Over the centuries since Jesus died for our sins and rose victorious from the grave, many methods have been used to spread the gospel. From Peter’s first sermon, when 3,000 were saved, to great preaching campaigns of men like Charles Spurgeon and Billy Sunday, to friendship evangelism, many ways of influencing others to accept Jesus’ free gift have been tried.

In a major city in the midwest, another method has been launched: prayer evangelism. In the campaign to reach the populace of this city, organizers have set out to pray for every individual. They have divided the city into sections, and all cooperating churches have been assigned the names of the people in those sections.

Of course, it will also take other kinds of contacts, such as literature or face-to-face visits, but prayer is the major component. In 1 Timothy, Paul explained that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2:4). And the method suggested for beginning the work of evangelization is “supplications, prayers, intercessions . . . for all men” (v.1).

What about your neighborhood and mine? Let’s begin right now to do some prayer evangelism.