AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF EVANGELISM ON CHURCH GROWTH AND SURVIVAL (A CASE STUDY OF CHRIST EMBASSY, UYO)

Evangelism means preaching the good news, teaching, proclaiming, becoming a witness, and making disciples.

In these days of rapidly changing and highly advanced civilizations, people seem to enjoy affluence and happiness but inwardly they have lots oftroubles and are struggling with distress. The explosive population surge has made the earth crowded. It is a tragedy that 75% of the world’s population is non-Christian and people wander around and feel left out even among a crowd. What is more deplorable is that it is not easy to maintain intimate and meaningful relationships with others. Therefore, a sudden encounter with a stranger makes one fear because he might be a threat to his own life and dignity. This is a problem in personal evangelism. Shunning away from evangelistic conversation can be understood as another aspect of this social phenomenon. However, Jesus and His disciples effectively preached the gospel to the crowds and to individuals with all the problems of their day. Jesus and his disciples placed the same amount of importance both on preaching the gospel to the crowd and preaching the gospel to individuals. We should not neglect any of the methods Jesus and his disciples used in their day. The characteristics and advantages of preaching the gospel to individuals are that evangelists get to meet with the individuals face to face and thus develop a more intimate relationship with them. Preaching the gospel to individuals has been found to be more effective than preaching to the crowds in leading people to the Lord and contributes more to church growth in the long run.