Conversion is God's Work
"The definition [of evangelism] under review established these vital points well. But on one fundamental matter it goes astray. It puts a consecutive clause where a final clause should be. Had it begun: ‘to evangelize is to present Christ Jesus to sinful men in order that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they may come…’, there would be no fault to find with it. But it does not say this. What it does say is quite different. ‘To evangelize is so to present Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, that men shall come…’ This is to define evangelism in terms of an effect achieved in the lives of others; which amounts to saying that the essence of evangelizing is producing converts. But this cannot be right, as we pointed out at an earlier stage. Evangelism is man’s work, but the giving of faith is God’s." (J.I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1991), 40)