EVANGELISM: Should Be Every Christian Lifestyle, Not A Saturday Programme – Werner Nachtigal
Werner Nachtigal is an evangelist passionate about reaching people with the Gospel and training churches in evangelism. He is the Founder and International President of the GO Movement (former Global Outreach Day), through which over 86 million Christians worldwide have been mobilised to share the Gospel. He lives in Berlin with his wife, Birgitta and they have three children. He was in Lagos, Nigeria for the GO Movement Nigeria Training of Trainers West Africa Conference and our editor, Gracious Akintayo encountered had a chat with him.
Sir, what motivated the vision of the GO Movement?
It started in the presence of the Lord, where I saw a wave around the world and believers sharing the Gospel everywhere. The reality that often evangelism is about a known evangelist coming to town, or having a small evangelistic team is not the case. But what the Bible says in Acts 1:8, “…you will receive power and be my witness”. This is for every believer and I’m convinced that God is calling the church to share the Gospel.
I’ve once asked Billy Graham, who is your successor? He said, the whole church and I believe we are in a time when God calls the church and every believer to share the Gospel. We started in 2012 in Nigeria, the hottest place in the world strategically positioned for global evangelism and we started during a Holy Ghost service with Pastor Adeboye when half a million people were praying for a wave of evangelism and everyone was praying, Lord, send me. This movement is not about one preacher, not about one programme, it’s about the whole local church going out in different ways to share the Gospel.
With the present situation, has Christianity impacted society enough?
I know the challenges here in Nigeria are tough, but for me, the only answer is the Gospel of Jesus. You have corrupt people everywhere in the world, even if you’ll find some in the church. But evangelism is not just the end. Evangelism is turning the people to Christ, disciple them and follow Christ’s footsteps.
I was a sinner, I had no Christian background. When I got saved many years ago, when I came to the Lord, He changed my life completely. There is no other way, if we truly follow Christ, we will live a holy life.
I encourage believers before Pentecost to pray for global revival. I want the whole church to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit which is what Pentecost is all about and to be a witness. We estimate about 120 million people pray and go out to invite someone to church or to plant a church. This will be the beginning of discipleship, where people are following Christ. Christianity doesn’t mean we go to church, it means, I’m following Christ, becoming Christlike and acting Christlike. If this is not the reality, then we have to change it.
Where is the place of discipleship and mentorship in evangelism?
They are like two parts of a coin, they have to work together. If I disciple people, I train them to share their faith because evangelism is part of discipleship. If I don’t train them how to share their faith and it’s only, you have to know God and how to receive His blessings, or whatever, it’s one part. They have to understand how to live a holy life, pray, read the Bible and how to share their faith.
On the other side, if I go to the marketplace, to share the gospel. If somebody gets saved, immediately, I immediately start to disciple the person. Tell the person, right now, this is what you can do and have to do to follow Christ. Talk to Him every day, pray, read His word, start with the Gospel of John 21 chapters and do what you read. Start changing your life and find a local church to attend. If I do evangelism, I end it up with discipleship. They go hand in hand.
Are you satisfied with the state of Christianity around the world?
The report that some ministers are getting involved in some crimes and atrocities with the rest of it does not hinder the gospel or evangelism. I’ve heard many strange things, I was in Dallas and heard about a megachurch pastor who stepped back because of some stuff. You hear all this bad news but I’ve heard a lot of good news.
I’ve heard about corruption in Nigeria. You have some leaders involved in it but I know many great leaders and other believers in Nigeria who are living a Christlike lifestyle and you don’t get to hear about them. You hear the news, but that’s one part of the reality.
What are your plans for the future of the GO Movement?
We will activate the whole church for one day of evangelism through GO Day. I’m happy that Dave Gibson is now part of the GO Movement, he was Reinhard Bonnke’s international director for 25 years and has organised a lot of big crusades for him. He would do what he did years ago now that he’s part of the GO Movement. We plan to reach Africa with the gospel and the goal is by 2033. Reaching all of Africa, actually the whole world with the gospel. It’s not one-day evangelism.
Evangelism is a lifestyle. The Lord challenged me over four years ago to share my faith daily. I did it for the last 1,520-plus days. Every day I’m sharing about Him. It became a lifestyle and I took it seriously.
We are training trainers and we are not only training them, we challenge them to live a lifestyle of evangelism, help others to do it and they should train others. Evangelism is not a programme on a Saturday. We can go out on a Saturday afternoon from door to door. But as the light of the world, we want to encourage people that, evangelism is everyday affairs, Monday to Friday.
