This document outlines 13 hindrances to soul winning: ignorance, fear, unbelief, idolatry/materialism, persecution, procrastination, worldliness, bad company, failure/despair, lack of compassion, destroyed testimony, love of sin, and Satan/powers of darkness. It provides examples and scriptural references for each hindrance and encourages Christians to prioritize soul winning despite obstacles. A short poem at the end emphasizes winning souls one by one through sharing the gospel message of Jesus.

1. HINDRANCES TO
SOUL WINNING

2. 1) IGNORANCE
I Peter 3: 15
> How can we go soul
winning when we do not
know what to say, what
method to use and how to
answer questions from
cult members? That is
why it is very important to
always be present in
Sunday School and the
preaching. Personal Bible
reading and study will
also help us grow in our
knowledge about God and
His Word.
Sometimes the pastor
prepares his messages
very diligently and then the
members are late or absent.
Even when they are present they
do not concentrate on the
message. This is very
frustrating to the pastor. We
have to make our preaching
time our priority if we want
results.

3. 2) FEAR: 2 Tim. 1:7,Lk. 9:26
Sometimes lack of
education, or lack of an
outgoing personality or
other insufficiency hinders
us to share the gospel.
When God gives us a task,
He will always enable us.
The more insufficient we
are, the more God will give
us grace to succeed. If we
feel that we can do it, we
may be working in our own
strength and intellect and
not in the Spirit of God.
There is also the fear of
rejection where we are
afraid that people will
reject our ideas and we
lose friends.

4. 3) UNBELIEF:
People who do not really
believe the Bible when it
says that there is a literal
heaven and a literal hell
will never be serious in
their soul winning efforts.
Again, this is a product of
ignorance. We lack solid
evidence of the truths that
are in the Bible that is why
we need to come to
church every time there is
an assembly; read and
study our Bibles
regularly; make our own
research if time permits.

5. 4) IDOLATRY, MATERIALISM
Ecc. 3:1,
Sometimes we Christians
are distracted by the cares
of this world that we forget
our mission as Christians
and that is to win people to
Christ. We are very busy
minding our jobs, our
businesses, our families,
our tutorials our studies
( students) that we neglect
the essence of our
Christianity.
We might be the only
hope of the people we
meet or associate
with. Let us not forget
to hand out a gospel
tract or share our
testimonies or invite
them to church.

6. 5) PERSECUTION BY OUR
FAMILY, FRIENDS, THE
COMMUNITY, GOV’T.
Sometimes people
hinder us from sharing
the Word of God. We
are in a Buddhist
country but it should
not stop us from
winning souls. We can
give gospel tracts
discreetly in public
transportation. When
you eat in a restaurant,
leave a tract.
When you buy a
commodity, give the
salesperson a tract.
When you see beggars
or solicitors, give them
some coins and tracts.
Ask God for wisdom on
how to spread the
Gospel.

7. 6) PROCRASTINATION OR
DELAY John 4:35
Some Christians know how
to share the plan of
salvation, they believe the
Bible but the problem is
they keep postponing to
share the gospel. They say,
“some other time,” or
“I always see him or her
anyway.” Remember that
people may be here today
but gone tomorrow. That
co-teacher of yours may
resign tomorrow or the next
semester.
Death also can come
anytime to our loved
ones, our friends, our
students, co-teachers,
co-workers.
Remember the people
who sell stuff in our
way.

8. 7) WORLDLINESS Matt. 6:20
How can Christians think of
winning souls when their
minds are set on the latest
model of gadgets, latest
fashion, parties, outings, eating
in fine restaurants, travelling to
places, watching the latest
movies, playing the latest
computer games. We may
engage in these things but we
should not neglect to share the
gospel if there is an
opportunity.
Sometimes Christian
parents want their
kids to take up too
many lessons like
swimming, karate,
ballet dancing, etc.
that they do not have
time to visit their
unsaved friends.

9. 8) BAD COMPANY: I Cor.
15:33, Prov. 13:20
We should be careful who we
associate with. Of course, we
could not choose who our co-
workers are so we always
have to be on guard when we
are with our unsaved
colleagues. That is why we
should have a consistent
Bible reading schedule and
prayer time or else we will be
influenced slowly as time
goes by by the unsaved.
If we have a choice let us
hang around with fellow
Christians who are matured
who remind us to do right.
Not with carnal or
backslidden Christians who
talk against the church or
mock Biblical principles.

10. 9) FAILURE OR DESPAIR:
Phil. 3:14
It is very difficult to start to
win souls and then in one
instance, we may be
discouraged by the negative
reactions of people. Our love
for souls should be greater
than love for our reputation.
Anyway sales people have to
put up with a lot of
humiliation and waste of
effort. Sometimes people
promise to go to church
but do not do so. We should
be patient because people
may not go on the first
invitation but on the second
or third, they will go just to
please you or to keep their
word of honor

11. 10) LACK OF COMPASSION:
Matt. 9:36, Lam. 1:12
When a Christian lacks
compassion, it means that he has
been resisting the Holy Spirit for
a long time because when we get
saved we naturally care for other
people. We need to put on the
mind of Christ which is full of
compassion for lost souls. The
reason He came down from
heaven is to save sinners from
their sins that will bring them to
hell.
If we lack compassion, it
means we have been
too busy with our own
affairs that we forget
about the eternal
destination of the
people around us

12. 11) DESTROYED TESTIMONY:
Matt. 5:13-16
Christians are the salt and light of
the earth. We have to be careful not
to ruin our testimonies or else the
people will not believe us. We lose
our integrity and so we become
ineffective and useless. Let us make
sure that we do all our businesses
legally; we should not be guilty of
overpricing, “under –the- table”
transactions. Our dealings should
be fair and humane.
We should not be guilty of
of oppressing other people
selling goods illegally,
avoiding taxes, etc. Our
customers should be
satisfied with our product or
service and if they have
complains, we should be
tactful in dealing with these
complaints.

13. 12) THE LOVE OF SIN: II Peter 2:
19-22
Sometimes believers cannot fully
surrender all aspects of their
Christians lives to God.
For young people, it can be their
computer games, for single
professionals, maybe they do not
want to be dictated about their
income; it can be an unsaved
boyfriend or girlfriend; vices; For
adults they may be guilty of
loving their partners or children
more than God. Or it
may be their marital
problems of
communication, finances,
jealousy, etc. If we fully
surrender to God our
lives then we can focus
on other people’s needs.

14. 13)SATAN AND THE POWERS
OF DARKNESS
I Thess. 2:18, Acts 13:6-8,
Acts 16: 16-20, Rev. 12:12
Satan is the number one
Enemy of soul winning. His
desire is that many people will
suffer in hell with him. He has
Many demons and evil spirits
That he has sent to hinder soul
winners from reaching the
unsaved. Some of his methods
Are very obvious like relocating
A prospect. But most of his
Devices are very subtle that you
wake up one day and
find yourself very far
from God and all
your zeal for soul
winning is gone.

15. Satan’s techniques are
compared to a frog in a pot
of water on a stove. While
the water is being heated,
the frog is enjoying the
feeling of the warm water.
But when the water reaches
boiling point, it is too late fro
him to jump out because he
is already cooked in the
boiling water. This is how the
devil works. Make sure you
are aware of his devices. He
can use
anything to get you out of
focus like the media, gadgets,
friends, studies, homework,
work, part-time jobs, tutorials,
problems, money, etc.

16. Winning Souls
The way to win souls
is one by one
telling them about Jesus,
God's only son
When you see the
multitude
lost in sin
going to one person
is a good place to begin
There are unsaved people
everywhere
Who will tell them the
gospel
and for their souls care
Maybe you are the one
God wants to use
to tell the good news and pray
they'll not refuse
Jesus said "The harvest truly is
plenteous
but the labourers are few"
There is always somebody
you can witness to
You may not win everybody
but you can win someone
going in Jesus name and not
leaving
your witnessing undone