AN ASSESSMENT OF EVANGELISM IN TODAYS CHURCHES COMPARED WITH THE EARLY CHURCH

BY

DCN. VICTOR OLUWOLE OSINOWO

A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE HERVEST TIME SCHOOL OF MINISTERIAL STUDIES, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELORS DEGREE IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND MINISTRY.

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AUGUST 2010.
CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that Victor Oluwole Osinowo carried out this Project work under my supervision. The project has been read and approve as meeting the partial requirement for the award of bachelors degree in theology and ministry.

DR. E.S. AYENI (SUPERVISOR)

Date

DR. M.O ADU (RECTOR)

Date

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DEDICATION I dedicate this project work to the Almighty God, Lord Jesus -the Saviour of mankind, and the blessed Holy Spirit-the Lord of the Harvest, the memory of martyrs of the Lord since the days of the Apostle till now, to soul winning and the fulfillment of the great commission in our days.

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ACKNOWLEGEMENT Foremost, I thank the Lord my saviour for the salvation of my soul and his grace to continue in the Christian life, He alone is worthy of all eternitys praise. I acknowledge the man-of-God that preached and taught the gospeltitled; The Righteousness of Christ, which led to my conversion, at the lecture theater one on the campus of the University of Ilorin, that evening of February 2nd 1991, during the weekend of teachings. My gratitude to Pastor W.F Kumuyi and the Men of God whom God used early enough to nurtured my spiritual life. I sincerely appreciate and thank the Lord for my father in the Lord, Pastor M.O Adu for the grace of God in his life and ministry, a product of which I and many others are today, God bless you the more and may you finish well. My sincere appreciation to my Project supervisor Dr. E.S. Ayeni, for impacting the knowledge and the grace of God in many of our lives. I also wish to appreciate all my lecturers in the Harvest Time School of Ministry for their impact in my knowledge of the word of God and
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understanding of ministry, I appreciate pastor M.O Adu, pastor Fashanu, Dr. E.S Ayeni, Apostle J.O.T Gebriel ,Reverend E. Nze,pastor Lanre Adeniji,Pastor John, may the Lord help you to finish well. I will like to appreciate my colleagues in the school of ministry; I pray the Lords investment will not be a waste in our lives. Finally, I like to thank God on behalf of my darling Wife Deborah Aduke Osinowo and my lovely daughter Emmanuela Mowafoluwa Osinowo for their love and encouragement.

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TABLE OF CONTENT COVER PAGE i CERTIFICATION ii DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEGEMENT iv TABLE OF CONTENT vi ABSTRACT x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

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1.1 2

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.2 CHOICE OF THE STUDY 3 1.3 DEFINATION OF TERMS 5 1.4 THE MEANING, MESSAGE AND MANDATE OF EVANGELISM 7 1.5 THE CHURCH'S MISSION OF EVANGELISM 8 1.6 THE EARLY CHURCH 1.7 TODAYS CHURCH 11 CHAPTER TWO: 2.0 14 EVANGELISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH 9

THE GREAT COMMISSION

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2.1 THE PURPOSE OF THE GREAT COMMISSION 14 2.2 CHRIST MINISTRY OF SOUL WINNING 14 2.3 THE APOSTLES AND EARLY DISCIPLES MINISTRY OF SOUL WINNING 16

2.4 THE MESSAGE OF THE GREAT COMMISSION 19 2.5 21 2.6 BREAKTHROUGHS OF THE EARLY CHURCH 22 THE EFFECT OF EVANGELISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH

CHAPTER THREE: EVANGELISM IN THE POST APOSTOLIC ERA 3.0 THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS, THE CHURCH FATHERS AND THE CHURCHES 37

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3.1 THE INFLUENCE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE ON THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL 39 3.2 THE WAKE AND DECLINE OF REVIVAL 43 3.3 THE DEVIATIONS AND MALAISE OF THE 21ST CENTURY CHURCHES 3.4 44

EVALUATION OF THE PROBLEM OF THE 21ST CENTURY 45 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

CHURCHES. CHAPTER FOUR:

4.0 RESEARCH DESIGN 48 4.2 48 4.3 49 DATA COLLECTION LIMITATION AND DELIMITATION OF THE RESEARCH

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4.4 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULT INTERPRETATION 49 CHAPTER FIVE: 5.0 50 5.1 50 5.2 51 5.3 THE METHODS OF RAISING A STRONG EVANGELISTIC TEAM IN THE CHURCH 52 5.4 REKINDLING THE FIRE AND VISION OF EVANGELISM 54 5.5 RELEVANCE OF SPIRITUAL FIRE AND VISION 55 5.6 REASONS FOR DEEMED VISION AND QUENCHED FIRE 56
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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

SIGNIFICANCE OF EVANGELISM

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EFFECTIVE SOUL WINNING

5.7

REGAINING THE LOST FIRE AND VISION OF EVANGELISM 57

5.8 CONCLUSION: THE REWARDS FOR EVANGELIZING 58

REFERENCES 59 APPENDIX 62

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ABSTRACT The decline or ineffectiveness in evangelism and indeed professed Christianity of nowadays churches, when compared with the early church effectiveness, calls for great concern among believers of this generation. The great commission is for all believers of all ages. The call and standard of God remains the same. The epistle of Jude revealed the will of God for the believers, having the common faith, to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints, Jude 3. The decline in todays churches has been a calculated but subtle attempt by Satan and its cohorts in conjunction with human agents to fore stall the church of Jesus Christ from fulfilling her purpose on earth, however, the church of Jesus Christ constantly will remain. The early church: Apostles, Fathers and disciples fought tirelessly, earnestly defending and made remarkable progress in the gospel during their time, despite persecutions and martyrdoms. Then around AD 311, Satan subtle plan was to use the political and religious rulers of the day to romance with the church after the church fathers demise, introducing compromise and false peace and
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prosperity

policies.

Proliferation

of

worldly

churches

began;

preeminent political positions were given to churches in the worldly society, in no time unconverted worldly men came into the church, conterninated and adulterated its doctrines and even ascend positions of influence in the leadership of the church. Thus the great compromise began Satan constant renewal of his strategies and complacency of lukewarm Christianity as resulted in the great decline that has ran through the ages to the churches of nowadays. The situation of todays churches in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world is a reflection of the decadence in so called Church goers and frontline leadership, majoring in the minors. To many, evangelism is fast becoming obsolete practice and methods, preaching and practices of holiness, righteousness and making the kingdom of God has been substituted with the propagation of prosperity, deliverance, worldliness, Politics, economic empowerment, self-motivation and psychological preaching. On the other hand, the more conservative Christian bodies are busy making for themselves, holy clubs and communities, without passions for winning the lost souls around them.
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This project work attempt to make an assessment of evangelism in todays churches as compared with the early church. Literature review was carried out on the relevant subject, the research designing involve personal observations, interviews and

administration of questionnaires randomly to some Christians. Statistical analysis was carried out on the data collected through the questionnaire, using the Likert-type scale analysis. From the analysis, all the response shows that the churches of nowadays has declined significantly from the standard of the early church, more than 90% of the sampled population, believes that the churches of nowadays can be revived on condition; if the Christians genuinely repent, with leadership laying the examples and employing the means of prayers to seek the face of God for revival of the churches. Suggestions were made in the concluding chapter, for solutions to effective evangelism in nowadays churches.

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