The Power of One to One Evangelism

Have you ever wondered what it takes to give the gospel to the whole world and how long that might take to be accomplished? Let's look at some figures and see if we can get an idea.


The human population of planet Earth is somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 billion people. That is probably the highest number to ever be alive at one time, for sure, the highest since Jesus walked the Earth. Jesus said that the gospel would be preached to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people before the end of the reign of sin. I grew up with the idea that it was our job to co-operate with God to get the gospel out so Jesus could return. Now that concept may or may not be correct, but a nagging problem is still with us. Jesus has still not returned, neither has every person heard the real gospel.


One reason for the problem I've just mentioned, is perhaps that the majority of Christians don't know what the gospel is, and that shows in their willingness to let a few evangelists do their work for them. This writing is not about what the gospel is or even what our duty consists of, but rather the astounding mathematical potential of one to one evangelism.


I will start with myself, for I need to apply this simple math just as we all do. If I were to share Christ's gospel with one other person successfully every week on a continual basis and everyone with whom I shared were to do likewise, and in turn everyone with whom they shared and so on; each week that went by the number of one to one evangelists would double. It is hard to believe but somewhere in the 32nd week all the people on earth would have heard the gospel.


Now I know, that everyone on Earth is not going to accept the gospel, so that will never happen just that way, but look at the potential! You can figure any time frame you want, such as one person a week, month, year, or decade, and we still have failed miserably at the gospel commission. Whether it be 32 weeks, 32 months, 32 years, or 320 years it still doesn't add up to the approximately 2000 years since Jesus gave us our marching orders.


I don't want to go into a negative tailspin here but rather realize the short time God intended for the work to take. If we will remember that God must do His work through us and then ask Him to do it, making ourselves available for His use, He can make the math I've just mentioned look like sand box arithmetic.


The Gospel will be given, and that very soon! The question is, are we willing to be a part of it? If you are not sure what the gospel is, I challenge you to ask God to teach you, make yourself available for His use, and pick a goal, whether it be a soul a day, week, month or year. Then watch God's math explode!