The setting was my dorm room one spring evening. A group of my friends had gathered to relax, talk and listen to records. During the last month my life had changed radically as my conversion to Christ began to take hold. A couple of my friends had noted that I no longer ran around with them on their weekend drinking nights, and they demanded an explanation.

I soon had my first opportunity to witness of my new faith in Christ. Every eye in the room was fixed on me as I tried to explain how Christ had forgiven me and was changing me.

 Then the questions, and sparks, began to fly. For the next two hours I learned everything I did not know about sharing my faith. "Oh, you're a Jesus freak?" “Are you too good for us now?" "What about those who have never heard about Jesus?" "Will God send me to hell if I don't believe like you?"

 As the questions kept coming, I realized that I did not have many answers. My friends seemed to be having a good time, but I was just barely hanging on. It was the lions versus the Christian, and I was eaten alive by their questions. Each time I tried to explain the gospel, I found myself off the track, stumbling for my next thought and failing to center the discussion on Jesus.

 After the room cleared out, I evaluated the time. Sure, I had succeeded in letting everyone know that I was now different and that this difference stemmed from what Jesus had done in my life. But not one of them left with the faintest idea of what the gospel was or how he could become a Christian. I felt I had missed a golden opportunity and soon realized that I could not adopt a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants philosophy if I was to communicate the good news effectively. I needed some training!

 The next week I met with the local Campus Crusade for Christ director, and he agreed to train me in the basics of evangelism. Since that day my training has been an ongoing process. I am thankful that God took me through that painful experience because I came to realize the great importance of training in evangelism. Knowing the how to's has opened up countless opportunities for me to communicate the gospel that otherwise, I am sure, would have gone unnoticed or have been beyond my capabilities.

 The Problem Raised

 I became excited about being trained in the how to's of evangelism, but I soon realized that not all of the Christians on campus shared my enthusiasm. In fact, as I began to share the gospel with my non-Christian friends, neighbors and anyone else who would listen, I was criticized for my efforts – not by them, but by the believers on my dorm floor. Their criticism revolved around two philosophical issues.

 The Stifled Personality

 Training, as we shall see, is inseparably related to the use of techniques and tools. As such, training in evangelism asks a Christian to submit himself to the use and mastery of at least one tool for sharing the gospel (in my case, the tool was the Four Spiritual Laws). This approach usually limits the range of styles a person can choose to put the training into practice, at least initially. However, it may grow into a variety of styles later.

 Some have a hard time with this approach. They see this insistence on the use of a particular evangelistic tool or technique as stifling to personality, creativity and the desire to be "natural." They want to meet the particular needs of an evangelistic situation as "God should lead," free to interject their own personalities and preferences without the straitjacket of a "canned approach." A rigorous training approach using tools and techniques is not only considered "not my cup of tea" but is also seen as detrimental to Christians who seek to share the good news.

 The "Canned" Gospel

 A common argument goes something like this: "How can one tool or tract be used in a variety of situations with a variety of people who have a variety of different felt needs? Won't the use of one tool be so narrow as to make your presentation of the gospel meaningless to your listeners? Won't this stifle the Holy Spirit as He seeks to apply the gospel creatively and individually to the heart of the nonbeliever? After all, Jesus dealt with no two seekers alike, why should I? The disciples did just fine without being taught the how to's, so why should I submit to such training?" Many Christians shy away from training in how to use a tool to share their faith because of these concerns.

 In addition to these philosophical barriers to training, techniques and tools, there are other concerns. I call them practical barriers.

 The Fear of the Actual

 By its very nature, training demands practice and experience. True training is more than just the storage tank theory: "Listen up, you might need this some day." Rather, it necessitates the actual doing of the task for which you are being trained.

 When I asked to be trained in how to share my faith, I knew that I would actually have to go out and do it. I would be asked to put some shoe leather to my good intentions. Many realize this close association between training and going and, frankly, it is a scary proposition. For some it is too scary, so they refrain from being trained. It is a challenge to their comfort zone, that built-in protective barrier that shuns any risky activity. We resist anything that makes us go out on a limb and trust God to make us adequate to handle a situation (like witnessing). Training necessarily leads to action, and that thought may make us uncomfortable.

 The Pride Barrier

 A few years ago I was watching some 8- and 9-year-olds play foosball, the tabletop game approximating field hockey. I am one of the worst foosball players in the world. I took on one of those kids and got clobbered. My pride was hurt, and it did not help matters when one of the kids watching the game said to me, "Want some tips?" My first thought was, Listen, kid, who do you think you are? What can you teach me? Of course, the answer was, a lot. I swallowed my pride and took a lesson.

 Training benefits only those with a teachable attitude, a willing submission to the training concept. To be trained, I must admit a few things:

 (1) I could do better than I'm now doing. I've got room to improve.

 (2) There are other people who, by reason of their experience and study, know more than I do and could help me to be more effective.

 (3) I've got to start sometime, so I'll break out of this inertia and my personal comfort zone and get some practical experience .

 (4) I've got to start somewhere, and this means beginning with the basics.

 The concerns of inertia and pride are easily addressed, but what of the philosophical barriers? Are they valid? Might training, methodology and tools be a detriment to our service for Jesus Christ? Would Jesus approve of such an approach? As I have thought through these questions and spoken to many who oppose this sort of systematic training, I have, I hope, found some helpful answers. They fall into two categories, biblical and practical considerations.

 Biblical Considerations

 We get an idea of the biblical concept of training from Hebrews 5:11-14. The author of Hebrews wrote to encourage and exhort a group of sluggish Christians who had grown weary and lost heart in their commitment to Jesus. He held up a picture of where they ought to be to convict them of their complacency and indifference toward spiritual growth. In essence, He contrasted maturity with immaturity. Hebrews 5:14 says that mature men are those "who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. " It is no coincidence that the words practice and training appear in the same sentence defining mature men.

 Practice (hexis) denotes a habit or experience. The New International Version translates it "constant use." The King James Version reads "by reason of use." Practice literally translates "having been exercised." It is set in sharp contrast to the description of the immature man, who is "not accustomed" to the Word (Hebrews 5:13). Maturity demands experience – performance on the playing field of real-life.

 Closely related is the world trained. The Greek word is gymnazo, from which we get our English word gymnasium. In the ancient Greek world, this word meant "to exercise" and generally was used to describe training the body or mind or disciplining oneself toward a greater end. The word is used in 1 Timothy 4:7 to describe disciplining oneself toward the end of godliness.

 Hebrews 5:14 speaks strongly of maturity being a matter of great effort. There is no instant road, no magic formula, no easy way out. The words exercise, practice and training suggest strenuous, consistent pursuit of a goal, involving hard work, practical application and commitment of time and energy.

 Thus, when we speak of training in evangelism, we are talking about a single-minded pursuit of becoming the most effective evangelist possible, no matter what it takes. We are talking about a process of maturing. This process cannot be confined to classroom lectures, but will necessarily branch out into practical situations. It will demand much time logged in these experiences. A half-hearted, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may attitude does not do justice to the Word. Nothing less than a rigorous, practical approach can do justice to the biblical goal of evangelistic training, which is to equip workers, who are few, for the harvest, which is plentiful.

 Jesus and Training

 Jesus placed a premium on training His disciples to equip them to form the nucleus for His church and take the gospel to the world. To this end, the disciples were trained continually in the essentials of godly character, prayer, forgiveness, discipleship and evangelism – all, I might add, in the context of real-life experience.

 So far so good. But would Jesus, who, out of His great sensitivity, dealt with no two people alike, have approved of His disciples using an aggressive strategy – rather than a relationship – to initiate contact with nonbelievers? Would He have given His blessing to using a tool or "canned" approach to sharing the gospel rather than letting it flow "naturally" from their lives?

 Before we answer no, let us turn to Matthew 10:5-23, Luke 9:1-6, and Luke 10:1-16, where Jesus gives instructions to the twelve and the seventy before He sends them out as apprentice evangelists. These passages clearly indicate that Jesus provided His disciples with specific guidelines for their evangelistic mission. He told them exactly what to say: "The kingdom of God has come near to you" (Luke 10:9), "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 10:7). He told them to whom they should and should not speak: not to Samaritans or Gentiles, but to Jews only (Matthew 10:5,6). He told them how to divide up: two by two (Luke 10:1); what to take or, more specifically, what not to take (Matthew 10:10, Luke 9:3); whom to stay with to establish abase for ministry (Luke 10:5-7, Matthew 10:10,11); how to be supported (Matthew 10:10, Luke 10:7); what to do in case of rejection (Luke 10:10; 9:5, Matthew 10:14); and what to expect in terms of opposition (Matthew 10:16-23).

 It is quite likely that these instructions were used by the early church as normative guidelines for evangelistic work.1 What are we to make of Jesus' apparent inflexibility and specificity in these instructions? As Tom Hanks perceptively observes, "Does this mean that we are confronted with a contradiction in the Bible that the Jesus who dealt with no two seekers alike also sent out the seventy with a canned program?" Hanks answers, "No, not if we distinguish between our Lord's example as an evangelist, and His example as a trainer of evangelists."2

 Hanks goes on to say, "Programs we have labeled 'canned evangelism' have grasped (at least intuitively) that if you are going to train great numbers of evangelists, you've got to put the cookies on the lower shelf, at least to start with." He adds, "Contemporary movements involving canned programs have often been characterized by this biblical sense of urgency – not only to evangelize, but to train evangelists – keenly aware that the 'harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few' (Luke 10:2). Is it any wonder that the Holy Spirit has been pleased to bless them?"3

 It is obvious that Jesus appreciated the power of basic training to mobilize His disciples by helping to overcome the inertia of their uncertainty, fear and lack of experience. Nothing less than these specific instructions would get them out into the harvest field.

 Practical Considerations

 Training, strategy, tools and methodology are inseparably linked to the concept of biblical effectiveness. I am aware that many see the concerns of effectiveness as an Americanized, 20th-century, Madison-Avenue intervention onto the pages of Scripture. Effectiveness has been likened to raw pragmatism, to a preoccupation with quantity at the expense of quality, to an emphasis on results at the expense of ethics, and to glorification of methods over and above the man, message and manner of evangelism.

 I believe that the word effectiveness needs to be rescued from these accusations. After analyzing the New Testament church's practice of evangelism, I am convinced that effectiveness, properly defined, was at the heart of their evangelistic ministry. The church's appreciation of the theological realities touching on the work of evangelism (the urgency of the task, the necessity that the gospel be communicated to as many as possible as clearly as possible, the readiness of the harvest field), compelled them to adopt whatever strategies and methodologies, within the framework of biblical ethics, that they thought would accomplish their task of bringing Christ to the world. Thus, effectiveness is not mere pragmatism, because it is grounded in theological concerns and conformed to biblical standards.

 Neither is effectiveness a shallow preoccupation with numbers. Rather, it is grounded in the conviction that three thousand or five thousand souls added to the church bears mentioning (Acts 2:41; 4:4), because they are numbers of individuals for whom Jesus died. A desire for effectiveness drives the evangelist to maximize the impact of the gospel. Just as Paul's use of strategy on his missionary journeys reflected a desire that a maximum number could come to know Jesus Christ, and just as Jesus' emphasis on basic training served to mobilize His men for a solo mission, so the evangelist will utilize training, tools, methodology and strategy to reach as many individuals as possible for Christ.

 Training and Effectiveness

 To train means to "render skillful, proficient or qualified by systematic instruction." The two components of this definition are (1) the goal – a person is made skillful, proficient or qualified to perform a particular task; and (2) the means – this skill or proficiency is imparted by systematic instruction.

 My high school football coach was a fanatic about training, as are most coaches. To him, systematic instruction was the name of the game. We would practice the same things hour after hour until we got it right. I can remember having to tackle a runner ten times in a row until I did it correctly. It is reasonable to conclude that anything worth doing is worth being trained in. If it is important, it is worth doing correctly, with the greatest efficiency. Proficiency and skill are not accidents. They require hard work and careful instruction in mastering the basics.

 Methodology, Technique and Creativity

 A technique is "the manual or bodily skills necessary to accomplish some end or result; the manner or methods by which certain details are handled or problems solved; any method for accomplishing something." A method is a "way, means or manner of proceeding." Thus it is a regular, systematic or orderly way of doing anything. Where you have true training you have, by necessity, a methodology or technique. This is just another way of saying that the instruction is orderly and purposeful and moves logically toward the end of making one skilled. Training cannot be a hit-or-miss proposition. There is a way of proceeding, an orderly way of training and applying that training that will lead to maximum effectiveness for a maximum number of people. It will provide a solid foundation for further growth, personal creativity and enjoyment of the skill.

 A medical student learns skills based on this principle. He must take the required courses and learn specified techniques and procedures. We would not consider him sufficiently trained if he had been to a medical school that said, "Learn what you think you need, it's up to you. Just be yourself, be creative. We don't want to stifle you by making you do things our way." Even though a particular operation could be performed a couple of different ways, the student is never told to go ahead and do it any way he wants. He must learn the basic skills before progressing to the level of proficiency where he could have the privilege of making a choice. Creativity and personal preference cannot be introduced to a skill-related task until quality and effectiveness are ensured. Thus, true training requires a methodology to help accomplish its aim of making a person skilled.

 Tools

 Tools are any instrument or means necessary to the efficient implementation of one's trade or task. They are generally "anything designed to effect a purpose." Tools are the extension of our training. They enable us to implement what we have learned. They help us put our systematic training into action. Without an effective tool, the evangelist is like a surgeon without a scalpel or a hitter without a bat. The lack of a tool can render our training useless.

 The Necessity of Methodology and Tools

 Do we really need methods to be effective in the work of evangelism? If a method is described as a "systematic or orderly way of doing anything" then I would say yes. The alternative to having methods is trifling with the concerns of effectiveness, and in the area of evangelism that is a serious matter.

 A method that is truly grounded in a desire for effectiveness represents much trial-and-error experience of those who have gone before us. Popular methods are popular because they have brought consistent results in the past. They can, therefore, be embraced as the fruit of others' successes and failures, intelligent thought and hard work. Thus, an evangelist would be foolish to ignore the storehouse of wisdom reflected in evangelistic tools like the Four Spiritual Laws and strategies like James Kennedy's Evangelism Explosion. Since good methods are affirmed by past experience, the evangelist using these methods will be traveling wise, well-paved paths of successful, effective ministry.

 Some Cautions

 Correctly understood, training, tools, methodology and strategies offer a powerful contribution to our effectiveness as evangelists. But this effectiveness can be limited severely or short-circuited if we fail to grasp two factors. We must view training and all that it offers in light of the elements of flexibility and progress.

 Flexibility

 The first-century church sought to spread the gospel by any ethical method that worked. In the name of effectiveness, they were ready to flex, to change strategies in order to take advantage of all open doors for the gospel. Thus, when large group meetings became dangerous and counterproductive to the spread of the gospel, and they needed something better suited for the tense social environment, they adopted a home evangelistic strategy (Acts 5:42). When they were forced to leave Jerusalem and their "household strategy" and were scattered into the rest of Judea and Samaria, they went about proclaiming Christ to strangers in an unfamiliar social context (Acts 8:4ff). They were ready through public proclamation or personal persuasion to reach out to friends, family or total strangers. They understood that "flexibility, variety and openness become important if evangelism is to be comprehensive and effective."4

 Therefore, effective methods must never be allowed to degenerate into an end in themselves. To "absolutize" any sone method, strategy, technique or tool as the only way to go about doing the work of evangelism would violate the spirit of flexibility required to implement our training effectively in a variety of ministry contexts. By all means, use all means!

 Progress

 Just as methodology can degenerate into an end in itself, so can training. Evangelistic training is the means to an end – effectiveness in communicating the gospel – and this is a subject that takes a lifetime to learn and can never be mastered.

 We dare not fall into the "sophomore" (Greek: wise-fool) trap of getting a little training and failing to realize it is no more than just that – a little training. Even the most trained among us must acknowledge that we are lifelong learners who are only beginning to come to grips with what it means to be an effective witness for Christ.

 Therefore, do not allow your training to box you in to doing evangelism only one way. Do not assume that just because you have mastered an evangelistic tool, you need no more input on the how to's of clearly communicating the gospel. Remember, training in the basics is a foundation from which we can go on to greater effectiveness. Do not short-circuit training by fossilizing. You will only serve to discredit the very training, tools and methodology that were intended to propel you into a lifelong maturing in evangelism.

 Training – The Bridge to Action

 My personal experience has taught me that I am less likely to do something if I am not sure how to do it, especially if I see it as a high-risk area. I guess I am not the kind of person who enjoys taking risks. I even get a queasy feeling going to a new restaurant simply because I have no idea what to expect. A few years ago I had a chance to go on a camping/mountain climbing expedition. It sounded great, but I did not go. As I evaluated why, I came up with two reasons: I didn't have any camping equipment, and I didn't know how to climb mountains. I felt the experience would endanger my personal comfort zone. I felt bad about not going, but not bad enough to break out of that comfort zone. Inexperience and fear of failure dominated my decision.

 I think this is how many people feel about evangelism. The problem is not that they do not want to do it, but they are held back by the nagging thoughts of I've never done it before. I don't know how: What if this happens or that question is asked?

 They may balk also because they do not have the proper equipment (tools) to do the job. "Sure, I could show a person some verses in the Bible, but that's a far cry from making the issue of trusting Christ clear and staying on the subject of Christ's offer of love and forgiveness." Here is where training, techniques and tools step in to get us "over the hump." An easy-to-use tool can give us confidence to venture out of our comfort zones and try a new, perhaps even frightening experience. Then, as we undertake challenging tasks, gain experience, and see ourselves succeed, we actually can feel our confidence rising.

 Our local newspaper ran an article entitled, "When the Pressure's Really On, They're at Their Best." The article featured interviews with professionals who had to deal with "major league, weak-in-the-knees, life-or-death pressure." As I read it, I thought how relevant their comments were to the high-risk situation of witnessing. Those interviewed were a major league relief pitcher, a fireman and an emergency room doctor. They all agreed that the predominant emotion facing them in the demands of their job was the fear of failure, but the common antidote was the factor of preparation.

 The emergency room doctor stated, “A lot of the ability to deal with whatever situation will arise comes from training...making sure that you have the tools, the skills, the techniques and the knowledge so that when you are confronted with a sudden situation, you immediately know what to do and how to do it."

 The firefighter added that from preparation comes confidence. "We have confidence because of our training programs and because we keep our physical skills up and maintain our equipment so that we know that whatever situation arises we will go into it prepared and capable."5

 I think these comments are relevant to the witnessing experience. A necessary factor in getting us over the barriers of fear and lack of confidence is training in the use of an evangelistic tool. It may sound too simple, but a little training in how to make contact with nonbelievers and how to use a simple tool to share your faith can make the difference between stepping out and actually getting your feet wet and staying on the sidelines talking about it.

 It is no accident that where strategy, training and tools are emphasized, people are out doing evangelism. They have found the how to's sufficient to get them over the hump of inertia.