Dr. Ben Campbell Johnson, long-time evangelism professor at Columbia Theological Seminary, has noted that for us to be effective witnesses, we have to get our theology straight. What you believe determines:
IF you will do evangelism;
HOW you will do evangelism;
TO WHAT END you will do evangelism.
When we believe, for instance, that Jesus Christ is truly God's Son, the Savior of the world, and that he commissions his followers to "make disciples," that places a responsibility on us that is not present with a different kind of theology. If a person views the Christian faith as one good choice among many others, that's not highly motivating for evangelism.
Our theology also determines how we will do evangelism. Our understanding of who Christ is, as revealed in the scriptures, gives us clues as to how we are to relate to people in his name. Love, integrity, truth-speaking, servanthood, humility are all part of the witness's lifestyle.
And our theology informs the "why?" of evangelism. What's the point? Our theology helps us understand God's redemptive mission in the world, and to hear a call to participate in that mission. On the other hand, a theological perspective that assumes there are no real consequences for human sin, that the whole idea of "lostness" is archaic, that the atoning work of Christ was really unnecessary, will exhibit little interest in sharing the gospel.
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