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3401801426&&docId=GALE|CX3401801426

&docType=GALE&role=>

Harrison, Milmon F. Rev. of Word of Faith Movement. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale,

n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2011.






Rev. of Media and Religion, by Stewart M. Hoover. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale, n.d.

Web. 6 Oct. 2011.






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Rev. of Graham, Billy (1918-), Evangelist , by William Martin. Gale Virual Reference Library.

Gale, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2011.






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