The End Time Model of Evangelism
for the Last Days
Regional Elijah Challenge Affiliates
The End Time Model of Evangelism equips every believer according to John 14:12 to heal the sick as Jesus taught His disciples to demonstrate to the world that He is the only way to the Father. It has been accepted by both evangelical and charismatic churches and has brought reconciliation and unity. It is instrumental in equipping the Church to fulfill the Great Commission. The age of the superstar "one-man-show" evangelist is fading and the age of the nameless and faceless believer is at hand. Like the apostle Peter we do not bring you "silver or gold," but what we have we give you: we will equip you to heal the sick in Jesus' name (Luke 10:9) to reach the most gospel-resistant people groups.
"Just another Healing Seminar"Sample End Time Model Seminar Slides
The miracles are glorious, but you will be tested
Mass evangelism usually focuses on a single gifted preacher who performs most of the ministry in a very large and expensive venue like a stadium. He (or she) can be a very powerful and anointed speaker. Many sinners may convert to Christ when the invitation is given.Outside of the industrialized West, mass Crusades are often even larger and involve an added dimension: miraculous healings of the infirm. But as in the West, the one anointed servant of God does all the preaching and the many miracles take place only as he ministers or prays for the sick. After the Crusade is over, the miracles cease and the excitement dies down. It is generally back to business as usual in the participating churches after the anointed servant of God leaves. Generally, only charismatic or pentecostal churches are involved in such Crusades, and evangelical churches choose not to participate. This potentially erodes the unity of the body of Christ.
The primary goal of mass evangelism is the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This goes beyond simply preaching the gospel. The Great Commission also includes discipling the nations and new believers after they receive Christ. Therefore participating local churches should be growing if mass evangelism is performing its intended function. But this is not generally the case.
In the industralized West, only a tiny percentage of people accepting Christ at a Crusade actually ends up joining and being discipled in a local church. The rest are "lost." The statistics are even worse for mass Crusades on the mission field. In Indonesia, for example, thousands of Muslims accepted Christ at a 2003 Crusade held in the Indonesian city of Bandung after they saw great miraculous healings and heard the gospel. But due to the protest of a mainline Christian denomination against this very high-profile event, the meetings were stopped by the local government. Moreover, Muslim pressure against the new believers ensured that virtually none of them could be followed up and discipled.
Today the Lord is restoring to the Church a scriptural model of evangelism which will enable churches and believers to fulfill the Great Commission.
• In this model based on John 14:12, "ordinary" disciples of Christ will preach the gospel and minister miraculous healing in low-budget, low-profile, relatively small (or even one-on-one) meetings. When the listeners see the miracles and hear the gospel, their hearts will be open to accepting Christ.
• The new believers will be followed up by the believing friend, family member, neighbor, or business associate who brought them to the meeting. Such personal follow-up of new believers will be more effective than the impersonal follow up after large mass crusades. There is a far greater likelihood that the new believer will join the church and be discipled for Jesus Christ.
• This kind of evangelism involving miraculous healings and the demonstration of the Spirit's power is through ordinary disciples and therefore not dependent on the presence of a specially gifted and anointed minister. As such, evangelism of this kind can be an ongoing and continuous feature of the life of every local church.
• This model of evangelism is not based on the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit but rather on principles gleaned from the ministry of Jesus Himself. Thus both conservative evangelical as well as charismatic pentecostal believers are able to preach the gospel in this way and even work together in a spirit of unity.
• When every church is equipped with the end time model of evangelism, the Body of Christ will be significantly closer to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
How did the Apostle Paul preach the gospel?1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
Hebrews 2:4 God bearing witness with them by both miraculous signs and wonders, and by various works of power, even by distribution of the Holy Spirit, according to His will.
For the most part, the Church has not emulated the example of Paul in its presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Often we preach the gospel with persuasive words deriving from man's wisdom and philosophy. In the West in particular, needy people are drawn to churches through very positive messages of encouragement that minister to people's "felt needs." However large a church may grow with new souls through this type of preaching, there is a diversion from the main focus of evangelism which should be Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why has this taken place?
Part of the reason is due to the lack of a demonstration of the Spirit's power when the gospel is preached today. The visible demonstration of miraculous healings accompanying Paul's preaching was convincing proof to the listeners that Jesus Christ had indeed suffered on the cross to save them from sin and death. No eloquence of superior wisdom was needed. But since this visible demonstration is for the most part lacking today in our churches, we tend rather to minister to people's "felt needs" as a means of evangelism. This approach may indeed bring many new people into a church. It may in fact be important in the teaching and discipleship of born-again believers. However if we use it as an evangelistic tool to reach the lost we run the risk of them ultimately basing their faith on men's wisdom and not on God's power. Of course this approach would appear preferable to running the risk of proclaiming God's power to heal in a gospel meeting but then no miracles taking place. This is the spirit of fear that restrains the Church from proclaiming the gospel the way Paul did.
But God is restoring the Apostle Paul's model of evangelism to the Church. During September 2004 in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, Brother William and his team witnessed Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and idol-worshippers come to Christ as the gospel was preached in the way that Paul taught. First, Jesus Christ was presented in a very concise way as the Savior who suffered on the cross and the only way to the Father. Then trained local disciples of Christ---at times both evangelical and charismatic---were called to minister healing to the infirm at the meetings to prove that the gospel as presented was indeed true. The sick, both believers and non-believers, were healed in Christ's name and came forward to testify. (No manifestations such as people being "slain in the Spirit" occurred.) Only then the invitation to accept Christ was given. Because the listeners saw the demonstration of the Spirit's power and heard the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, they responded to the call.
This is just the beginning of the Lord's restoration of the scriptural model of evangelism to the Church.
Christ Himself emphasized the necessity of unity for the fulfillment of the Great Commission
"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:20-23)
The Great Commission given to the Church by Jesus Christ consists of proclaiming and convincing the world that God sent Jesus into the world as our Savior and Redeemer. We are commanded to make all nations His disciples. This will be fulfilled when we have "become perfectly one." It is clear that unity in the Church is a requirement for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
This unity and power was demonstrated in Perth, Australia when a traditional evangelical church and a full gospel church came together to host a Crusade in May 2002. In this historic meeting the Lord used believers from both churches to minister healing to the sick to confirm the gospel. As a result of the miraculous healings and the word of God, an unprecedented number of Vietnamese Buddhists and idol-worshippers came to Christ.Walls of disunity fall down in San Jose
Click here for the Report on this Vietnamese Crusade
Reconciliation between evangelicals and charismatics
Evangelicals minister healing without becoming charismatic
For Both Evangelical as well as Charismatic & Pentecostal Believers
In view of Christ's soon appearing, God has begun to restore His miraculous healing power to conservative evangelical believers for the sake of the Great Commission. Many non-Christian people groups simply will not believe in Christ unless they see miraculous signs. For this purpose God is restoring His healing power to His whole Church, evangelical as well as charismatic, in order that together we might complete the Great Commission.
God has begun to use The Elijah Challenge to train evangelical churches and believers how to effectively and consistently minister healing to the sick as a tool for evangelism. In our Healing Encounters, we do not present charismatic teaching, but rather principles found in the healing ministries of the Lord Jesus and the apostles Peter and Paul as found in the gospels and Acts. Believers need not speak in tongues or be baptized in the Holy Spirit according to traditional charismatic theology or have the "gift of healing" in order to minister healing for the sake of the gospel. Rather, the crucial element is a desire to preach the gospel, to win souls, to obey the Great Commission. Instead of choosing sides in this evangelical-charismatic debate, we prefer rather to teach that which promotes unity instead of division. Both sides agree that preaching the gospel is an essential element of the Christian walk. Thus the focus and context of the teaching are the preaching of the gospel and winning souls.
In August 2002, our Egypt Campaign was hosted by the evangelical organization Campus Crusade for Christ of Upper Egypt and the local Presbyterian Church. Local believers from Campus Crusade and the Presbyterian Church as well as other evangelical groups were trained how to minister healing. The results were historic. Approximately 10,000 souls accepted Christ in the largest evangelistic campaign in the history of Egypt. Please see Egypt02 for the report of this Campaign.
In November 2002, we held the very first mass evangelistic crusade in the history of Niger, West Africa. The Campaign was sponsored by the evangelical humanitarian organization World Vision. Most of the churches in this Muslim country are conservative evangelical. Thus most of the believers who were trained in the Healing Encounter were evangelicals. In the ensuing mass crusade meetings, evangelical believers stood beside charismatic believers to minister to the sick, and God performed mighty miracles of healing through both the evangelicals as well as the charismatics. Muslims, seeing these miracles, accepted Christ in unprecedented numbers. See Niger02 for the amazing report of this historic Campaign.
In the fall of 2002, The Elijah Challenge held a Healing Encounter at the Monmouth Chinese Christian Church in Holmdel, New Jersey. Their senior pastor is Dr. Paul Chang, who earned a Ph.D. from Westminister Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, well-known for its very conservative theological stance. Yet the Healing Encounter was very well received by Dr. Chang, the elders of the church, and the congregation. Dr. Chang has begun to recommend The Elijah Challenge to other Chinese evangelical pastors. See MCCC for the report of this Healing Encounter.
In July 2003, The Elijah Challenge sent a minister to a communist country in Asia who taught the Healing Encounter before 250 pastors and leaders from both evangelical and charismatic backgrounds. Instead of dividing the participants over the issue of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the teaching was well received and promoted unity among the pastors. Following the Healing Encounter took place the largest Crusade meeting in the history of this country under communism, where the Lord used these pastors and leaders of different denominational backgrounds to do powerful miraculous healings. Many souls came to Christ that evening. Click here for the report on this historic Campaign.
In May 2004, The Elijah Challenge held a Healing Encounter for the leaders of the Vietnamese Evangelical Churches of Australia, a denomination of traditional evangelical believers. In the ensuing evangelistic Crusade, the Lord used these believers (as well as charismatic believers) to minister healing to the infirm in Christ's name. The testimonies of miraculous healings resulted in an unprecedented number of Buddhists and idol-worshippers accepting Christ as they heard the word of God. Although the Lord is using these believers in this way, their denomination continues to be a traditional evangelical one. Click here for the report from the leadership of the church in Perth.
Dr. Charles J. Wisdom, Pastor Emeritus, First Baptist Church of Katy; and Former Chairman of Trustees, Houston Baptist University, wrote: "I am happy to commend to you the person and ministry of Pastor B. The Lord has gifted B. with keen insight into biblical teachings on POWER ENCOUNTERS and he handles this exciting and potentially controversial subject with great wisdom. I have attended the seminar B. teaches and this led me to invite him to present it in the First Baptist Church of Katy. Any pastor or lay leader will be greatly blessed who sits at the feet of this gifted and humble servant of the Lord."
If your evangelical church or organization would like more information about our Healing Encounters, please contact us. The Lord is restoring His healing power to His evangelical churches for the completion of the Great Commission, especially to non-Christian people groups. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and animists generally must see miracles before they will turn to Christ in significant numbers.
Demonstrates that the Gospel is indeed true
John 14:12 Most assured, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also...
The context of this verse indicates that believers will be doing works---especially miracles---that provide evidence for the deity of Jesus Christ and the proof that he is the only way to the Father.
The preceding verse (John 14:11) reads, "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves." (NIV) John 14:12 then tells us that believers will be doing these same miracles for the very same purpose of providing evidence to the lost that Jesus is the Son of God.
Going back a few more verses, 14:6 reads "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Thus the miracles are also the proof that Jesus is the only way to the Father as His Son.
In the year of 2004 The Elijah Challenge held Seminars and Crusades in Nigeria (Port Harcourt, Abba, Babbe Kingdom), Burkina Faso, California, Australia (Perth, Melbourne, Sydney), Malaysia, Philadelphia, Indonesia, and Nigeria (Enugu, Onitsha, Port Harcourt). In each Seminar, "ordinary" local disciples of Christ were trained to heal the sick as Jesus did for the express purpose of proving to the lost that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Then in the evangelistic Crusade following the Seminar, these believers healed the sick in front of the crowds after the gospel was preached. In every Crusade, Jesus performed miraculous healings through the believers. No strange or controversial manifestations---like people being "slain in the Spirit"---occurred. No unusual practices---like tossing one's jacket or a towel over the sick person---were observed. We are not saying that these practices are not of God. However, we saw the sick being healed just as they were healed in the ministry of Jesus. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of His promise in John 14:12.
When the invitation to accept Christ as Lord and Savior was given, the lost streamed forward to accept Christ as never before. They had heard the gospel and seen the confirming miracles.
The Church has entered the time of the "latter rain" when she is being restored "without spot or wrinkle" in preparation for the Second Coming of the Bridegroom. Walls separating evangelicals and charismatics are being broken down as they are trained side-by-side in the Seminars and as they heal the sick side-by-side in the Crusades to confirm the truth of the gospel. No longer will the Church be dependent on a handful of world-class evangelists to do this type of evangelism. Instead, a huge army of foot soldiers, each equipped with the spiritual equivalent of an M-16, is being raised up to complete the Great Commission. The weapon given to each foot soldier is authority over disease and demons for proclaiming the kingdom of God just as Jesus did.
This is, finally, the beginning of the fulfillment of John 14:12. Now is the time for the End Time Model of Evangelism.
Indonesia: The End Time Model of Evangelism
Comparison: Mass Evangelism vs the End Time Model
Indonesia: Six Cities Witness the End Time Model
Malaysia: The End Time Model of Evangelism
How do miracles prove that Jesus has authority to forgive sin?
Any Church can be Equipped with The End Time Model
Benin, West Africa: The End Time Model of Evangelism
