06 - Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI PERSONAL WORK FOR SOULS A personal workers’ class was formed in the Freetown Church made up of the Sunday school teachers, some of the church officers, and selected young people and other members of the church. These had agreed to take a course of instruction under the pastor in personal work for four nights and then try out in practise for one week the things they had learned. This is the outline of the course as prepared by the pastor and given to the class.
What is Personal Work?
Personal Work Defined. Many people have a mistaken idea of personal work. They think it means working with a person at the close of an evangelistic appeal to lead that person to a definite decision for Christ, or quoting Scripture to strangers to prove some theological point. These methods are used with success by many evangelists and Christian workers. But personal work is something far greater and better.
Personal work means the winning of an individual to Christ and his way of living through the personal effort of another. Personal work is at the basis of any successful campaign for the evangelism of youth. It is the personal example, teaching, and encouragement of parents and teachers that lead many to accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord. It is always necessary to see parents after or better still before a decision or declaration day. The home’s help is essential.
Any one who has conducted special meetings knows that it is quite easy to secure the open and free decision of children, but the older boys and girls and young people do not come forward so readily. This is partly due to their age. In the case of such young people the decision can often be secured through a personal interview. A public confession will readily follow. With young people in late high school and college, the interview method is the best. With young people who are at work, and with parents, an appointment in their home or in some quiet place is by far the best method to employ.
Others in the church besides the pastor should be personal workers. He will of course be the leader in this work and will have many personal interviews, but in every church there should be an increasing number who are trained to do this work and who will do it. Teachers and parents should be personal workers. Young people and even boys and girls can be taught how to win others to Christ.
Jesus was a personal worker. Several of his apostles were won through this method. Study carefully John 1:35-51; Matthew 4:18-22;Matthew 9:9; Luke 5:27-32.
Examples of Jesus as a personal worker. Study carefully (1) Jesus using his lunch hour, John 4:4-26; (2) an evening interview, John 3:1-21; (3) an interview in a home, Luke 19:1-10.
Creating a Background for Successful Personal Work
Any one who has tried to do personal work will remember how much easier it is to approach people and to win them in some places than in others. Where there is a strong vigorous church in a community, or when there is a general evangelistic campaign in progress, or during certain seasons such as Christmas or Easter, personal work is easiest. The reason for this is the general background of religious thought and conviction created by the strong church, the evangelistic campaign, or the world-wide observance of certain religious seasons such as Christmas or Easter. Before one engages in personal work it is often best to create a strong religious atmosphere in the church and throughout the community. Get people to think. Make the religion of Jesus attractive and something to be greatly desired.
Self-preparation for Personal Work. He who would win others must first prepare himself. There are certain general rules of approach that every personal worker should know and observe. His own religious life must be strong and positive. To this end he must give himself to prayer and to Bible study. The Bible is the sure guide in matters of religious life and conduct. If he knows his Bible so that he can supplement his own appeal with a positive statement from Scripture, he has greatly strengthened his argument. Then too the personal worker must be rested physically, so as to present the attractive Christ attractively and lovingly to others.
Church Preparation for Personal Work. Some churches need a great deal of instruction. They have depended so long upon high pressure evangelistic methods that the simple ways of Jesus in personal work do not appeal to them. Then, too, members of the church need to realize that every member of the church is supposed to be a soul-winner. Too often this work is all turned {53} over to the pastor. It will greatly aid in this work if every department of the church is active and the church has a real program for boys and girls and young people.
Good-will of the Community. Some churches stand well in a community. Other churches have lost the favor and good-will of the people. If a church wants the good-will of the community, it can get and hold it more quickly if it has a real program of service and if it ministers to youth. Through good publicity, through service rendered, and through distribution of literature a whole community can become interested in a given church or group of churches.
Preparation for a Personal Interview. A good personal worker does not pick up a stranger and begin to talk religion. This can sometimes be done effectively, but the best result comes when the personal worker studies the person whom he would win and becomes well acquainted with him. Through a letter, through invitations to special services in the church, and through literature selected to meet the needs of that person, the way can be prepared for a personal interview. Friendship can be cultivated. It is easier to win another to Christ if that person first knows you and really respects and cares for you.
Personal Work as Christian Salesmanship A good personal worker must be a good salesman. The same principles which enable a man to sell goods to another are applicable to personal work; with this advantage, that the Christian religion is the greatest commodity that one person can offer to another. A big business man was giving instructions to his salesmen. He gave them four simple rules of salesmanship: (1) Know yourself; (2) know your prospect; (3) know your goods; (4) never give up. These four rules are so good that I give them to you for your guidance as Christian workers:
Know Yourself. What are your weak points? Where is your strength? Is your health at its best? Are you neat, clean, and attractive personally? Apply the golden rule. “ Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” How do you like to have people approach and treat you? The more you study yourself and the laws of your mind, the better will you understand other people. When you interview another, if you will put yourself in his place, the better you can help him. A personal experience goes a long way. If you know what Jesus has done for you, if you find him a constant inspiration and help, and if you give him your personal endorsement, it will go a long way toward helping some one else to accept him.
Know Your Prospect. Know all you can about the person whom you would win for Christ. Know his name, address, and business. Know his family. Know his friends, his hobbies, his ambitions, his weaknesses, and his good points. The more you know the more intelligently you can present Christ. This may take time.
You may need to cultivate the person’s friendship. You call to see him. You find visitors there. Make a social call and come another time. Sometimes a definite appointment to talk over this question will be the best procedure. If you are dealing with young people know the seasons of the soul. Know the interests and ideals of young people.
Know Your Goods. Know all you can about your goods. The more you know about Jesus and his life and work, the more you know about people who have been saved and helped by Jesus, the better personal worker you will be. Every day new questions will come up. This will drive you to your Bible and to prayer to know the facts as they are. You must know Christ yourself before you can truly recommend him to another. Do Not Give Up. A good salesman sells goods. If he does not succeed the first time, he tries again. He knows how far to press and when to stop. Good sales have been lost because the salesman talked too much or too long. A good personal worker wins souls. In interviewing another for Christ, we first implant the idea in the mind. We keep it there by a word, a letter, or select literature. We accompany this idea with some favorable emotional reaction. The human will responds to two things, ideas and emotions. Now if we can keep the idea of Jesus before a person’s mind and at the same time secure some happy emotional reaction the mind is sure to act favorably. On the other hand, if we fail to keep the idea before the person or if there is an unhappy emotional reaction, then the will decides against Christ. An insurance agent once said that he had just secured certain business that he had been following up for ten years. The vice-president of a large city bank reports that it takes two and a half years on the average to secure each new depositor. If insurance agents can wait and work for ten years, why cannot we work as long and as hard for Christ? If a bank can take two and a half years to secure each new depositor, why cannot the Christian worker take as long a time, if necessary, to win a friend to the Lord Jesus Christ?
Rules for a Personal Interview Have Faith. Believe that you can win that person to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let him know that you fully expect him to become a Christian. Believe in the gospel as “ the power of God unto salvation” Believe that the Holy Spirit is already working in the heart. Find the degree of faith of the other. Tell that which you believe.
Emphasize the positive. Get out of the realm of doubt and question. Have faith.
Use Tact. Perhaps good common sense is as much needed in personal work as in any other phase of Christian work. To say the right word and not too much, to say enough and then stop, to press the claims of Christ and yet give the person time and a chance, to decide for himself this is an art. Perhaps tact is needed in personal work more than anywhere else. Who has not seen good people with more zeal than knowledge destroy their chance to win for Christ by lack of tact. Remember we are to win for Christ, never to force or drive or frighten a person into the kingdom. Do Not Argue. 1 can remember the men that used to gather around the kitchen stove at my grandfather’s and argue. They never decided anything. Each one was more set in his own belief after the argument than at the beginning. No one has ever been argued into the Christian life. Definite problems need to be met, objections faced, and difficulties overcome. A positive statement of our own belief is worth a hundred arguments. Do Not Knock. Every man has some ideas or institutions that are precious to him. A personal worker only arouses antagonism by knocking these. A good salesman does not sell his goods by knocking his rival or his rival’s products. He sells his own goods on their own merits. He talks them tap for all he is worth. The gospel of Jesus must win on its own merits.
Find a Common Ground. Be sure you are both on common ground. It is possible for a personal worker to talk in terms that are entirely unfamiliar to the other, but there is always some interest that is common. Perhaps it is the child in the home, the welfare of the community, interest in health, a desire to serve, or an interest in the future life. Find a common interest. It is the business of the personal worker to find this common meetingground. Then he can lead the other into the higher ways of God. A young missionary was working in a rural community. The church life had been neglected for many years.
There were only a few members in the only church in town and a small Sunday school. She began to work in the homes. She found a fine group of high school girls.
One day she arranged for a meeting with them in the church. At the appointed hour not one appeared. She was not discouraged. She asked one of the girls if she would be willing for the other girls to come to her home some week-night to paint weeds. This was a new fad.
She then called upon a few of the girls, told them that she could paint weeds and would show them how. She took several of the girls to the fields for the weeds. On the given night ten girls came. They had a wonderful time. Not a word was spoken of religion. A few days afterward these same girls appointed a meeting at another girl’s home and invited the missionary to come and talk to them about the Christian life.
Use Honest Commendation. Nobody likes to be scolded or told about faults. “Everybody appreciates being appreciated.” There is something good in everybody. There is something that ean be commended in all. A personal worker goes into a home. There is a baby there. She talks about the baby. The mother’s heart is opened. A boy is the way to a father’s heart. Rabbits, chickens, baseball, or swimming may be the door to a boy’s confidence. Flattery is polite lying. Flattery never helps a personal worker, but honest commendation is a key that will unlock many a heart. Be Interested in the Things that Interest your Prospect. Have you ever had any one sit down beside you and talk about things that did not interest you? What a dreadful bore such a person was! You will be just as boresome to another if you do not find that one’s interest. A person who would interview a boy must know boys and be interested in boy life. One who would interview young people must know young people and be interested in the special interests of youth. Find the other’s interest, use that as the common ground and point of contact. A boy is interested in radio. You want to win him to the Lord Jesus Christ. You study up on the radio. When you meet him, you introduce the subject of radio. If you talk to him about his pet hobby you can also talk to him about the Christian life.
Pray Together. If possible, pray together with your friend. Speak to the heavenly Father about him by name. Perhaps it would not be wise to do this at first, surely not if others were around; but some time get your friend to kneel with you. Get him to open his own heart in prayer. A little girl won so many others to Christ that her pastor asked her how she did it. She said: “ I ask them if they want to be Christians. They always say yes. I ask them to kneel with me. I pray first. Then I ask them to. pray. They pray, and when they get up they are Christians.” She was right. When a person prays, God can then do for them what he never could do before.
I once knew a fine young man whom I was very anxious to win for Christ. I had spoken to him about it.
He was interested, but could not quite decide. One day I said: “I want you to do something for me. I want you to enter into a covenant of prayer with me. Each night as you go to bed, I want you to kneel and pray this prayer, ’ Dear heavenly Father, show me just what you want me to do/ Each night I will pray for you, asking God to make it perfectly plain just what he wants you to do.” He promised to do this. In three days he came to my home. I knew what had happened by the look on his face. He said, “ Pastor, I know what I ought to do, and I am ready to do it.”
Follow Up. It is very seldom that you win your prospect the first time you speak to him about becoming a Christian. Tactfully and lovingly follow up until the supreme choice has been made.
Prayer. Pray before you interview a person. Pray for guidance as you present the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray daily. A prayer list of friends is part of the equipment of every personal worker. Cross off from time to time those that have become followers of Christ. Keep such a list in your Bible. It will strengthen your faith, deepen your prayer life, and make you more successful as a soul-winner. A Campaign of Personal Work The pastor had taken his Sunday school teachers, some of his officers, and a few of his young people and other members of the church through the above course of instruction. They were now ready to test out in practise the plan. A List of Prospects. In the meantime he had secured through the Sunday school survey, through his parish list, and through the ushers a list of possible members for the church. This included three groups of people: (1) Those who had never accepted Jesus as personal Saviour and Lord; (2) those who were members of a church in another place, but who ought to bring letters of transfer; (3) those who had been church-members, but who, for various reasons, had lost their membership.
Cultivating the Prospects. These people had been cultivated through invitations by the pastor and the people of the church to special and regular church services; through literature which told of the way of salvation, of the beliefs of the church and the method of membership; and through a personal letter by the pastor asking them to give the Christ life most careful consideration. These people had also been on the prayer list of some one of the workers. A Week of Personal Work For one week all night services of the church were set aside. Instead of asking the people to come to the meeting-house the church went to the people in their own homes. Each evening at 6.30 the personal workers met in the church for supper. Following the supper was a period of prayer. The pastor gave out definite assignments. The workers went out two by two for personal work in the homes. The next night the workers reported the results of their interviews, received new assignments, and went out again. In almost every case the personal workers interviewed people whom they knew and for whom they had prayed. Teachers visited their pupils, meeting thus in the evening the parents. Some of the women teachers used their afternoons to do more calling. A few who could not go out wrote letters or talked with friends over the telephone. As these workers came back, night by night, with their reports, it seemed almost as if Jesus was in the midst of his disciples, and they were telling pf the great things which had been accomplished in his name. Decisions had been made for the Christian life. Christians were sending for their church letters.
Christian vows were renewed. The greatest benefit of the week of personal visitations in the homes was upon the workers themselves. All were enthusiastic and happy over their reception in the homes.
Truly there is no joy like the joy of a soul-winner. It was quite evident that this church would never go back to its indifference in soul-winning. No longer would the pastor be the only one doing personal work. Those who had tested the joy of winning others through prayer and personal work resolved that this kind of work should be carried on all through the year.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION Who are some of the great personal workers you have known. Make a list of great personal workers.
Give a personal illustration of some person who brought a message of help to you in your youth. Tell about some one you have tried to lead to Christ.
Why is prayer a requisite for good personal work?
Why is faith necessary? Give an example of Jesus* faith in his disciples. Give an example of some one’s faith in you. Give illustration of your own faith in some person.
What use can be made of the Bible in personal work? Who are the best people to talk to children? Who are the best ones to approach men? Boys?
Why are the characteristics which make a good salesman useful in personal work?
REFERENCES “ Enlisting for Christ and the Church,” Johnston.
“ Pastoral and Personal Evangelism,” Goodell.
“ How Can I Lead My Pupils to Christ? “ Pell.
“ Individual Work for Individuals,” Trumbull.
“Studies for Personal Workers,” Johnston.
“ The Human Element in the Making of a Christian,” Conde.