Evangelists evangelize. The obligation to share the truth, however, is not limited to the professionals (1 Peter 3:15). All Christians learn through trial and error but with eternity hanging in the balance for those first hearing the gospel, why not benefit from the experience of others? Another evangelist recently told me that when he began preaching, the first book his evangelist father gave him was Ivan Stewart’s classic, From House to House. What a wise choice! Although Stewart’s book was originally released over sixty years ago, its relevance remains high. The beginning soul winner will be relieved to find the breadth of material and the variety of tools he needs in one resource. The experienced evangelist will be impressed by the opportunity for further personal growth and sharpening his presentation of the gospel. Most importantly, Stewart provides a wealth of scriptural support for his suggestions.

Mobilizing Local Evangelism
We thrill to read about the continued spread of the gospel within Latin America and Africa. More recently, we read about the gospel seed finding good soil in Cairo, Egypt; Dubai, UAE; Dhaka,
Bangladesh; Secunderabad, India; Phnom Pen, Cambodia; Kuwait and South Korea. Doors are opening in other countries as well. While we stoke the fires of enthusiasm for progress abroad, we must be careful not to neglect our potential here. In the US, are we running at 50% of our evangelistic capacity? 25%? 10%? Whatever the number is, we know we can do more and perhaps in every congregation. Whether an individual seeks only self-improvement or a congregational leader desires to better equip other saints (Ephesians 4:11-16), From House to House provides an excellent framework.

Restoring Biblical Balance to Evangelism
The book’s title comes from Acts 20:20 where the Apostle Paul tells the Ephesian elders, “I…taught you publicly and from house to house…” The Apostles did not sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the Lord’s Day to roll around to proclaim the gospel. No! They were busy daily spreading the gospel publicly and privately (Acts 5:42). This work was not limited to the apostles. When a general persecution breaks out in Jerusalem, the apostles continue their work there but the Christians “who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

Stewart boldly insists in his first chapter that the restoration movement is incomplete because there is a lopsided emphasis on public teaching. He maintains that congregations in his day are pulpit heavy and must be more devoted to the private presentation of the gospel. If this indictment can be made against my home congregation, this departure from the pattern will retard the spread and effectiveness of the gospel. None of us want that!

Biblical Examples of Personal Evangelism
Jesus gave private instruction Nicodemus (John 3), the woman at the well (John 4), the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-30), and Zaccheus (Luke 19). Philip taught the eunuch (Acts 8). Peter restored Simon (Acts 8) and taught Cornelius and his inner circle (Acts 10). Paul taught the Philippian jailer, Lydia, Felix, Agrippa, and Festus.

Sometimes the word “preaching” (kerusso) refers to the public proclamation of the gospel (Acts 20:25; 28:31; Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 2:4; 15:14; 2 Timothy 4:17; Titus 1:3), but sometimes preaching (euangelidzo) may refer simply to “instructing (men) concerning … salvation” (Acts 8:4, 12; 11:20; 15:35).

Benefits of Personal Bible Study
As crucial as is the public proclamation of the gospel, Stewart points out advantages of complementing public teaching with private instruction:

• Personal Bible studies enable greater attentiveness of the hearer; in a public setting it is easier for the mind to wander or miss the point.
• Personal Bible studies facilitate teacher questions to more fully engage the hearer and ensure understanding.
• Personal Bible studies foster relationship building and lay the foundation for assimilation into the body.
• Personal Bible studies allow the teacher to tailor the message to the individual’s needs. Public teaching provides a mixture of milk and meat, but private teaching give the hearer a greater concentration of the milk relevant to their level of understanding. Acts 8:30-31, “So Philip … heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’”
• Personal Bible studies expose the hearer’s objections.
• Personal Bible studies expand the fulfillment of the Great Commission beyond the four hours of the weekly assembly, freeing up an additional 164 hours a week for sharing the gospel. The Commission is not, “Wait for them in the assembly,” but “Go into all the world…” Imagine the potential for church growth if instead of 1, 2, or 3 in the congregation spreading the gospel, we had 10, 20, or 30 are doing so.
• Personal Bible studies facilitate the development of babes to maturity. The Great Commission does not end at Matthew 28:19. Our work is just beginning when the babe arises from the waters of baptism. Dismiss the “sink or swim” approach in favor of “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20). Am I hiding behind the poor soils in the parable of the Sower when perhaps I omitted sufficient personal instruction?
• Personal bible studies increase the number in a congregation who can teach and the number who can hear the truth weekly beyond those who assemble with us.
• Personal bible studies permit a personal close. When you make a public request, the group tends to assume you are talking to someone else? In a private Bible study, the hearer knows your message is directed at him.

Motivating for Evangelism
In the next section, Stewart provides Scriptural motivation for personal evangelism. By offering answers to seventeen objections Christians present to excuse themselves from personal evangelism, Stewart stimulate evangelists to fulfill their obligation while also helping them encourage the body to the “effective working by which every part does its share” (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Consider a few samples of common excuses and Stewart’s responses:

Some excuse themselves from personal work by saying, “People do not want to listen to the Bible.”
We think this is new excuse, but this objection was common fifty years ago. Stewart responds: “In many instances this may be true but in many it is not. If some will not listen—take it to others that do want to listen.” Stewart continues, “When I was a boy, I did not know of the church of Christ. A school pal was a member of the church but never mentioned to me. Years later, someone did talk to me about and I listened and obeyed…” We make a mistake when we talk to fifty people who demonstrate disinterest and assume the other 50,000 in our area will not be interested either.

“I’m afraid I’ll hurt somebody.”
Certainly if the way we do it (our method) causes us to hurt someone, then we ought to be afraid, but the individual who presents the gospel properly only to have the individual hurt should realize that Christ did not make all happy. To the rich young ruler He gave the instructions of what to do, but ‘he went away sorrowful.’ We need to learn the lesson in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.” We do not become offended when we ask people to go to a football game with us and they refuse, or when we invite them to dinner and they refuse. People need to be aroused to a certain degree to cause them to be ‘pricked’ in their hearts to cause them to ‘repent and be baptized.’ Isn’t that what we are supposed to do? To find the way to arouse them? Strive to touch the heart on purpose, not accidentally.

Let me add that we must “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5). Nineveh responded to Jonah crying out in the streets, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” However, walking through the city of Dallas crying out, “Jesus is coming and Dallas is condemned,” may not be walking in wisdom. The lost in Dallas, like Nineveh, are still responsible, but this approach would may not be compelling.

“I do not know enough to argue about it.”
In Acts 18:24-28 we learn that two individuals taught another one the way of the Lord more perfectly. Teaching should not be by bickering or wrangling. Presenting Bible arguments effectively is reasoning and discussing in such a way to cause individuals to see for themselves God’s way. [Trying to force the truth on a closed mind will not be effective. –BH]

Underlying the excuse offered here is the Christian’s absence of knowledge. Failure to gain it is violating a command of the Lord. Paul prayed for the church in Philippians 1:9, “I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge.” Many times the underlying principle in such a statement is the fact that the individual has not built a good enough foundation upon which to stand; that is, he is afraid the other individual may prove him wrong.

The Holy Spirit answers both concerns when Peter commands Christians in general, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear…” (1 Peter 3:15). The Christian must always be prepared to give a reasoned explanation, a verbal defense. No one knows everything; no one ever will. When, however, you begin sharing the truth with the knowledge you do have and your ignorance on a Bible topic is exposed, what will happen? You will go home, learn the truth, and forevermore be prepared.

The closing phrase “with meekness and fear” (“gentleness and reverence” – NASB) covers the other issue found in Stewart’s next section.

The Attitude of the Christian towards the lost and erring
Stewart writes, “We should see in every temple (body) a precious soul that will spend eternity somewhere—either in the presence of God or with the devil and his angels….”

A Mormon knocked on a Christian’s door and sought a Bible study. The Christian responded, “No thanks. I already have the truth.” The Mormon asked, “If you have the truth, why am I at your door? Shouldn’t you be at my door?” Stewart adds, “We cannot be like the newspaper reporter who called the mortuary one day and asked the mortician, “Did anybody important die today?”  “The Lord is not willing that any should perish…” (2 Peter 3:9) and neither should we!

Next, Stewart emphasizes the attitude reflected in our actions (Matthew 7:12). Treat others as you would want to be treated. Stewart says, “If we argue and wrangle, we can expect them to argue with us.” Instead, we should sit down to “reason together” (Isaiah 1:18).

Brother Lynwood Smith held a meeting for us when I lived in Mountain Home, Arkansas, over twenty years ago. An older brother took him to supper one night before services. When I asked the older brother how the visit went, he raved about it but when I asked brother Lynwood how the visit went, he said, “Visit?! There was no visit. He talked. I sat and listened.” So it is that the best conversationalist is a good listener. If we listen to them, they are more likely to listen to us.

When we do speak, we must allow our two rows of teeth to fence in and regulate the use of our tongue. Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” Proverbs 15:2, “The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.” Let us not burden the sinner with more than the “offense of the cross.” The gospel will offend; we cannot afford to add the weight of our own needless, personal offensiveness.

Back to 1 Peter 3:15: “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” Notice the difference between “Always be ready to give an answer” and “always give an answer.” Stewart references Colossians 4:5, “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.” He then says, “When I first began preaching, I thought truly it was my duty to purge every error encountered at the time it was met, but ‘redeeming the time’ is a much better way.” Investing time on the covering (1 Corinthians 11) with a man who denies the inspiration of Scripture or has never obeyed the gospel is not ordinarily “walking in wisdom toward those who are outside” nor is it “redeeming the time.”

With Meekness and Fear
We see the soul winner’s proper attitude in the qualifying phrase, “with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). If we obey the rest of this Scripture, but neglect this portion we do not “walk with wisdom towards those who are outside” and we do not “redeem the time.” The Cambridge Greek Testament says, “Meekness, not arrogance or self-assertion, must be their attitude towards these questioners.”

Within an hour of a personal Bible study, the individual will determine if we are humble or arrogant. I do not want to send the wrong message. The Apostle Paul’s humility strengthened his effectiveness. He said on different occasions, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief… To me, who am less than the least of the saints…” (1 Timothy 1:15; Ephesians 3:8). Surely, that impacted the reader.

Philip Schaff explains that by the phrase, “with meekness and fear,” the Apostle Paul urges a caution against an over-readiness, which, instead of conciliating, prejudices and hurts…. This ‘meekness’…. In the ethical teaching of men like Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch, is commended as the virtue by which a man retains his equanimity [composure-BH], as the mean between the extremes of passionateness and insensibility, and as the opposite of rudeness, severity, harshness….So it is set over against a contentious spirit (Titus 3:2), want [lack-BH] of consideration for offenders (Galatians 6:1), and harshness toward opponents (2 Timothy 2:24), etc. The ‘fear’ which is to be coupled with it is best understood neither as the fear of God exclusively, nor as the fear of man specifically, but more generally as the dread of doing or saying anything out of harmony with the solemnity of the interests involved …. While we are to be ready with our answer, it is not to be given in a forward, irreverent, or arrogant spirit. Reference is appropriately made (by Alford, etc.) to the interpretation [of Luther]: ‘Then must ye not answer with proud words, and state your cause with defiance and with violence, as if you would tear up trees, but with such fear and humility as if ye stood before the judgment-seat of God….’ (A popular commentary on the New Testament…Volume 4. 1883. 208)

There is no greater frustration than hearing one resist the truth. The Lord certainly does not appreciate it. However, we do not know how the erring will respond on reflection when they are not on the hot seat. We want to keep the door open. Anger may intimidate, but instead of convicting, it closes minds. I’m reminded of the preacher who had written in his sermon notes, “Weak point; get louder.” If the hearer will not digest the truth in a spoon, it won’t go in with a sledgehammer, either.

Become a human concordance
While Stewart does not let the Christian off the hook because of biblical ignorance, he also insists that personal workers not be “blind teachers of the blind.” Stewart makes an interesting point that, at first, may trouble the reader. He writes, “An open Bible is a must. Quoting of the Scriptures seems not to accomplish the work; therefore, learn where the Scriptures are and let the prospect read the words for himself.”

Quoting Scripture is great in the pulpit, but can be counterproductive in a private Bible study. Why? You may quote it perfectly, but they don’t know that. As far as they know, you are sharing the “gospel according to you.” The emphasis should be on the open Bible and not on how much Scripture I have memorized. What the personal worker most needs to know is where the Bible addresses the question. The effective soul winner will become an ever expanding human concordance. He takes the subject to the relevant Scripture in his own Bible and has him read the answer out loud. When we share the gospel this way and one rejects the truth, the issue is not between teacher and student but between the student and God’s word.

Start with the basics
Next, learn the prospect’s religious background to determine where the discussion should begin. Find common ground before moving to fundamentals where the individual’s understanding diverges from the truth: 1) the existence of God; 2) the inspiration of Scripture; 3) that Jesus is the Son of God; 4) the plan of salvation; 5) the church; 6) true worship, etc. When you discover differences along this path, set out at that point to demonstrate that truth.

Stewart challenges the reader to join him in resolving, “if there is anything we can change about ourselves to prepare us to be more effective workers in the Lord’s vineyard, we should certainly change it. Of course if we are succeeding, fine. Preachers that stay a few years at a place and convert two or three need to revamp their training and experiences.” Obviously, the doctrinal compromise so common today is undesirable and counterproductive, but the personal worker should agree to realistic self-evaluation and constant self-improvement.

The following are additional sections in the book worthy of prayerful consideration:

• Getting the appointment – 7 pages.
• How to conduct the actual study – 23 pages
• The Closing – 20 pages
• Preparing the individual to accept the Bible as the Word of God – 15 pages
• Scriptures for a study on the plan of salvation and questions to ask as you progress – 26 pages
  • Overcoming objections to doctrinal truths
  • Apologetics section: refuting evolution
• Scriptures and questions to use when attempting to restore the erring – 12 pages
• Suggestions on Follow up – 12 pages
• Administrative suggestions

I highly recommend this book for any evangelist or individual who wants to become more effective at personal work; it is a gold mine for a young evangelist. Experienced evangelists, elders, and teachers should ask themselves: “Can we by public instruction alone fulfill our responsibility in the ‘equipping of the saints for the work of ministry,’ and the preparing of saints for “effective working by which every part does its share” (Ephesians 4:11-16). Are we, like the Apostle Paul, teaching from house to house and are we training others to do so?

 

Review by: Brett Hickey

 

Author: Ivan Robert Steward
Publisher: Firm Foundation Publishing House
Originally Published: 1956