Five Basic Evangelistic Steps

Before outlining these basic steps on evangelism, we should remember that evangelism begins with a revelation of the nature and character of God. The fundamental evangelistic questions are:

What is God like?
What is the nature of His relationship with the world?

And if we want to know what God is like, we look at the cross.
And if we want to understand the cross, we need to look at the Trinity.

With this in mind, let me present the essential five steps in leading someone to faith in Christ:

Five step evangelistic process

1. Do you believe that there is a God who created the universe? (yes / no)

2.  God created us as human beings because He loves us, and He wants us to experience a great and wonderful life now and for eternity as we obey Him.  Do you understand this? (yes / no)

3. Unfortunately we have all done wrong and sinned against God - that's why the world and our lives are and have been in such a mess.  Do you understand what sin is and admit that you are a sinner? (yes / no)

4.  But because God loves us so much, He sent His own Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross as the penalty for our sins, and rise again so that we could have this abundant eternal life again as we follow Jesus.  Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins and can give you eternal life as you follow Him? (yes / no)

5.  We now need to receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and master, and then we will enter into the abundant life that God always wanted for us to have.  Do you desire to turn away from your sins, turn back to God, ask Him for forgiveness, and bow to Jesus to make Him the Lord and master of your life and begin following Him? (yes / no)


(Short form)
1. God of Bible exists?
2.  God's plan for you?
3.  Sinner?
4.  God loves you and sent Jesus for you?
5.  Turn from your sins to God, ask for forgiveness, bow to Jesus & make Him Lord of your life?

(Note that as an evangelist, one must be prepared in love to give cognitive reasons for each of the five steps and be able to address people's questions. This is what is called apologetics, and is addressed under 'Spirit-Soul-Body Dynamic' later.)

Step five will normally involve the hearer praying a prayer out loud similar to the following. In doing so they would be fulfilling Romans 10:9-13.

A prayer for salvation:
Dear God,
thank you that you love me
thank you that you sent Jesus to die for my sins
I am so sorry for my sins (name them here)
please forgive me
I don't want to sin any more
I believe that Jesus died for me
I believe that Jesus rose from the dead again.
And Lord Jesus, I want You to be the Lord of my life
and I want to follow You
Please help me.
Thank you Lord God
in Jesus name I pray,
Amen.

After this, it is appropriate to pray for the person, asking God to fill them with the Holy Spirit and to release His power within them.

Then it is appropriate to rejoice, because this person is being born again!!

Thereafter, there is no reason to withhold water baptism from them. A suggested baptismal formula is as follows: 'In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit I baptize you into the name of the Lord Jesus, into His death, his burial, and his resurrection.' After this it is again appropriate to lay hands on them, asking God to fill them with the Holy Spirit, especially if the signs of speaking in tongues, or great rejoicing in God and praising Him, accompanied with the ability to call God 'Father' have not yet been evident (note that a person is not 'properly' born again until this spontaneous spiritual speech is evident).

However, there are many things that can block a person from responding positively to each of these four steps. That's why we now need to look at the what I call the Spirit-Soul-Body Dynamic in helping someone give their allegiance to Christ.