By Rev Dr Philip Siew & Rev Dr Joseph Komar

The sense of urgency and passion for evangelism has always been at the heart of Methodism since its founding days. So declares John Wesley,

You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go not only to those that need you, but to those that need you most... It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance.

Although by no means we should see people as "bodyless souls" and need to reach out to them in a holistic manner, we need to view the task of evangelism as a non-negotiable priority of the Methodist Church. It must be taken as the mandate that Christ has decreed the Church to obey and accomplish (Mt.28:19, 20; ML 16:15). In fact, we need to have the vision and passion to see that the "whole church takes the whole gospel for the whole person in holistic way to the whole world."

While the concrete and actual evangelistic work will be carried out practically at the local church level, it is pertinent that theological reflections, vision setting and strategy of the task be done collectively at the General Conference level so that the whole Methodist Church in Malaysia will be able to know the what, why and how of evangelism and accomplish the task in a systematic, strategic and synchronized way in our present context.

(I) WHAT is Evangelism?
The Constitution of the Methodist Church in Malaysia defines Evangelism in the following words:

Evangelism is the winning of the lost to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

It is an attitude, a spirit, and a living faith which find expression in the continuous co-operative effort on the part of the Holy Spirit and humankind to bring individuals into vital relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ His son. It results in a definite personal experience of salvation and a progressive building of Christ-like character. It seeks to bring man into complete harmony with the Will of God and into the fellowship of the church. It helps him to grow spiritually through the means of grace and to serve God in daily living. {Para 529.7 (b)}

(II) WHO should do Evangelism?
The Methodist Constitution declares that Evangelism is the task of the whole church. Every minister, department, agency, local church, and member of the Methodist Church is responsible for its accomplishment. {Para 529.7 (b)}

While all Christians should always be ready to share the gospel with others, those who are gifted in evangelism in the church should be released from other responsibilities of the church and be set aside specifically for the task. Therefore, truth about spiritual gifts should be taught, and members are to be helped to discover their gifting. Those found to be gifted in evangelism should be given in-depth training and be allowed to focus on the evangelistic task without distractions.

(III) WHY do Evangelism?
The motivation for evangelism should be the love of God for the world (Jn.3:16) and his will "not wanting any one to perish, but every one to come to repentance" (2 Pet.3:9). God "wants all people to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim.2:4). So the love, passion and compassion to see that the lost be reached with the gospel of Christ and be reconciled to God through him should motivate us to the honorable and glorious task. Since the mandate to "preach the gospel to the whole world" (Mk.l6:15) and "go and make disciples of all nations" (Mt.28:19) is given by our Savior and risen Lord who holds "all authority in heaven and on earth" (Mt.28:18), obedience is the only option. The goal is to see that "the name of God be hallowed; his Kingdom come; his will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Mt.6:9,10).

(IV) HOW to implement Evangelism?
The task of evangelism should not be seen as just a program or one-time event. It should be seen as a process, involving preparation of the sowers and harvesters and the soil, sowing, watering, fertilizing, caring, and finally reaping or harvesting which also continues with nurturing and equipping of the harvest thus reaped. For the purpose of this paper, the process has been described as follows.¹

(1) Prayers
There must be constant fervent prayers by all Methodists and Methodist churches for the Church - all ministers, preachers (ordained or lay), and members - to be filled with vision, passion and compassion for and the strength and power to reach the lost, and also for the liberation and salvation for all the lost.

(2) Passion, Vision & Compassion
The whole church must have the passion and vision to be obedient to the commission of the evangelistic mission decreed by our risen Lord (Mt.28:18-20). This is the prerequisite for the Church to engage in effective and fruitful evangelism. "No vision, (God's) people cast off restraints." "No vision, people (of the world) perish." (Prov.29:18) We must be passionate about having compassion for the lost and the vision to see that they be saved and transformed by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (Mt.9:35-38). The vision and passion of reaching the lost for Christ with His gospel must be so captured by the whole Methodist Church, from the leadership in General Conference, to all Annual Conferences, Districts, and local churches; from Bishop to all Presidents, District Superintendents, elders and deacons, preachers lay or ordained, lay leaders, stewards and members. We must receive from God the compassion for the lost, and that we will give our soul no rest until every lost one in Malaysia and beyond is reached with the saving grace of our Lord Jesus the Christ.

(3) Presence
All Methodists need to live a Christlike living to bear an authentic witness for Christ and his gospel with our words and deeds in our day-to-day living in the various arenas of lives including the marketplace. We are to live out the "scriptural holiness" in our various daily dealings before we could spread it to others. It is when our lives, personally and individually, are transformed daily by the grace, Spirit and Word of God that we are able to bring about transformation in our families, churches, communities, societies, nations and throughout the world. We need to let our light shine before the lost and allow them to see the Gospel through our good deeds (Mat.5:16). If we wish to bring authentic changes to the world with the gospel, we must not be like the world that we seek to transform or let it creep into us. We need to always repent to be transformed to the image of Christ daily in our words and deeds. We need to grow in our Christian maturity constantly to see that our presence in the world reflects holiness, love, kindness, justice, truthfulness, and humility and to be able to bear forth the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22,23).

The Church, as a community of faith, has to lead a life of love and unity to bear an authentic presence as the people of God that will glorify God in the world (Jn. 13:34, 35; 17:20-23).

(4) Preparation
"...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have..." (1 Pet.3:15). All Methodists need to be mobilized and be regularly trained on how to share the gospel with relatives and friends and others clearly and effectively as a constant preparation for the evangelistic task. It is through regular training in effective evangelism that we will be properly equipped and thus be ready to "preach the Word in season or out of season" with confidence and integrity. In this regard, we might want to seek cooperation with Christian organizations that provide such special training. No particular tool or method is sacrosanct or indispensable. To be equipped with as many tools and methods as possible is to be ready to reach as many and different people with different and possible ways appropriately and effectively as possible.

We need to especially seek out those who are endowed with the gift of evangelism and release them from the burden of other tasks but to allow them to focus on doing evangelism as mentioned above.

(5) Proclamation
We need to use "all wisdom" (Col. 1:28) and appropriate and effective ways and methods to proclaim Christ and his gospel. This can be in the form of personal evangelism to evangelistic meetings and mass evangelism. However, members need to engage in a day-to-day witness, and keep in touch with and express care for their relatives and friends so that they will be able to share the good news with them when opportunity arises in every possible and appropriate way. This can be in the form of using personal testimony, evangelistic booklets or gospel tracts, CDs, VCDs, DVDs, and other creative evangelistic tools.

As a redeemed and redeeming community, local churches must also be ready to engage in on-going authentic evangelism as a whole, reaching people in and around the vicinity of the church in every possible and appropriate way.

(6) Persuasion
While our responsibility is to faithfully and authentically proclaim the gospel in our words and deeds, we need to give our hearers opportunity to respond to the gospel. Nevertheless, while people must not be coerced, forced or manipulated to accept Christ, it is our obligation, with humility, gentleness, sensitivity and
integrity, to persuade them to repent and be reconciled to God through Christ Jesus (1 Cor.5:19,20). At the same time, results should not be used to determine the value, success or failure of our evangelistic efforts. Our mission is to engage in authentic Christian witness for Christ, and trust the work of the Holy Spirit and thus leave the consequence to Him.

(7) Preservation
Once people have come to repentance and accept Christ, they should be assimilated into the church and be nurtured to grow in Christ to be his faithful disciples.

(8) Propagation
All Methodists should be trained and equipped to be disciple-makers for Christ for future generations (2 Tim.2:2).

(9) Power
While we have the responsibility to do what we ought to do, we can only accomplish what has been entrusted to us by trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit who alone convicts the world of sins (Jn.l6:8), glorifies Christ (Jn.l6:14), empowers the gospel (1 Thess.l:5), and regenerates people (Jn.3:5; Titus 3:5). Therefore, the attitude of constant humility in reliance of God in fervent prayers is essential for effective evangelism to take place. Although sometimes the Holy Spirit will accompany the proclamation of the gospel with signs and wonders, it is not to be overemphasized to miss the focus of evangelism which is for transformation of lives, from genuine repentance and true faith in Christ, to reconciliation with God. As much as signs and wonders are helpful, they are not ends in themselves. They are the work of the Holy Spirit as he wills and leads, and should not be seen as a must in evangelism.

(V) WHO needs the gospel?
"All people everywhere" need to hear the gospel, repent and be reconciled to God through Christ (Acts 17:30). All Methodists must be encouraged and equipped to reach both acquaintances and non-acquaintances for Christ with the gospel.

(1) Acquaintances: Members are to be challenged, motivated and trained to reach out to the people in their relationship network - family members, relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues, employees, employers, customers, students, teachers and so on.

(2) Non-acquaintances:
(a) those living in their neighborhood;
(b) the community in the vicinity of a local church. The local churches should also have the vision, planning and action to reach the people who are living in the vicinity of the church in a systematic way.

As for the nation as a whole, we need to quantify our evangelistic task so as to know more clearly how much we have done and need to be done. As a nation, Malaysia has a population of 23.3 million people according to the census taken in 2000. There are 2.1 million Christians which is 9.1% of the total population.

Sabah has a population of 2.6 million. There are 725,000 Christians which is 27.7% of the population in Sabah. There are 1,465 Methodist confirmed members in Sabah (SPAC) which occupies 0.05% of the population of Sabah and 0.2% of Christian population in Sabah.

Sarawak has a population of 2 million. There are 882,000 Christians which is 42.5% of the population in Sarawak. There are 51,947 Methodist confirmed members in Sarawak (SCAC 24,615, SIAC 27,359) which occupies 2.6% of the population of Sarawak and 5.9% of Christian population in Sarawak.

Peninsular Malaysia has a population of 18.7 million. There are 493,000 Christians which is 2.6% of the population in Peninsular Malaysia. There are 47,556 Methodist confirmed members in West Malaysia (CAC 23,124, TRAC 13,866, TAC 8,120, SMC 2,446) which occupies 0.25% of the population of Peninsular Malaysia and 9.6% of Christian population in Peninsular Malaysia.

Relevant data for every state in Malaysia including Wilayah Persekutuaan of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan can be found in the appendices. The statistics provided aim to give the reader a concrete picture of how many have been reached and how many are yet to be reached for Christ among various ethnic groups in Malaysia.

Furthermore, evangelism needs not only be done in cities or urban areas. It needs also be carried out in towns, villages and rural areas. Plans and strategy need to be developed for evangelism to be implemented in both urban and non-urban areas.

To translate what has been discussed above into concrete steps and goals, the following will be suggested. Every local church

• Should have regular prayer meetings to pray for vision, passion and compassion for the pastors and church
members to reach the lost for Christ, and also the salvation of the not-yet-believers;
• Should establish a good relationship with the community in which it is located by making significant contributions for the well being of the community;
• Should have on-going short-term and long-term evangelistic plans to do evangelism in a systematic way;
• Should help church members to discover their spiritual gifts;
• Should release those with gift for evangelism to focus on the task;
• Should hold evangelism training for members at least once a year; 
• Should conduct "Andrew Movement" to mobilize church members to do evangelism among their acquaintances;
• Should encourage members to do evangelism at least 52 times a year (once every week) among acquaintances and non-acquaintances;
• Should hold evangelistic meetings on Sundays regularly;
• Should conduct "Evangelism Explosion" in the community where the church is located at least once every two or three years;
• Should identify existing or new residential areas around the church vicinity which have large population yet
without a preaching point or church, and pray, plan, and begin evangelistic work in the areas regularly.²

Evangelism and Planting Churches of the
Methodist Tradition in Malaysia
By Rev Dr Joseph Komar

Evangelism has an objective: to win people to become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. That through Jesus
humankind may be set free from the penalty of sin and redeemed for eternity. Therefore conversion is a chosen imperative where people are encouraged to move from any faith, philosophy or ideology to Christianity. This ethos pervades the Methodist Church and therefore every possible means is employed so that this desired objective becomes a continuing reality. Hence the mode or method to make evangelism effective has evolved over the decades to be very much seeker centered. When people turn to Christianity they are incorporated into a fellowship (a church) to be discipled and trained to become fishers of people. Christian maturity is not possible outside a community of believers. A planted church is the direct result of evangelism is also an agency from which the gospel goes out. A visible community of believers in each community living and articulating the faith is indispensable. Through church planting every man, woman and child have the opportunity to know Christ. The church must be visible in every community. However, most evangelism and church planting is taking place in an urban or semi urban milieu, resulting in some communities especially villages and rural communes being neglected.

Tim Stafford a senior writer with Christianity Today says that “church planting is the default mode for evangelism.”³ He draws this conclusion from the Southern Baptist Convention of North America which has become disillusioned with the traditional modes of evangelism like mass rallies, the four spiritual laws and even Evangelism Explosion. Stafford quotes George Hunter of Asbury Theological Seminary that “Churches after 15 years typically plateau. After 35 years, they typically can’t even replace those (members) they lose.
New congregations reach a lot more pre- Christian people.”⁴ Peter Wagner says, “The single most evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches.”⁵ New congregations definitely foster church growth. The planting of churches has made tremendous strides in evangelism. Hence the theory that the cutting edge of evangelism is planting churches. More churches would equate to more people coming into the Christian faith.

This conclusion while addressing deficit growth in the North American scene was also drawn from researches of growing churches in third world nations especially China and Africa where the planting of churches (worshipping congregations) has espoused evangelism and therefore resulted in more conversions to the Christian faith. The way to church growth is planting churches.

The church is multi dimensional in her focus to reach the world for Christ. She cannot abandon her centripetal (attraction) thrust in favor of a centrifugal push (to go). The church is a sign of the Kingdom of God in every community and therefore people are drawn towards her, and yet at the same time she moves out into every crevice of society to impact with the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Roger Greenway an urban missiologist says that the planting of churches with the intention for church growth must be clearly defined. In a large urban milieu there is much transfer growth which only leads to big rich and famous churches. He says biblical growth is “winning the unsaved, the unchurched and the uncared-for” by legitimate means.⁶

However, conversions though taking place are becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous in pluralistic contexts. In such contexts a triumphalistic perspective of the Church accomplishments in regards church growth has negative consequences. Churches need to be discreet in how they account for growth especially in regards conversions from other faiths to Christianity.

There are different complexities that the Malaysian Methodist Church needs to be cognizant of. Rapid urbanization has affected Malaysia due to push and pull factors. More than 60% of her more than 27 million citizens and residents live in urban centers. There is a tendency to minister in areas that are receptive and have the numbers. Paul moved from one urban center to another, planting churches and therefore we conclude that the church today also needs to give priority to urban centers. A church very much dependent on numbers both as a sign of well being and her continued sustenance is definitely to be biased to starting congregations where the most people are domicile and that is the urban context. Theological, sociological and economic biases of the church give less priority to a rural congregation.

When churches use numbers as a benchmark for a growing church then rural areas are bound to suffer with inadequate facilities and personnel. Churches that once had congregations in rural areas have had their numbers drop drastically and their continual sustenance as a congregation becomes difficult. The Methodist church has established criteria in the forming of local congregations (conferences). There is a need for able leadership, finance, a place of worship and the necessary numbers before a local conference can be constituted. Urban churches are definitely at an advantage in forming congregations. This criteria needed to form a local conference has definitely to be relaxed when it comes to rural congregations.

Urban centers have grandiose and beautiful structures or buildings. Churches in wanting to be complementary are also into expensive and grandiose structures with the latest in audio visual equipment. In contrast many orang asli communes still try to make do with bamboo huts as churches with those nearer urban centers having only slightly better facilities like electricity and water. This disparity has to be addressed with a Christian rhetoric that challenges our biases. Jesus gave importance to the poor. The early church also had clear directives and goals in regards overcoming poverty. However today’s church is not known as a community to champion the cause of the poor. Most of the time rural churches get “hand me downs”.

Rural churches cannot afford a clergy/pastor. Sharing a pastor over two or even three congregations spreads the work of the pastor too thinly. Leadership potential in the laity has to be tapped. Churches in the rural areas also need to be more heterogeneous to compensate for shortfalls of leadership and finances.

A cluster of rural worshipping communities under lay leadership comes under