Evangelism? Me?
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by Darren Hewer
Please open your Bible and read Matthew 28:16 – 20.
Evangelism. Does the word make you uncomfortable? It makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Sharing our the good news of the gospel is sometimes a thankless job. Yet Jesus calls us to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Don’t we have an obligation to share the message of God’s grace and love with others? Paul says “woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16, KJV) It would be rather selfish to keep such amazing truth to ourselves!
Why then is evangelism so uncomfortable? One reason is that we’re worried that we’ll fail. We know that often people don’t accept the gospel. Sometimes people refuse to believe even what’s right in front of their face. Read the passage from Matthew again about when Jesus appeared on the mountain to the disciples: “When they saw him [Jesus], they worshiped him – but some of them doubted!” (Matthew 28:17) Did you catch that? Some of the disciples even doubted! When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee, Jesus lamented that we Christians “speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony” (John 3:11). We shouldn’t feel that we’ve failed when people do not accept the gospel, for it is only through God’s grace, not our own efforts, that someone may be saved. By sharing our faith and giving someone to think about, we may have helped alter their life course to bring them one step closer to knowing the living God.
A second reason is that we may have negative images of what evangelism is like. Street evangelism (such as handing out tracts or shouting “Repent sinners!”) is surely not the only way to share our faith. The internet, for example, gives us an incredible new method to reach people all over the world. Over one billion people worldwide now have access to the Internet, and this is an amazing opportunity to share the gospel all over the world regardless of whether you are shy or outgoing. Your talents and God – given gifts can be used for ministry online. See below for some resources on how you can start leading others to God today, online! Let’s use the internet for God’s glory!
“Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!” (Psalm 107:2, NLT)
About the Author
This devotional was written by Darren Hewer. Read more about him here:
http://www.talk.thelife.com/authors/darren-hewer/
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Well Darren there is one point I would like to make on this subject, that being that we may have negative images of street evangelism because we remember hearing about the times when it was done wrong. Since having had experience evangelizing both online and on the street, I myself have found that both can be very effective. I believe there is a right way and a wrong way to engage people no matter what method is used.
On a mission trip I took, we were in places were tracts lead literally hundreds to the Lord. I think it’s important not to dismiss this form because some people have done it wrong, because we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Just to give you a few reasons at the top of my head on way we should still use tracts.
1. It gives people a focus that they can follow along with.
2. It gives the person sharing more confidence showing this to people as it shows that it is not just their own opinion.
3. It uses scripture references showing what is being said can be backed up.
4. If the person wishes to consider what they have heard the tract can be left with them so that they can look up the references themselves.
I myself have used these to bring more than a handful of people to Christ and I know for a fact that if I did not have them at that time I would not have shared.
That’s just my experience, and it makes me wonder how many people have come to know Jesus Christ the same way. I find the internet an awesome tool to bring people to Christ and have also seen how internet evangelism has been done wrong.
My prayer is that people would spend as much time in prayer and preparation in what they would share as in how.
just want to encourage evangelist and christians to visti my blog at streetfishing.blogspot.com
I have found one of the most exciting things in my life has been to share the Good News of Jesus. When I have people
ask me to put them on the prayer list, I will pray for them right then whereever we are. I once had two ladies ask for prayers in a busy department store, I said lets pray right now and there in that busy store it suddenly went quiet and people gathered round us and silently joined in the prayers. It was a wonderful moment and truely showed the power of our Loving God. And I found that the internet is great, just look at the beginning of my e-mail “ifollowjesus”. It really starts some conversations.