• Ask God for a great response,
• Go to where people will listen,
• Observe felt needs of responsive people,
• Minister to the needs of responsive people, and
• Increase their understanding on the gospel.
A. Five progressive steps
The purpose is to help people to respond to the gospel and receive salvation.
1. Ask God for a great response
Christ instructed the seventy-two disciples to begin with praying for a great success.
He said to them, “There are a great many people to harvest, but there are only a few workers. So pray to God, who owns the harvest, that he will send more workers to help gather his harvest. …When the seventy-two came back, they were very happy and said, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we used your name!” Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Listen, I have given you power to walk on snakes and scorpions, power that is greater than the enemy has. So nothing will hurt you” (Luke 10:2, 17-19 NCV).
• Similar to how a farmer begins with wanting to have a great harvest, they should start with praying to God for a great response to the gospel.
• Asking for a great response eventually gave them a great spiritual victory. The seventy-two returned and reported to Christ that even demons controlling the lives of people were cast out in His name.
• Preaching the gospel involves confronting Satan to release all the people he holds down in sins and fears. You start by asking God for all the people in the community to be set free from Satan's control.
2. Go to where people would listen
Jesus sent the seventy-two to people who will likely respond to their preaching.
After this, the Lord chose seventy-two others and sent them out in pairs ahead of him into every town and place where he planned to go. …Go now, but listen! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. …Before you go into a house, say, 'Peace be with this house.' If peaceful people live there, your blessing of peace will stay with them, but if not, then your blessing will come back to you. …But if you go into a town, and the people don't welcome you, then go into the streets and say, … (Luke 10:1, 3, 5-6, 10 NCV).
• Christ sent them to prepare the people at specific places where He intended to minister to.
• The Lord sent them out in pairs so that they could give each other support.
• He asked them to be courageous and to overrule the initial uneasy feelings as they sought out 'wolves', which was a picture language of those days meaning strangers.
• On their peaceful mission of befriending people, they should first give a warm greeting. By the responses people gave, they would identify individuals who are open to them.
• In an earlier occasion of sending out the Twelve apostles, Jesus specifically wanted them to go to 'the lost sheep of the house of Israel' rather than the Gentiles and Samaritans (see Matthew 10:5-6); their fellow countrymen would receive them gladly.
• Together with a fellow Christian, go courageously to places where you can befriend people who will likely respond to you.
3. Observe felt needs of responsive people
The Lord advised the disciples to accept people, just as they were, to gain a hearing.
When you enter a town, don't move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide you. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay. “If a town welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you and heal the sick. As you heal them, say, 'The Kingdom of God is near you now' (Luke 10:7-9 NLT).
• People become open and responsive when you accept them as they are.
• Remain with the people, because observing their needs takes time. The disciples deserve the reception as long as their purpose is coming for ministering to needs.
• Most needs that people feel or know, can be met with good advice and encouragement. When people begin to know that you care for them, they will become more open to you.
4. Minister to the needs of responsive people
Some felt needs are met with advice and encouragement but certain problems require you to minister with the power of God.
“If a town welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you and heal the sick. As you heal them, say, 'The Kingdom of God is near you now.' …When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan falling from heaven as a flash of lightning! And I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you (Luke 10:8-9, 17-19 NLT).
• Jesus advised the disciples to minister healing if the people suffer sicknesses.
• Ministering healing to the sick is confronting Satan. Christ has given us authority over all demons that cause sickness, which the Lord called them as 'snakes and scorpions'.
• Healing will open the way for preaching the gospel. When people are touched by God's power they become very open to the gospel.
5. Increase their understanding on the gospel
Christ urged the disciples to move towards their goal of preaching the gospel.
And heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you' (Luke 10:9 NKJV).
• Their mission was to preach 'the kingdom of God ', which means God ruling in the life of people. Believing in the Savior involves allowing Him to rule in your life to lead and bless you.
• When felt needs are met and healing ministered, move on to improve the understanding of the people on the gospel.
• Converse with them to find out how much they do not know or were misinformed of the gospel.
• When they have understood the gospel correctly, lead them to believe in Christ.
B. Five effective steps to win
Following the five progressive stages that Christ taught the seventy-two, you can win the people in the community in five effective steps.
• To preach the gospel is called to evangelize. To evangelize in Greek (the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language), euangelizo, means 'to bring or announce a good news'.
1. Prayer Evangelism
Ask God for reaching many people successfully and expect an overwhelming harvest.
• As you pray to God for a great spiritual harvest, you engage in confronting Satan to let go all the people he holds down in sin eternally.
• In Prayer Evangelism you are exercising your spiritual authority over demons that control the community. An ongoing effort of laying spiritual pressure on the controlling demons will eventually release the whole community from Satan's influence.
• Begin with a territorial commitment over the community and determine to war against the controlling demons continuously, you will see more people coming into the Church.
2. Target Evangelism
As you are warring against the controlling demons, go to where people will listen to you.
• Target Evangelism centers on the specific places where people are responsive to you.
• People who are responsive are similar to you and your church members in many areas. Go to the community and observe age groups, racial identities, languages, education levels, work, income groups, and popular activities to find out where the people would likely respond to you.
• Start befriending them, get to know them to meet their needs, and cause them to have an awareness of the gospel.
3. Caring Evangelism
As you close in to befriend the responsive individuals, minister to their felt needs.
• Caring Evangelism focuses on the individuals you intend to understand and help.
• Individuals going through transitions or living under pressure are most open to your care and love. A heart well understood becomes more and more open to you.
• Good advice and words of encouragement can meet most needs that people feel or know.
• Over a period of time, the efforts of caring for the responsive people paints an image of a caring church to the community. People will begin to call the church when they need help.
• You can access the anointing to minister restoration, and renewal (see 1 John 2:20; Luke 4:18).
4. Power Evangelism
Some felt needs, like sicknesses and demonic attacks, must be ministered with the power of the Holy Spirit.
• People's heart or spirit can readily know that the healing, miracles, or deliverance are from God. They will become very open to the gospel.
• You can access the anointing of Christ to minister healing, miracle, and deliverance (see 1 John 2:20; Luke 4:18).
• Keep ministering healing, miracles, and deliverance. People in the community will know where to seek such help when in need.
5. Dialogue Evangelism
Caring Evangelism and Power Evangelism open up people to believe in Christ.
• Dialogue is a two-way communication. It is a conversation.
• In Dialogue Evangelism, you guide a person to know Christ with conversation. Conversing helps you to identify his barriers to the gospel, repair his misconception, and improve his understanding.
• When a person has sufficient knowledge of the gospel, you can guide him to receive the Savior.
• The goal of the whole process—Prayer Evangelism, Target Evangelism, Caring Evangelism and Power Evangelism—is to preach the gospel. Seize the right moment to present the gospel and offer the person to receive Christ as his Savior.
• This completes evangelism and leads to the stage of making the new believer a disciple of Christ.