The less scary version of Evangelism

A couple days ago John Leonard came from Westminster seminary and taught a session on evangelism. I was really convicted and found his points really helpful in a practical way. It really made me evaluate why I don’t go out of my way to value the people that I interact with on a daily basis. I think some of it is insecurity and some of it is being far too busy in my life. I get task-oriented and busy and I don’t take the time to speak to the cashier checking me out or go inside to pay when I get gas. I remember visiting some missionary friends last winter and noticing how they interacted with store owners and restaurant staff. These are the places where they made friends, where they would go back and visit, and where the Lord was opening doors for the Gospel. For a long time I have blamed my lack of effort in this area on my personality. But maybe I’m just lazy?!?

The theme of the session was Evangelism: Pastoring people to Christ. I’ll just share some main themes with you.
1. Know the Gospel for yourself
2. Pour out the overflow of grace (he made a good point here that often we only evangelize because we feel guilty that we haven’t been evangelizing… so in my guilt, I bring a Gospel of grace.. hmm)
3. Believe in the sovereignty of God in evangelism. You don’t have to share everything at once or work on your own timetable.

In the sense of personal evangelism:

1. Be more than a friend, be a pastor/mentor (love people well and be trustworthy so that you will be the person they come to when life gets hard)

2. Listen more than you speak (when you listen to people, they are giving you the context in which you can share the Gospel with them)

3. Ask questions (figure out if people even want you in their life)

4. Ask people for help (all of us really need help… don’t be afraid to ask… shows people that you value them and disarms their defenses)

5. Don’t say more than people want to hear (this goes along with the next one... don't overwhelm people or force yourself on them)

6. Raise curiosity, don’t dampen it

7. Contextualize the Gospel with examples that fit into their life and culture

8. Evangelize Christians and disciple non-Christians (Christians need to be reminded of grace as much as anyone… we tend to revert to a default setting of being works oriented. And as you disciple people and point them to the Lord and the Gospel in different areas of life, they will begin to see their need for the Lord in all of life.)

9. Sow widely and optimistically

10. Pray with your eyes open and pray often

11. Pray that God would lead you to people who He is already calling to Himself.

12. Have something to invite non-Christians to (don’t be isolated in your evangelism, invite people to join your community)

I hope this is helpful for some of you in some way!