Evangelism on My Mind

Last night we had a couple of mock evangelism encounters to model sharing the gospel. I have been replaying the scenes over and over in my mind today thinking through some of the turns. I, as the evangelist, felt pretty prepared and confident. However, my "prospects" threw out some questions for which I was not prepared. I don't like it when I don't have the answer, but these encounters taught me some important truths.

Truth one: Evangelism should be done in a spirit of humility. Were it not for the grace of God, we would be no different than the people we witness to. If a question arises that you can't answer, don't be afraid to say, "I don't know the answer, but I will try to find it out and get back to you."

Truth two: If we wait until we can answer every question, we'll never answer any questions. We should seek to be prepared by having a clear understanding of the gospel, but we can't hope to know it all and present it all in every encounter. We need to memorize the gospel, highlight some helpful verses in our Bibles, and continue to study in order to succeed. If you get into a situation where you don't know what to say see truth one.

Truth three: Evangelism is a spiritual task and must be done in power of the Holy Spirit. This means we need to listen to both the prospect and the Spirit. We need to discern if and where the Spirit is working in the life of a person and seek to continue that work. As a spiritual task it must be continually bathed in prayer. The power of our evangelism rests in the message. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, applied by the Holy Spirit to the heart of an unbeliever that brings about conversion. The smoothness of our speech or weight of our arguments are nothing apart from the work of the Spirit.

Truth four: Evangelism isn't easy, but it is necessary. The gospel is the only means of salvation. Jesus' name is the only name given under heaven, whereby men must be saved (see Acts 4:12). Faith comes by hearing the message of Christ (see Rom. 10:13-17). Unless we sound the trumpet people will perish in their sins. If we believe the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all those who believe (see Rom. 1:16), then we will get out there and spread the good news.

Finally, an important truth to remember is that when it comes to evangelism we can't fail as long as we share the message with love. It doesn't matter how many doors are slammed in our face or how many people refuse to believe. It doesn't even matter how many people pray to receive Jesus. We are successful when we share the message of Christ in love. When the Spirit grants you the opportunity to share the gospel, go for it.