Dr Paul Allen

For years, I’ve written articles and books about evangelism. On the surface, this looks like a desire to help foster evangelism in the Christian community. And it’s true; I do desire that. But on a deeper level, it stems from working out my internal angst concerning evangelism. How do I present the gospel honestly and boldly without needlessly offending? How do I ensure I don’t slip into heresy by adding or subtracting from the gospel? When do I need to remember that the gospel is offensive to those who love their sin and rebellion and that their distaste for the gospel has nothing to do with me at all? Can you identify with this inner struggle? After decades of asking myself questions like these, I'd like to offer seven suggestions for you to keep in mind as you consider how to get started in evangelism. 1 1. Sweep away misconceptions in your head about evangelism. It’s easy to listen to well-meaning believers and get the wrong idea about evangelism. The mistaken ideas are almost ...

One writer in a psychological journal pondered what makes humans distinct from beasts. After discarding several possibilities—tool usage, language, ability to think—the author concluded that humans seem to be the only creatures who care about what makes them distinct. On the surface, the outstanding trait of humanity is culture. Not everyone agrees. Some claim beasts have cultures: chimpanzees “harvest” termites with a “tool”—a stripped tree branch wrought by their own hands; termites cultivate mushrooms for consumption; birds create species-specific nests; whales sing. But such simple, largely instinctive practices (which neither change nor improve over time) hardly compare with humankind’s achievements. Beasts haven’t any arts or technologies, scientific institutes or historical archives, philosophers or physicians. Apparently culture is a distinguishing mark of humankind. But what makes humans creatures of culture? Why has every recorded human society—however primitive—indulged a...

The number of very large churches continues to increase, as our graphic dramatically illustrates. And within that group, the biggest churches continue to get bigger. In the past I’ve written about everything from sanctuary sizes (very few new ones over 5,000) to  the first megachurch (start with Pentecost when “about 3,000” were converted, per Acts 2:41) to global megachurches ( Korea and Nigeria are currently leading). But what about the people who attend really big churches? Fellow researcher Scott Thumma and I surveyed some 25,000 of them, with some fascinating discoveries: Nearly two-thirds of attenders have been at these churches 5 years or less. Many attenders come from other churches, but nearly a quarter haven’t been in any church for a long time before coming to a megachurch. New people almost always come to the megachurch because family, friends or coworkers invited them. Fifty-five percent of megachurch attenders volunteer at the church in some way (a ...

English: 4th day of Evangelism training at Huntington Beach provided by LivingWaters Ministry which encourages and equips Christians to share their faith biblically the way Jesus did by obeying Jesus command to "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone." Mark 16:15 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Acts 8:1–8 “There arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem , and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria , except the apostles” ( v. 1b ). Regrettably, we often overlook what today’s passage tells us about evangelism in the early church. Immediately after the stoning of Stephen ( Acts 7:54–60 ), a “great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem,” which caused all of the Christians there, except the apostles, to be scattered throughout Judea and Samaria ( 8:1b ). In other words, the laity in Jerusalem were forced to flee the city and leave those ordained to church office behind. This is significant beca...

Christ in Gethsemane (Christus in Gethsemane), oil painting by Heinrich Ferdinand Hofmann (Heinrich Hofmann). The original is at the Riverside Church (Riverside Church, New York City). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) John 3:16–17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” ( v. 17 ). Even Christians who attend churches that are faithful to the teaching of Scripture have an unfortunate tendency to see a tension between God the Father and God the Son. Without necessarily being conscious of it, many think of the Father as harsh and vindictive, seeking only to punish mankind. At the same time, His Son Jesus Christ is viewed as the compassionate and merciful one who must persuade His Father to spare some of His people from wrath. However, this is a gross distortion of the biblical teaching. As today’s passage indicates, it is the Father Himself who, out of love for creation, has sent His Son to save transgres...