How would Puritan ministers go about evangelizing? Joel Beeke explains that there were four distinct characteristics of Puritan evangelism. First, their evangelism was biblical. They always used biblical texts. They were men of the book. Second, they evangelized doctrinally. They knew how to take biblical truths and use Scripture to convict people of sin. Third, they evangelized experientially. They taught their congregations how the believer experiences the doctrines of grace and what he should experience if he is a true believer. Fourth, they evangelized symmetrically. They were balanced. They taught the gravity and enormity of sin and the beauty of Christ. Additionally, Puritan ministers not only taught the Gospel from the pulpit, but they modeled an evangelistic lifestyle in their own lives. A minister was the same in the church as he was at home. There was no disconnect. He prayed for his congregation. Puritan ministers commonly declared, “Wherever I go, wherever I do, and wherever I visit, I must leave the savor of Christ behind me.” Titus 2:1 (NKJV) – “[S]peak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.”
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Joel R. Beeke (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is the chancellor and professor of homiletics and systematic theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He has served as a pastor since 1978 and currently ministers at the Heritage Reformed Congregation of Grand...
