Robert Coleman\'s Book \"The Master

Robert Coleman's book "The Master Plan of Evangelism" is considered by many renowned theologians to be the best and most concise book about the actual ministry strategies of our Lord Jesus. It is the goal of this review to carefully look at how Coleman examines the principles of evangelism, the target audiences, and the specific methodologies and techniques that we use in evangelism.

The purpose of evangelism is to serve testament to God and our Lord Jesus. It is in effect the way in which we spread our faith to the unsaved. Although in modern day evangelism, we tend to have articulated visions and methods to do this, as well as target a certain type of people, Jesus evangelized the whole world by focusing everyone's sins and everyone's ability to be glorified in the name of our Lord. Jesus' focus in evangelism was to create a holy church by which His message would become eternally ingrained in the minds of men. For Jesus, in his infinite wisdom he took it upon himself to concentrate on a few chosen men, and instilling in them the ability to lead others to the faith. His focus within evangelism is to use the faith of a few chosen men to increase His word throughout the world and build a faith surrounding Christ. Jesus in effect, evangelized and staked his entire ministry upon his thirteen chosen apostles; in effect he employed this method to ensure that his message would spread precisely because his apostles would perpetuate the message even after his passing. At the same time, Jesus never neglected crowds. He attempted as much as he could to identify with everyone and to care for them. However, he never lost the focal point of his evangelism, which was to usher in a kingdom through the leadership of his apostles. It is precisely this strategy that worked so well so secure the fellowship of Christ.

The people that Jesus picked for his apostles were not "chosen men" in our sense of human qualifications. Coleman explains that they were not leaders of synagogues nor wealthy and educated. Instead, they were described as "unlearned and ignorant" (Acts 4:13), however Jesus saw within these men traits that would make them leaders within the Kingdom of Christ. Thus, the target audience of Jesus when he chose his few core followers was those that truly had a yearning for God and strong ability to accept His teachings. They were the few that were the most teachable and humble at the same time. Another quality that Jesus targeted was individuals who would obey him. They were not required to have natural talents or to be incredibly brilliant, but obedience to his teachings and the willingness to follow him was his primary goal. Coleman explains that Jesus chose those who could have "supreme obedience" because this was representative of "the expression of love." Thus the foundation of evangelism according to Jesus' teachings must be built upon a willingness to learn and a willingness to obey the teacher. It is the expression of mutual love for there to be supreme obedience and respect from both sides. At the same time however, Jesus never forsake the masses, he attempted to guide and teach them as well as understand their pains and sufferings. However, in his evangelism he specifically chose a core group by which he molded into the people that would build him a kingdom.

There are many techniques that Jesus employed to get his apostles to fully understand the implications of his message. After finding individuals who would be teachable, Jesus' main technique was to allow his apostles to follow him throughout his teachings. In this way they would be able to begin to comprehend his message and also through Jesus' actions begin to understand how to live the life of a Christian. Although Jesus demanded much from his apostles he also gave them his own love. The chief technique that Jesus employed while he was with his chosen disciples was to share with them his love, and when they understood that they were not keeping with a law, but responding to One who loved them with his entirety they were willing to give themselves to Him. Another chief technique was to show the apostles how to live. Jesus allowed them to observe him in prayer to the Father, and through his actions demonstrate how one must live in order to follow in Jesus' footsteps. Even though the apostles could not fully understand why he did these things, they could still emulate his actions and in turn begin to understand only after. Jesus never forced the lessons upon his apostles but rather made sure that they were the ones who actively sought understanding. Jesus also assigned them work to do; he would go about building his ministry through his disciples therefore he showed them how to spread the Gospel. Jesus not only showed the apostles the experience of God's worship, but he taught them the importance of turning such knowledge into action, in this way he was able to make a kingdom. In the first of the evangelical missions, he told his disciples to "preach the Kingdom of God and heal the sick," in such missions Jesus gave his disciples very detailed instructions from what specifically to do, say and live. In effect, his tutelage allowed them to develop into able individuals who understood how to evangelize just as Jesus evangelized to them. Most importantly of all however, Jesus taught his disciples how to produce "his likeness" in and through the Church into the actual world. In duplicating his vision, he was able to strategically give the entirety of his vision upon his core group and allow them to spread the Gospel to all.