Lloyd-Jones on evangelism - 5 principles

The words below by Robert Strivens can be found here

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, minister of Westminster Chapel in London in the middle of the twentieth century, saw himself primarily as an evangelist.

In 1942, he spoke at a conference of leaders of the Crusaders’ Union (a popular Christian youth movement) on the subject of modern evangelism. What he said is still relevant and helpful.

Firstly, he urged his listeners to avoid two extremes – that of the ‘perfectly orthodox’ whose work shows no fruit, on the one hand, and those, on the other hand, who appear to obtain ‘phenomenal results’ which do not in fact last. He then laid down five core principles for evangelistic work, as follows.

1. The supreme object of this work is to glorify God. The first object of preaching the gospel is not to save souls. Nothing else, however good in itself, or however noble, must be allowed to usurp that first place.

2. The only power that can really do this work is that of the Holy Spirit ...

3. The one and only medium through which the Holy Spirit works is the Word of God ... The medium which is used by the Holy Spirit is the truth.

4. The true urge to evangelization must come from apprehending these principles and, therefore, of a zeal for the honour and glory of God, and a love for the souls of men.

5. There is a constant danger of error, and of heresy, even amongst the most sincere, and also the danger of a false zeal and the employment of unscriptural methods.’

The address was published as The Presentation of the Gospel (IVF, 1949). The above summary is taken from Iain Murray’s excellent one-volume biography of Lloyd-Jones, The Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1899-1981 (Banner of Truth, 2013), p. 242.