How To Grow In Power Evangelism

(Demonstrating healing at a youth retreat.)

“…my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.” 1 Cor. 2:4 (NLT)

“I want to know if God really exists.” Naomi was on a spiritual journey to discover if God really existed and really loved her or if this was just made up religion. She came with me for an evening of prophetic ministry where I watched a room full of uninterested young people changed into enthusiastic participants as God began speaking through me revealing not just things about their past, present and future, but also about their hearts (1 Cor. 14:24, 25). Naomi ended the evening with joyful tears running down her face as God’s presence was made very real. A few months later, I baptized her and she is now a fully committed follower of Jesus. 

What is Power Evangelism?

Power Evangelism is using prophecy, healing, deliverance and the presence of God in order to share the gospel with individuals.(1) The term was first made popular by the late John Wimber in his book which carried that title. (2) In a culture which focuses on rational arguments for or against God, it is extremely helpful to be able to bypass the mind of people and touch their hearts with the power of God through healing or a word of knowledge. If we can get people to experience the power of God, then they are potentially much more open to hearing more about Jesus. I regularly experience that people who want to hear nothing about Jesus suddenly are open to listening to me after they are healed or receive an accurate word of knowledge. 

How to Grow in Power Evangelism (PE)

John Wimber felt God tell him to pray for the sick at his church in Anaheim, California. For the next nine months, no one got healed after receiving prayer. In fact the people praying for healing were getting sick themselves from praying for people with contagious sicknesses. Wimber wanted to stop, but God did not let him. After nine months of faithfully praying for healing, he saw the first healing and that was the beginning of his healing ministry which would help launch the Vineyard Movement of Churches as well as impacting many other denominations around the world. 

After Todd White was dramatically delivered from a life of crime and drug addiction, he discovered divine healing. For three and a half months he prayed for ten people a day to be healed. Where ever he was at (Wal-Mart, gas stations, work) he would pray for people to be healed. After having prayed for more than nine hundred people for healing he finally saw the first healing take place. (3) Now White is seeing healings every day as God gives him words of knowledge everywhere he goes. 

Wimber and White both give us an excellent model of how to grow in power evangelism.

 In the last few months, I have been seeing people getting healed every week on the street, on airplanes, psychic fairs, offices, churches, etc. This has been an exciting journey as I grow in PE. I long to see healings become a daily occurrence and not just weekly. Here are some steps and formulas that can be followed to grow in Power Evangelism. 

Authority  + Gifting  + Faith + Consecration = Power (4)

Authority

All authority comes from relationship. Spiritual authority comes from being close to Jesus.  “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). My eight year old daughter can not tell me what to do unless she is getting orders from her mother. When she is carrying out her mama’s orders then she can make her daddy jump quickly because she is speaking in the name of her mama. Just like Jesus, our authority comes from doing what we see the Father doing and saying what we hear the father saying (John 5:19). Authority comes from relationship.

Gifting

Paul admonishes us to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy (1 Cor. 14:1). I have grown in the gifts of healing and prophecy by studying and seeking out individuals who have strong spiritual gifts. I ask God for these gifts myself and have seen him grant me my request. It was after reading Wimber’s books that I began regularly getting words of knowledge which led to healings. I regularly minister with teams with individuals who have strong spiritual gifting I don’t have (yet). Everyone grows and team ministry can be a lot more dynamic than alone. 

Faith is spelled R-I-S-K

Imagine standing on a high diving board above a swimming pool that is empty and you hear God say, “Jump!” 

“What God?? There is no water in the swimming pool. God I can’t do that. Can you first fill the pool up with water and then I can jump?” 

God repeats, “Jump! Just jump and trust in me.” (5)

Finally you jump and the moment you do, the empty swimming pool becomes full with water.

This perfectly describes the scariness of doing power evangelism. We want God to tell us everything ahead of time and that there will be no mistakes. God does not work that way, instead he says, Jump!”

The first time I experienced this I was on a television program being interviewed. With four minutes remaining I felt pain in my back and recognized that this was a word of knowledge for healing. Finally with a few minutes left I looked into the camera and said, “There is someone with pain in their back here by their neck and I believe God is healing you now.” 

I then thought, “What did I just do?!” 

Three weeks later, I found out that it was the camera man who was healed after I said that. For the next weeks nearly every meeting I went to, I moved in words of knowledge and saw people get healed. It was exciting, but I had to take the first JUMP.

Consecration

Spiritual disciplines such as fasting, prayer, sacrificial giving, etc are also great catalysts to grow in Power Evangelism. God’s presence brings power with it. Entire days of prayer and fasting where I spend hours prophesying over people definitely speeds up development of spiritual gifts.  Here is a helpful chart to how the process of growing in PE may look like. (6)

Core Values of PE = Love, Humility, Honour, Power, Joy, & Nike (7)

Love

The motivation behind doing PE is just as important or even more important than PE itself. Jesus said that there will be people who have prophesied, healed the sick and cast out demons but who do not know him. (Matt. 7:20-23). Our main goal in PE is to love people the way God loves us using his supernatural power. Paul says to follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts. (1 Cor. 14:1). It is not an accident that 1 Cor. 13, the love chapter is placed in the center of chapters 12 and 14 which are all about spiritual gifts. If we do not love, then we are nothing (13:1-3).

Humility

I define humility as simply power under the control of love. I have and continue to make mistakes whenever I operate out of insecurity and pride. Jesus and Moses were incredibly humble men and so I believe prophetic people must follow their examples. Whenever ministering at another church or ministry, I always place myself under the authority of the leader of that place. I come to serve and build the church up and humility is an important element for this to take place. 

Honour

“True prophetic ministry is looking for gold in the midst of the dirt in people's lives.” (8)Whenever speaking in the name of God we desire to show people how valuable and how much he loves them. New Testament prophecy is primarily for encouragement, strengthening and comforting people (1 Cor. 14:3). The paradigm for prophecy in the New Testament is different than in the Old Testament (judgement). Our goal is to honour and love people with the same love and honour that God gives us. 

Power through God’s Presence

All of our supernatural power is present because of the presence of God. Where God is darkness, fear, depression and sickness flee. The kingdom of God is not just words, but power (1 Cor. 4:20). Our main job is to get people to connect to the presence of God. When people experience God, everything changes. This is why living a lifestyle of being connected to God can naturally lead to the supernatural taking place in our lives. 

Joy

Loving God and loving people is fun. His kingdom is not about rules, but righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Friends have told me how relaxed and fun doing Power Evangelism with me can be. I am not out to win arguments or force people to believe something, I get to help people experience Jesus. It is seriously a lot of fun. 

Nike- “Just do it!”

A young man at a Bible School told me he had never seen anyone healed through his prayer. Immediately I said, “ Well let us go do it.” 

We found someone in the building with a head ache whose pain left after he prayed for him. As a church, we are often overtaught and underchallenged. Don’t just read about Power Evangelism…go do it. Step out full of love, humility and the power of God to love people by offering to pray for their healing. Ask God to give you words of wisdom and knowledge to those around you. Then expect healings and revelation sooner or later to begin taking place. 

Recently during a trip in Hungary a young leader asked me, “Why aren’t there healings in Hungary?” That weekend four people were healed when he prayed for them. He keeps seeing people healed when he prays for them. 

Know now that not everyone will get healed for whom you pray, but I promise you more people will get healed if you pray for them than if you don’t. Power Evangelism is actually really not that difficult. Like the philosopher Seneca once said, “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” 

Do you dare to begin the spiritual adventure called Power Evangelism? I double dog dare you to“...heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8). Let your faith be greater than your fear and Nike…just do it.   -by Matthew Helland

Sources Quoted