Robert E. Coleman, the Master Plan of Evangelism

PERSONAL EVANGELISM Complete Submission Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism ____________________ Submitted to Luther Rice University In PARTIAL Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts in Religion, Ministry ____________________ Jeffrey Benson 1081A Blackshear Drive Decatur, GA 30033 ID # LC6515 / Phone: (770) 899-7922 October 11, 2012 Professor: Dr. Derek Coleman Reaction Paper: Robert E.

Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism ____________________ A Paper Submitted to Dr. Derek Coleman Luther Rice University ____________________ In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Course

EV 101: PERSONAL EVANGELISM ____________________ By Jeffrey Benson LC6515 October 11, 2012 OUTLINE I. INTRODUCTION II. REACTION PAPER: ROBERT E. COLEMAN, THE MASTER PLAN OF EVANGELISM A. SUMMARY OF THE BOOK B.

PERSONAL REACTION III. CONCLUSION4 IV. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY5 INTRODUCTION “The Master Plan of Evangelism” by Robert E. Coleman discusses Jesus’ method of evangelism. He gives examples of how Jesus went about training a few men to spread the Gospel to many.

This book will give you a different perspective on how to spread the Gospel more effectively. REACTION PAPER: ROBERT E. COLEMAN, THE MASTER PLAN OF EVANGELISM Summary of Book

The first chapter of this book is titled “Selection”. It discusses Jesus’ method of selecting and training men for evangelism. The method is to train a few to lead the many.

The book states that Jesus chose 12 men to be his disciples, to become the leaders of His future church. They were not educated, but they were teachable and had a desire to serve the Lord. This chapter explains that churches today are too consumed with filling the church up with new members and converts. They are not devoting enough time into developing each individual believer into committed and sincere followers of Christ. Chapter two is titled “Association”.

It discusses how Jesus did not have any formal training or schooling. He taught the disciples by drawing them closer to Him. “He was his own school and curriculum”. His doctrine was himself, He was the word incarnated. Jesus taught them by example.

The disciples were getting on the job training. The book states that churches today need to realize that just preaching to the masses is not enough. Much more is required than just attending different church programs. New converts need a more in depth training program. They need a program where there is a watchful eye looking over them until they are able to go forth and train others.

The name of chapter three is “Consecration”. Jesus showed total commitment and obedience to the will of God, His Father. He required that the disciples show the same obedience to Him. The disciples had to follow Jesus and have absolute faith in His word. They had to surrender their entire life to Jesus. There was no compromise.

The disciples were not forced to give up everything; they did it out of love. They were drawn to Jesus because he loved them and in return they loved Him. Coleman states that today, we the servants of Christ, must also surrender our entire life to Jesus. If not, we will be lost.

We do not have time to play around.

We must deny ourselves and dedicate our life to Christ through the Holy Spirit. Chapter four is titled “Impartation”. This chapter explains that “by following Jesus, the disciples would discover the deeper experience of His spirit, thus in receiving his spirit they would know the love of God for a lost world”. The disciples saw that Jesus loved them and that He would do anything for them. Thus, they were willing to not only obey him, but also follow him because they loved him. Jesus’ life was a life of giving.

He gave to others what His Father gave to Him.

His life was a life of sacrifice and a life of preaching. The disciples were a witness to all that he did. By witnessing Jesus sanctifying Himself to God, the disciples sanctified themselves to the truth which is in Christ Jesus. Jesus made it clear to the disciples that they had to be born again of the Holy Spirit once He ascended to Heaven.

This Holy Spirit would give them power to do the things that He did and more. This Holy Spirit would be their comforter and guide. Through the spirit Jesus would be with them forever. Chapter five is titled “Demonstration”. In this chapter Jesus shows the disciples how to live.

Not just communion with the spirit, but show them that they needed to know how the experience was to be maintained and shared, if it was to be perpetrated in evangelism. Jesus demonstrated to the disciples how to pray and how it would give them strength. This was not forced upon them, they ask the Master what he was doing and he explained it to them. He also explained to them that the Holy Spirit had to be used for personal devotion and winning others. Jesus taught the disciples how to reach souls. His life was the method that he used.

What Jesus taught, He taught in spirit and in technique.

He practiced what he preached. Those of us that are led to train others should be prepared to have them follow us as we follow Christ. Chapter six is called “Delegation”. In this chapter, it shows Jesus always going forth building his kingdom. He lived the life and that’s how the disciples learned from Jesus.

This was Jesus’ plan all along, teach by example. This whole experience was an experience with the living God. All the while Jesus didn’t stop the disciples from spreading the good news of what they found in Jesus Christ. Jesus was patient with the disciples. He did not rush them to go out and evangelize.

We should follow this example when we are dealing with new converts.

When the disciples did start going out, Jesus gave them instructions before they departed. He reiterated to them their purpose in life, “to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick” (Luke 9. 2). This meant that “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 10. 7). They were also commanded to “cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt 10.

8) The book explains that Christians today must go out and evangelize exactly the way Jesus and his disciples did. Chapter eight is titled “Supervision”.

Jesus always followed up with the disciples when they returned from evangelizing. He wanted to hear their report and to share with them things about his ministry. This form of “teaching rotated between instruction and assignment”.

He talked to them about their experiences and brought out practical application of their experiences. This chapter explains that Christians today must be patient when we supervise others in evangelizing. We cannot send them out into the world and not follow-up with them. We must be there for them until they are ready to train someone else to evangelize.

Our major priority is to spread the gospel to the whole world.

We have to stay focused on the goal at hand. We cannot be satisfied just with the first fruit; we must mentor those that we are training until they are mature Christians. Chapter eight, the final chapter is titled “Reproduction”. Jesus expected the disciples “to reproduce His likeness in and through the church being gathered out of the world. Thus His ministry in the Spirit would be duplicated manifold by His ministry in the lives of his disciples”. The church structure was built into the disciples.

This structure would eventually confront and succeed over all the power of death and hell. The church had a small beginning growing to be large in size. Jesus’ belief in the churches success in the future came from His method of training the disciples by example. He knew that He taught them well. The church was destined to victory, because of the faith the Apostles had in Jesus. Their faith was imbedded inside them.

Failure was not an option. This chapter tells us that the only way to continually lead and train people to evangelize is through the power of the Holy Spirit which was Jesus’ master plan.

The book ends with an epilogue titled “The Master and Your Plan. ” Everyone should have a life’s plan and if it does not correspond with Jesus’ master plan we should adjust it. Our priority should be people and we should start with a few. We should all work together using the principles Jesus laid before us.

Personal Reaction This book energized me. It gave me a different perspective of how to spread the Gospel. Most churches I have attended appeared to only be interested in high membership and bringing in new converts.

I am not saying that is wrong, but after reading this book, I think developing the ones that are already in the church would be more beneficial. They would develop a closer relationship with God and better able to teach others. This book was really enlightening.

CONCLUSION I think Robert E. Coleman has done a fantastic job with this book. I see why it has been around for quite a while. It appears he put in a lot of time and thought into the book. Hopefully more people read the book and become enlighten to the methods that Jesus used to train his disciples, by example and a few at a time.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan of Evangelism. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2006. The Holy Bible. King James Version. ——————————————– [ 1 ].

Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2006), 33 [ 2 ]. Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism, 53. [ 3 ].

Unless otherwise stated, the King James Version will be used consistently throughout this paper. [ 4 ]. Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism, 81. [ 5 ].

Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism, 89