A greater friendship

An evangelistic experience

By José Bernardo

How would the application of key biblical concepts of evangelization look like in the field? The Bible is not a theoretical book. The Word of God is intended to be put into practice, and it is the most authoritative source to teach us how to communicate the Gospel. Here is what we learned and how we applied it on a daily bases, reaping many fruits for the Glory of the father.

Foto: Romero Britto, Brazilian artist, ‘Big Hug’ (detail)

Trying not to discriminate people before they hear the Word; believing that everything needed for salvation is provided; considering that the essential Gospel is the person of Jesus; trying to offer something that people can see, hear and feel; creating space to proclaim, teach, testify and embody the Gospel; working to communicate in a way that is, at the same time, objective, opportune, gracious, interesting and personal, we find Jesus saying: “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15. Jesus used friendship as an illustration of the redemptive relationship he intends to have with people. Furthermore, this precious idea is enhanced by two counts: the friendship is established by full communication (evangelization) and would not be stopped by the fact that Jesus would soon be leaving this world. That made for a brand new evangelistic program.

We have a program called ‘full worship’, which conveys key components for our relationship with God: worship, confession, thanksgiving, supplication and dedication. We then worked to communicate these elements through the comprehensive idea of friendship and realized that friends freely and frequently praise, confess, thank, ask and offer. These aspects of a very well known relationship between friends became the common ground to communicate how to connect and relate with Jesus. Expressions often used among friends were a reference to those aspects: ‘I love...’, ‘I’m sorry.’, ‘Thank you!’, ‘Please?’ and ‘Need help?’. The approach designed for our traditional Catholic culture is defined by three questions: Who is Jesus for you? Who are you for Jesus? (Answered in John 15:15.) Do you know how to befriend Jesus? An extended hand is used to communicate the whole idea, each finger recalling one of the friendship aspects. Bible stories about Jesus’ relationships were chosen for deeper teaching. The program was named +friends and is presented in many formats, from personal evangelism to children outreach.

Christians who were not previously evangelizing or though they were not capable of it, learned how to easily introduce Jesus as a friend, also having the opportunity to evaluate and deepen their personal relationship with the Lord. Many people who weren’t reached in other ways were pleased to receive the essential Gospel and open to learn more about how to befriend Jesus. The program is offered to churches through a workshop partly dedicated to learn the approach through Scriptures and partly to hands-on experience. As easy as making friends!

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

Seasoned with salt

Efficient and effective evangelization
By José Bernardo

What makes the communication of the Gospel efficient and effective? This is a challenge! We live in terrible times, marked by individualistic fragmentation: everybody trusts solely in their own particular truth; the Church is forced to be tolerant and to say what is politically correct; Humanism infects everything; what matters are the needs, desires and choices of people; religion is reduced to helping them get what they want.  Even worst, we live immersed in an ocean of words, where one more speech hardly stands out. How does the Bible help us?

It could not be more precise or bold: In a continuous flow, Paul told the Colossians to devote themselves to prayer, offered himself as an object of intercession, and presented his utmost request. His desire was to be able to proclaim the mystery of Christ and do it clearly, as was his duty. Paul wanted people to “…know the mystery of God, namely, Christ” Col 2:2. He then turned to the believers and taught how they also could communicate the Gospel efficiently and effectively:  “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Col 4:5,6. The man chosen to spread the Gospel throughout the world, in a colossal cross-cultural effort, provided five key signs of quality in evangelization.

Foto: S. Elayaraja, Indian artist, Tamil woman cooking (detail) 

First, we communicate the ‘mystery of Christ’ clearly, that is with quality. This means that our communication has to be: objective, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders” – believers must relate to outsiders with wisdom (clarity), which speaks of a well-planned and objective approach; opportune, “…make the most of every opportunity” – literally to make the best buy, to find out how to take full advantage of all available time; gracious, “Let your conversation be always full of grace” – grace and joy have the same root, the good mood that fuels generosity and happiness, and it should set the tone of any evangelistic conversation; interesting, “…seasoned with salt” – to season is to carefully prepare a conversation making it attractive; personal, “…so that you may know how to answer everyone” – knowing by observation (perception), therefore treating people in a personal way.

Efficient and effective communication of the Gospel focuses on the person of Christ, and is objective, opportune, gracious, interesting and personal. Paul’s letter to the Colossians is a good example, being strong remedy against the evil heresy that infected the young church. It demonstrates each of the five signs of quality in communicating the Gospel. This letter presents the person of Christ with flying colors. It teaches us how worship can be the best way to evangelize. It also solves our dilemma of how to communicate the Gospel to people of different ethnicities, religions, cultures and social status. In doing that the apostle to the Gentiles nailed it: “…Christ is all, and is in all” Col 3:11.

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

The Great Commission

Same message, four approaches
By José Bernardo

What are the different presentations of the Gospel and why should we use them? The Great Commission is a main subject in the Gospels, and the various reports given by the evangelists reveal different presentations of the Good News. Let us analyze each one in order to envision a full picture of the biblical methodology for communicating the Gospel.

Erick Ayoti kenyan painter, Church at Sunday

Mark, probably the first Gospel to be written, emphasizes the preaching (Mark 16:15), which is the kerygmatic evangelization, consisting in an authoritative proclamation of the kingdom, where the believers are heralds to a conquered world. Mathew highlights making disciples and teaching them everything Jesus taught (Mathew 28:18-20), which is the didactic evangelization and is accomplished by all means of training. Luke conveys the Great Commission in both his books, always talking about the believers being witnesses (Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8), which is the martyrish evangelization, where the accounts on who Jesus is and how he acted are manifest through storytelling. Finally, John brings forth his peculiar report on the exact moment that Jesus said: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you" John 20:21. Here we see the vicarious evangelization achieved by embodying Jesus when interacting with others.

Even if liberal theologians have tried to diminish its value, The Great Commission stands as the clear and powerful definition of mission to the Church of all times. Jesus always talked about evangelization as the mission of the Church as well as every believer, making himself the example and calling disciples to be fishers of men. Towards the end of his ministry on earth, Jesus became ever more emphatic, from the night of the Last Supper and after the resurrection through the ascension. We don’t really know how much he actually said about this, but the fact is that all four evangelists reported on it, albeit focusing on a different aspect, portraying four sides of the same cube, a foursquare mission. In doing so, the evangelists also emphasized four methods. Therefore, we should assume that, as the four different reports of the Great Commission are sides of the same mission, also the four methods compose a unique methodology to communicate the essential Gospel of the Kingdom.

When do we use each of these methods? I believe the answer lies on the desired result. We were sent to communicate the Gospel, hence, at any given situation, the method of choice is the one needed, the one that proves to be more effective. At times, it will be proclaiming, at others it may be teaching, if necessary telling stories or even acting like Jesus. According to Mark, the indicator of success will be everybody in the Church, going everywhere in the world, preaching everything in the Gospel to everyone out there. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’" Isaiah 6:8a.

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

Stairs of wisdom

Transformational knowledge of the Gospel

By José Bernardo

What is and how does the cognitive process connect Gospel knowledge to personal attitude? If we talk about knowledge in the way the world does, possibly we will miss the connection with attitude. However, when we think the way faith is built, as conviction based on discernment, experience and assimilation, there is no way that somebody can know the Gospel and not be transformed in the process. Let’s see what Jesus taught about this cognitive process.

James J. Tissot (French painter and illustrator, 1836-1902)
Jesus preaches in a ship

The disciples wanted to know why Jesus had begun to speak in parables. That should call our attention, since parables are parallels, meaning illustrations given to simplify the understanding of something. However, Jesus refers to the essence of his parables as ‘secrets of the kingdom of heaven’, using the Greek word ‘mustérion’ or mystery, which are truths that can only be accessed when given. Jesus adds that having not been given, even what they did have would be taken from them. Moreover, the disciples did not have to wait for a clear reason for the revelation of mysteries. Jesus said: “For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” Mathew 13:15.

Jesus quoted Isaiah 6:9,10, and presented a scaled process of knowledge, first from the innermost to the outermost (heart, ears and eyes), and then reversed it from outside in (see, hear and understand). The Hebrew words used to describe the process are self-explanatory, they literally mean that the heart ‘is fat’ (rich), the ears are ‘honored’ (weighed down) and the eyes are ‘delighted’ (closed). These words describe somebody so full of food that they cannot see, hear or feel anything. The same idea is found in the parable that contains this explanation. The habituation, superficiality and diversity fields talk together about eyes, ears and hearts that are not able to absorb the essential message of the Gospel. They are not prepared to understand who Jesus is.

What is clear, therefore, is that healing comes after turning, and turning depends on a process that begins with seeing with the eyes, which means to stare at something, discerning it from everything else. The second step is hearing with the ears, listening and experiencing in a deeper way of perception, fully capturing the meaning. The final step needed to trigger the turning is understanding with the heart, literally ‘putting things together’, which is the complete assimilation of what was seen and heard before. If somebody has the good soil of the Field of Perseverance, they will go through these three stages to change in such a way that will result in holistic healing. Here is something that we should understand when communicating the Gospel: we need to offer something that people can discern, perceive, and assimilate. “Whoever has will be given more!”

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

The Good News

The essential Gospel

By José Bernardo

What is the essential message of the Gospel or what is the Good News? What can we say when we first talk to a Muslim who has no concept of forgiveness, or to a Buddhist who has no concept of a Creator God? What do we do for a Nicodemus-type, who is confused on what it means to be born a second time? Although missiologists have made the answer very complex, Jesus said that it was as simple as lift up a snake in the wilderness.

Michael Hoyt: A mosaic beneath the dome of
St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington

After the death of Peter and Paul, in the same day according to tradition, when Mark saw himself under the enormous responsibility for the Church in Rome, he did not offer a detailed history of Israel as a context for the Gospel; he did not present a compendium of systematic theology. A post-modern, multi-cultural, hungry for information, living for entertainment and individualistically fragmented society knew who Jesus is. Mark focused on one person and that was enough. When we try to understand Mark’s choice, we see where it came from: “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’" Mark 1:14,15.

It is interesting that right after we hear a powerful summary of the Gospel as preached by Jesus, Mark tells that the disciples were called to be taught. Then, in the last chapter of his book, he reports Jesus sending his disciples in a way that entreats every Christian thereafter (Mark 16:14,15). The intention is clear; the Gospel has to be preached and its essence is presented in the format of an elevator pitch, defined by three key elements: 'why', 'how' and 'what' in regards to the expected reaction. The ‘why’ here means it is time, there is an opportunity; what human beings have anxiously desired for so long is finally possible. The ‘how’ means that the Kingdom of God is near, in our midst (Luke 17:20,21); the Kingdom being the person of Jesus. The ‘what’ means the conversion and the faithful perseverance.

The Gospel is the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of God is Jesus. This is the opportunity and the possibility for a transformed life. From Mathew we learn that the same message Jesus was preaching was previously preached by John the Baptist, and later commanded to the disciples (Mathew 3:1,2; 4:17; 10:7). Therefore, the essence is the presentation of the Kingdom, the person of Jesus, just as Mark did when had to communicate the Gospel in that megacity. This is enough to invite anybody to live a new life. This has also been our experience. Serving in a society that is quickly becoming post-Christian, we have found the importance of revealing Christ to this generation. Furthermore, Jesus made a statement of that: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." John 3:14,15. This is the essential Gospel. Let us lift up the Son!

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

Sowers and harvesters

Not a functional but historical process
By José Bernardo

There is a strong tendency to see evangelization as a process of sowing, watering and reaping. However, this tendency does not reflect what the Bible teaches. Paul, exhorting the Corinthians about the different roles he and Apollo had (1Cor 3:5-11), goes through agriculture and construction talking about the history of that specific church. He never intended to establish a general process for evangelization. On the contrary, when Jesus contemplates the task of evangelization ahead he says, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Mathew 9:38.

In John 4, the Samaritan woman leaves towards her impressive harvest, evangelizing the city that the disciples had just visited albeit, bearing no fruit. Again, it’s the reaping and not the sowing which is at stake. Jesus explains this as a permanent principle: “Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." John 4:37,38. The sowers are left in the past. The vocation of the disciples is to reap what they have not worked for. The will of the God who sends is for us “to finish his work”. Sowers of the past and harvesters of the present will rejoice together in the future with what is reaped.

Jesus not only defines evangelization as harvest, determining that we no longer contemplate sowing, but he also explains both the failure of the disciples and the success of the woman: “Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:35. The well-trained disciples went to a city and reaped nothing. A woman, a Samaritan, a heretic and a sinner, was reaped by the Lord in an hour or so and immediately brought a full crop. The disciples could have seen the fields ripe for harvest, if they only took their eyes from minor interests to focus on a multitude running toward the Gospel.

The insistent idea of sowing, the concept of a long and slow process of evangelization is quite risky, preventing the harvest, causing the disciples to divert from their calling and transgress the will of the Father. The problem is that the focus is on the person to be reached, as if evangelization were equivalent to any other communication. This causes our vision to be limited by our audience’s cognitive process. On the other hand, when we put the focus on the work of God, we see that Jesus has already been sent, the Spirit has come, the Word of God was given, and nothing more is left for us to do than simply finish his work. It’s about the harvest now!
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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

The four fields

Different reactions to the Gospel
By José Bernardo

Why do people react so differently to the communication of the Gospel? This was a valid question for Jesus and he specifically addressed it on his “parable of the sower”, as registered in Mathew 13:1-9, 18-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15. It is clearly about the hearers not the evangelists, but when Jesus named the parable after the sower, he applied it to any situation of evangelization as he said in John 15:20: “If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” Therefore, we can trust to find this answer here.

In considering hearts of hearers as fields, Jesus conveyed four different possibilities. Field of Habituation – “…along the path; it (the seed) was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.” Luke 8:5. A path where many people walk and birds easily find things is a soil conditioned by use. After hearing the Word they are not able to put it together with what they already have, there is no assimilation, thus it is easy for the devil to come and take it away. Field of Superficiality – “…rocky places, where it did not have much soil.” Mathew 13:5. The shallow soil that offers no moisture (Luke 8:6) and causes plants to grow no roots. They quickly spring up and quickly fall away (into a trap). Only in this soil the Word is received with joy, which makes us question whether this is the right way to receive the Word. Field of Diversity – “…among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” Mathew 13:7. Mark describes the thorns as “worries (to be divided) of this life, the deceitfulness (false impression) of wealth and the desires for other things” Mark 4:19. The soil is good, both plants and thorns grow there. Thorns grow after the Word is heard and then choke the existent plant. Field of Perseverance – “…on good soil, where it produced a crop…” Mathew 13:8. Luke describes the good soil as a “noble and good heart” and the process as “…hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” Luke 8:15.

It is important to observe, that Jesus defines the situation as an initial presentation of the Word, which speaks about evangelization regardless the religious background. There are three important principles governing the communication of the Gospel here. First, the fields are never classified before the communication of the gospel and the Word is uniformly presented in every field. Second, it is the Word that manifests each type of soil, which is in turn revealed in reaction to the Word. The classification explains but does not predict the reaction. Third, there are many other factors besides the soil that influence the communication of the Word and thus the crop: people trampling, birds eating and thorns choking.

It is possible to represent the four fields in a Cartesian Coordinate System. Axis ‘x’ would measure the reaction of internal factors (the soil) and axis ‘y’, the reaction of external factors. Then, in Quadrant I we have the Field of Perseverance, which is positive in internal and external reactive factors. In Quadrant II, the Field of Superficiality, is also positive in external but negative in internal reactive factors. Quadrant III brings the Field of Habituation, which is doubly negative in internal and external reactive factors. Finally, Quadrant IV is completely taken by the Field of Diversity, with positive internal and negative external reactive factors. “Whoever has ears, let them hear” Mateus 13:9.
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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

Beyond scales

The authoritative source for understanding evangelization
By José Bernardo

I remember when, in 2001, I saw the need for outcome in evangelization, the biblical demand for fruit that remains. The Brazilian Church wasn’t ready for that, and was always thinking evangelization as sowing an differentiating it from discipleship. This is surprising, since we don’t read in the Bible such distinction. I recognize that there is a biblical evangelistic process, but there is much misunderstanding and deviation on this issue. Let’s think about it.

I sympathize with the fundamental questions that led Frank Gray to work for so many years on the evangelistic process. Going through the whole Gray Matrix idea again I see his questions as mine. Why do people react so differently to the Gospel message? Is there such a process for evangelization as sowing, watering and ripening?  What is the essential Gospel message or what is the Good News? What is and how does the cognitive process connect Gospel knowledge to personal attitude? What are the different presentations of the Gospel and why should we use them? What makes the communication of the gospel efficient and effective? However, I disengage from his work when it looks primarily through Engel’s behavioral scale or to communication theories for an answer.

Wouldn’t the Bible be the one to answer our questions about how people can and will believe? If we trust the Bible as a rule of faith, then it is the Bible that should speak into how to build that faith. However, in Frank Gray’s work, ‘Biblical basis’ is a side topic. It isolates verses chosen to support the behavioral and communicational thinking used to explain the dynamics of conversion. In doing this, sowing, watering, and reaping (1Cor 3), which is a text about the history of the church in Corinth, was taken as if it were a regular process. Moreover, Jesus’ teaching that some did the hard work of sowing while others are called in to reap the harvest (John 4:36-38), is erroneously taken as simultaneous functions and not events separated by the death of the seed.

We should take the Bible as our foundation, the origin of our thoughts. The biblical inspiration was intentional in teaching on the evangelistic process. The parable of the four fields (Mathew 13:1-9), for instance, responds to why people react differently to the Good News. Jesus’ teaching about harvesting in John 4 puts the process of evangelization in another perspective, since 1Cor 3 does not refer to that. In the first chapter of Mark (14,15) we find Jesus preaching the essential message that he ordered to be preached in the last chapter (Mark 16:14,15). Jesus quotes Isaiah in Mathew 13, divinely explaining the cognitive process of knowledge and action. The Scriptures on the Great Commission depict four different presentations of the Gospel. When inviting us to season our preaching with salt, Paul shows us how to make our message more efficient and effective. Let's search the Bible, it’s all there! 

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.