A Biblical Understanding of Witnessing and It’s Practice: A Case of Pauline Model

Despite attempts by the Adventist church in the city of Bulawayo to train and motivate its church members to be involved in witnessing, many of them remain passive. While some in the church believe and teach that during New Testament times witnessing seems to have been for all believers it appears that in current Adventist churches in Bulawayo it is seen as a practice of a few gifted ones. Furthermore, witnessing seems somewhat taken for granted. The church members seem to put the blame of failing to witness on the church leadership. There is very little written by Seventh-day Adventists on witnessing for Christ and Bible study. There seems to be no clear guidelines informed by the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy on witnessing. The Adventist church has not developed a clear theology of witnessing. There is a consensus that the Bible assumes witnessing is important but Adventists have not explored this topic very much. Others confine it to verbal proclamation and teaching of the word that is divorced from meeting the needs of the people. On the other hand, there are those who think they can witness through living an exemplary and “attractional†life without verbal witnessing. As a result of this lack of clear information there are misguided views concerning the practice of witnessing like the belief that it is for a few gifted people, not everyone. This paper exegetes some Bible passages like Acts 9:1-31, 22:21; 26:12-22 that refer to how the apostle Paul witnessed. The Pauline witnessing model was interpreted in light of other scriptures where others like Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-8), the Gerasene demoniac, (Mark 5:1-20), and the woman of Samaria (John 4) modelled biblical witnessing. These Bible texts were examined with the objective of helping in forging out relevant interventions that can fill in the gaps in the misconceptions and the practice of witnessing in ministry. Although these Bible texts were not originally written to inform witnessing practice, there are principles in them that can shape, influence and direct it. The study made use of narratives, Bible commentaries and Ellen White writings as the main source of data for the study. The study recommends that the SDA church should make deliberate actions in teaching and motivating all its members to be active in witnessing based on the Pauline witnessing model.