When seeking a biblical model for evangelism, one should begin by looking at the Bible's premier evangelist, Jesus. When Jesus began His public ministry, His fame immediately spread and great multitudes followed Him. This was due, in large part, to Jesus' unparalleled healing ministry-"Jesus went about all the cities and villages ... healing every sickness and every disease among the people" (Matt. 9:35). Today's church should follow Jesus' example and obey His Great Commission by seeking to be as effective as possible in evangelizing the lost. To do this, the ministry of divine healing (likely the most evangelistically productive of the New Testament signs) must be raised to the place of prominence and effectiveness that it held during Jesus' earthly ministry and that of the early church. My desire is to see the faith and anointing to heal the sick grow stronger and stronger in the church today so that we will do the works of Jesus and even greater works (John 14:12). When this occurs, I believe church growth will explode as in Acts where "the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47), and "walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied" (Acts 9:31b).
