Soul-winning is the heartbeat of God and it's the ministry given to every Christian believer. However, for you to effectively win souls for Christ, you must learn how to do so. So, this post tells you how to win souls for Christ.

For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher - Romans 10:13-14 (NKJV).

Many people are still not saved partly because those who approached them did it wrongly. However, when you follow the steps for soul-winning that the apostles used, you will not miss it. And if you're to win souls for Christ then you have to do it His way.

How To Win Souls For Christ

1.Understand the reason for soul-winning

It is important that you understand why you have to reach out to souls for Christ. This is because it will build up your passion to lead souls to Christ. For, passion drives evangelism effectively and successfully. And one major reason is that without salvation in Christ, the individual will perish in hell (John 3:16). However, it's not the will of God that any should perish. So, God gave the ministry of reconciliation to every believer that we should go and lead others to Christ.

2. Prayer and fasting

This is a very important aspect of soul winning. This is because you can't win souls in the energy of the flesh. It is the Father that draws people to Christ (John 6:44).

Also, it is the Holy Spirit that converts and not you. So, you need to engage the help of the Holy Spirit. And you do this through prayers. Also, adding fasting to prayer helps you to be more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

In prayers, you ask the Spirit of God to lead you, speak through you, and convert the individual (Ephesians 6:19-20). Also, you ask Him to give you the wisdom for each person you desire to lead to Christ. This is because the method you used for one may not work on another. And the individual thoughts, mindset, or ideas of things differ from one person to another.

Furthermore, in prayers, you ask the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of the people to receive the gospel of Christ. For example, God opened the heart of Lydia to receive the gospel of Christ that Paul was preaching (Acts 16:14). Also, you pray that they accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour. So, in prayer, you table every detail of the evangelism before God and receive guidance and directions for it.

3. Preach and teach the word

People must hear the word before they can receive Christ as their saviour. Therefore, someone must reach out to them and preach the gospel to them (Acts 10:13-14). So, you need to preach to the people you've prayed for. But, if some of them are not near you, you can pray that someone will preach to them. Therefore, make out time to talk to people around you.

Jesus went about preaching the gospel from place to place. And He also sent his disciples to go out and preach the gospel. Also, when the disciples were persecuted and scattered to other cities, they continued the preaching of the word in those places. So, the early disciples of Christ kept preaching the word from generation to generation and that's how someone preached to us too.

4. Share your testimonies

This is another method of winning souls. Here, you tell the person what Christ had done in your life and how your life changed for the better since your salvation. Someone who knew you before and seeing your new you will surely desire such changes in his or her life. And they will open up to receive Christ as their saviour.

The Samaritan woman didn't say much to the people but shared her encounter with Jesus and they believed (John 4:29). Therefore, use any opportunity you have to share the goodness of God in your life. And believe God to use your testimonies to bring the person(s) to Christ.

5. Lead them to Christ

When you preach Christ to people, always give them the opportunity to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. This you do by asking them to say the sinners' prayer. Here, they believe that Jesus died for them and confess Him as their Lord and Saviour. This is in line with Romans 10:9-10.

They must confess Jesus as their Lord and Saviour for their salvation. Therefore, always lead them to Christ. This is important because you wouldn't know if they will have the opportunity again to give their lives to Christ. As the scripture says, "now is the accepted time".

6. Share tracts and flyers

This is another method of winning souls. Some people may not know what to say but with tracts or flyers, they can still share the word of God with people. Also, you can use the tracts and flyers to reach out to people when you're not permitted to preach, or you or they are in a hurry. And, since the Holy Spirit is the one converting, He can use the message in the materials to convert the person(s).

Paul used his letters to reach out to people when he was not opportune to reach out to them in person (Romans 1:13, 15). And these letters are still speaking to us today.

7. Invite them to church

The church is the place the Lord commands that we should not forsake. This is because it's a place where He fellowships with us, teaches us, and releases His blessings on us (Obadiah 1:17).

Also, it's the right place to nurture new converts into maturity in Christ. They need the word to grow. Again inviting unsaved people to your 'bible believing church' will give them the opportunity to hear the word of God and be saved. Furthermore, inviting the new converts to church will help you to follow them up till they mature and establish in Christ.

8. Follow them up

It's one thing to lead someone to Christ and it's another to have them abide in Him. Jesus said we should go and bring forth fruit that will abide (John 15:16).

Truly, many people have given their lives to Christ at one time but aren't anymore in Christ. And the main reason is that they were not nurtured into maturity in Christ. These are the people described in the parable of the sower (Mathew 13:1-9, 18-23) as those seeds that didn't fall on the good soil. So, when a lack of understanding, persecution, and care of the world attack them, they fall out of faith.

Therefore, it's important that you follow up your converts, and not allow the enemy to plunge them back into sin and condemnation. Remember, no mother gives birth and abandons the baby to feed and fend for himself or herself. Rather, she will nurture them till maturity.

9. Continue to pray for them

Continued prayer for your converts is crucial for their growth and maturity in Christ. It is also part of the follow-up process. This is because in prayers you cover them and protect them from the attacks of the enemy till they can stand and fight for themselves. In Colossians 4:12, we see an example of Epaphras praying fervently for the spiritual establishment of the Colosse new converts.

Also, in prayers, you engage the Holy Spirit to keep breeding on the spoken word the unsaved individuals heard. This, He is to continue doing until the word enters their spirits and converts them. Therefore, don't stop praying for your targets for salvation until they are strong in the Lord.

10. Live like Christ and show love to people

God is love and if you're to show people God, they must see Him in you first. This will attract them to hear what you have to say about Jesus. For you cannot give what you don't have. Living like the Lord and showing love to people explain to them what their lives will be like when they accept Christ. Also, you're the epistle people read about Christ and decide to follow God (2 Corinthians 3:2-3).

Therefore, paint the right picture of 'life in Christ' that will draw multitudes to Him. And let them see you and desire what you have, which is Jesus. This is a major way to win souls for Christ.

When And Where To Win Souls

The scriptures, in 2 Timothy 4:2, charge us to preach the gospel in season and out of season. And to be ever ready to share the good news with people.

Therefore, you should use every opportunity to share the word with the people around you. This includes your family members, neighbours, classmates, colleagues in the office, business partners,  seat-mates in public transportation, and any unsaved soul around you. It also includes your social media friends. When you prepare in prayers asking God to use you to win souls as you go out, God will give you many opportunities to reach out to souls.

Also, you need to be sensitive to His leading to know when to preach or not to. For instance, Paul was forbidden to preach in Asia, but, led to do so in Macedonia by the Lord (Acts 16:6-7, 9-10).

Conclusion

Soul-winning is a major challenge for believing Christians. For some of them, the issue is how to win souls for Christ. However, an understanding of the points given above will help them to resolve this issue. And any fear will disappear and replaced with the courage to reach out to souls for the Lord. We must depopulate hell and populate heaven. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to achieve this and that includes you. Also, remember that God will be working with you confirming your words with signs following (Mark 16:20). So, start today.