J.I. Packer on the true means of evangelism

This from the J.I. Packer classic "Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God".

Evangelism, as we have seen, is an act of communication with a view to conversion. In the last analysis, therefore, there is only one means of evangelism; namely, the gospel of Christ, explained and applied. Faith and repentance, the two complementary elements of which conversion consists, occur as a response to the gospel. ‘Belief cometh of hearing,’ Paul; tells us, ‘and hearing by the Word of Christ’- or, as The English Bible expands the verse, ‘faith is awakened by the message, and the message that awakens by the message, and the message that awakens it comes through the word of Christ’.

Again, in the last analysis, there is only one agent of evangelism; namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ Himself who through His Holy Spirit enables His servants to explain the gospel truly and apply it powerfully and effectively; just as it is Christ Himself who through the Holy Spirit opens men’s hearts and hearts to receive the gospel, and so draws them savingly to Himself. Paul speaks of his achievements as an evangelist as those (things) which Christ wrought through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed…in the power of the Holy Ghost’. Since Augustine the point has often made that Christ is the true minister of the gospel sacraments, and the human celebrant acts merely as His Hand. We need to remember the equally basic truth that Christ is the true minister of the Gospel Word, and the human preacher or witness acts merely as His mouth.