ARTICLES

Evangelism - a personal account

Itinerant evangelist, Roger Carswell, shares his journey into full-time gospel ministry with us.

I was converted to Christ aged 15 whilst on holiday in the Lebanon.  There, my uncle, Rev. Hagop Sagharian, built a bridge toward me by playing tennis.  He then walked across that bridge one day as he explained the gospel whilst sitting on a log in the mountains of the Lebanon. He opened his Bible to point out verses in the book of Romans (3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:13) to outline what Jesus had done for me.  It was his explanation of the cross that struck me so powerfully.  I had been brought up in a God-fearing family, by parents who loved the Lord, though the Methodist Church we attended had not really taught me the gospel.  Now I understood that if Jesus loved me enough to die for me the least I could was trust Him.  As I prayed to ask Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour, He forgave me and became altogether precious to me.  It was the hinge that changed the whole direction of my life.

I naively thought that when I returned to Leeds and shared the gospel with my school friends they too would all trust Christ.  Of course, it wasn't quite like that! 

Through a series of acts of providence I was found by an inter-church youth group called Young Life and led in Leeds by Prof. Verna Wright, professor of medicine at Leeds University.  They believed in maintaining a disciplined devotional life, sacrificially servicing the Lord, and faithful evangelism.  Verna mentored me, though we didn't use that word in those days.  Young Life introduced me to open air preaching.  They had three each week, including one late on Saturday night in the pub / club area of Leeds.  It was through these that I began to learn to preach, seeking to capture the interest people so that we could share with people who would stand and listen rather than walk by.  Spontaneity in proclaiming the gospel was a key which has stayed with me so that as much as possible I try to know my sermon sufficiently that I do not need notes when preaching.

When I went to university one of the first things I did was build a ‘soap box' (a small wooden platform) so that I could run open air meetings each Friday and Saturday night in the centre of Southampton.  In fact, on my twenty first birthday, I decided that the greatest treat would be for me to go to Speakers' Corner and preach in the open air.  It was an unforgettable treat.

At the age of 17 I read John Pollock's book ‘Moody without Sankey', and was challenged to seek to speak to someone about the Lord every day.  It became a discipline of my life which has been a tremendous blessing to me, and I trust others too.  It has meant that daily I pray that the Lord would give me someone to whom I could chat and share the gospel, and then gone into each new day looking for people with whom I could change inconsequential chatter into conversation about things that really matter.  I count it one of the greatest joys to share the gospel with those whom I ‘just happen to meet'.

After graduation I had a couple of jobs, including teaching for eleven years.  During this time I had the privilege to be involved in youth evangelism and beach missions, preaching in churches, youth groups and the open air.  My burden for evangelism grew as I saw the lost-ness of people and their ignorance of the gospel.  How many times have I sung and prayed

            Dear Lord, I ask for the eyes that see

            Deep down to the world's sore need

            I ask for a love that holds not back

            But pours out itself indeed.

            I want the passionate power of prayer

            That yearns for the great crowd's soul;

            I want to go ‘mongst the fainting sheep

            And tell them, "My Lord makes whole".

 

            Let me look at the crowd as my Saviour did

            ‘Til my eyes with tears grow dim;

            Let me look ‘til I pity the wandering sheep

            And love them for love of Him.

I believed that the Lord was beginning to lead me out of teaching and into full-time evangelism.  But every door that I pushed seemed to close.  There were very few opportunities for evangelists in those days, despite the teaching of Ephesians 4:11-12. Churches were not appointing evangelists, and inter-church groups that were evangelistic each wanted to restrict me to work with young people, or students, or to Yorkshire, and I believed I should be free-er than that.  Missionaries working overseas were doing evangelistic work, but in the UK there did not seem to be any agency through which I could work.

I came to the conclusion that I was being disobedient to the Lord to continue school teaching when He was leading me to something else.  Eventually, I took the step of handing in my notice and launching out as an independent travelling evangelist.  I laid down in my mind two principles: that I would never ask anyone for any money or appeal for funding, and that I would never ask for invitations to speak.  If the Lord wanted me to do this work, He could provide the openings and the finances.  Nor would I ever charge for my work - see 2 Corinthians 11:7.  I have often thought that with greater resources I could perhaps have accomplished more, but it is good to think that the Lord has set the limit on what I was to do.  I am responsible for the depth of my life; God is responsible for the breadth of my ministry.

That step was taken about thirty years ago, and the lessons I have learnt I have tried to explain in "And some evangelists" and "The thinker".  I wish I had become more of a scholar; I wish I had had theological training; I wish I had prayed more; I wish ...., I wish ...!  But then I have tried to study, to pray, to learn from others and from my mistakes.  Some of what I am I have had no control over, though much is because of the choices I have made.  Hudson Taylor's statement has been an uncomfortable challenge to me: "A man may be devoted and dedicated, but if ill-disciplined, will be useless."  More than anything, I wish there was a deeper godly discipline in my life.

I am very conscious of the need to teach others, so that they in turn may teach future generations, but in the sort of work that I do, I have not found this easy.  I have had seventeen young men join me for a year each.  As we have travelled, I have tried to teach what I know about evangelistic endeavour.  It can be a strain having a guy with you 24/7 for a year, but there are benefits, too. Currently, all but one of these men is involved in evangelistic work, though not all full-time.  Now I am linked up with six other independent evangelists each working according to the same principles.  We gather for a day of prayer, Bible study and fellowship each month, as well as having a few days together at the beginning of each year.  Itinerancy can be lonely work so contact with others doing a similar work is vital.  Travelling is a privilege, but I am sure it appears much more glamorous than it is in reality.  I have written about some of the stresses and strains of this kind of work in the book, ‘Workers for the Harvest Field'.

I was away in the Lake District for a week of prayer, when I believed the Lord laid on my heart to do some writing.  I have always sought to distribute tracts and evangelistic books but never thought of myself as a writer.  However, I look back with gratitude as to how the books and tracts have been used to reach the lost whom I would never have otherwise met.  I try to use Youtube and other facilities too, but I still believe that the greatest way to present ‘Christ and Him crucified' is eyeball to eyeball.  Genuiness and sincerity cannot easily be conveyed via a computer!  Paul wrote his great evangelistic book to the church in Rome, but deep down, he just longed to be with them to teach these things to their face.   

Three sentences in particular have influenced the way that I proclaim the gospel.  The first is from Scripture - 1 Corinthians 2:2.  I do not believe I have preached the gospel unless I have explained the hidden work of Christ.  That God laid on Jesus the sin of the world is central to my message, and I want people to understand that Christ died for them. 

Then John Watson, a 19^th century Scottish preacher who, writing to other preachers said, "Be kind, you do not know what battles people are fighting" greatly influenced my style.  In other words, my job is not to tell people off, but to winsomely introduce them to Jesus, the Friend of Sinners.  They are as I once was; I want them to be as I now am. In 1 Thessalonians 2, Paul likens himself to a caring mother or nurse as well as a tender father.

And thirdly, Dr. Warren Wiersbe says, "People's minds are picture galleries not debating chambers.  Therefore preach so that you turn people's ears into eyes and they see the truth".  I try to use Bible stories to convey the gospel, and always pave the way to the cross as I explain the work of Jesus in His death and resurrection.  Paul speaks of the Galatians (3:1-3) having seen Christ crucified placarded before them.  They had not literally seen Jesus crucified, but when they heard Paul vividly preach the gospel, it was as if they had seen Christ.  What a challenge that is to our preaching!

I have given careful thought as to how best to run effective gospel missions, which are not just event weeks, but purposeful, consecutive evangelistic occasions, which are conducive for unconverted people to attend, and then hear the gospel with the expectation that some will come to Christ.  I have written about this format in the A Passion for Life manual, ‘Ideas for Mission'.

In proclaiming Christ, I look to God to do His work of bringing people to new life in the Lord Jesus.  In Romans 1 Paul said he was not ashamed of the gospel, knowing it was the power of God to salvation.  In other words, the gospel is not an idea to be shared, or a philosophy to be discussed, but a power to be unleashed.  Let people hear the gospel, and who knows what God will do!

My prayer now is that God would send more labourers into the harvest fields.

 

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Each of the books I mention can be obtained, at discount price, from www.10ofthose.com