Types of Evangelism

There are many different types of evangelism including mass evangelism, personal evangelism, evangelistic preaching, literature evangelism, church evangelistic crusades, evangelistic counseling, radio and television programs, entertainment, Sunday school evangelism, and evangelistic bible study. By mass evangelism is meant the preaching of the message in open-air meetings or in very large gatherings. The first mass meetings are described in the New Testament as occurring spontaneously. Since the time of the Reformation open-air meetings have been used to reach large numbers of people. Mass evangelism reaches large numbers of people at a time when there has been extensive prior preparation, as occurred in the New Testament among the Jews and later following periods of dead orthodoxy. The next type of evangelism is personal evangelism. In this type of evangelism individual Christians are directly involved in presenting the message to those who have not heard it. God chooses those who will be evangelist as Ephesians 4: 11 says “ And He himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers” This occurred in the New Testament following persecution in Jerusalem. The disciples, except for the apostles, were scattered and evangelized everywhere throughout the land. In recent times, many have been encouraged to go out individually to "win souls," and a number of churches have concentrated on personal evangelism in connection with visitation, contacting and talking to people in their homes. Personal evangelism has the advantage of being direct and personal, with the potential of meeting the individual needs of the person who hears the message, and it reaches out to those who would never go to a meeting to hear it. The disadvantage is that the preparation of individual Christians is often limited and the message is not made clear in the time available. Thirdly, is evangelistic preaching. Evangelistic preaching applies the Word of