What, Me Evangelize?

One time, Jesus healed a man blind from birth. The man was called before the religious leaders to explain what happened: A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,’” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” - John 9:24–25

Evangelism. The word evokes immediate thoughts and emotions. For some it is passion, for some it is a fear, even guilt. If you have grown up in the Church, you have been told that evangelism is a necessary part of being a Christian – one of the descriptions of the job. Yet most people do not do it.

I think the reason most people don’t do it is because most of us are not “in sales.” You see, somewhere along the line we have set up a false definition of evangelism as essentially learning a pitch, coming up with the courage to deliver the pitch and then looking for folks to deliver it to – neighbors, co-workers, even strangers. For most of us this does not click, it is just, frankly, weird. And so we don’t “do” it, and we feel guilty because we are all supposed to evangelize.

So, what do we do?

First, we need to ditch our preconceived notions of what it means to be an evangelist, and replace it with what I believe is a more accurate one; simply someone who tells good news; someone who tells their story (I am not here speaking of the specific office of evangelist in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, but rather the call for every Christian to be an evangelist). Everybody has a story, and if you are a follower of Jesus, you have instances where God’s story and your story merge. We need to tell our stories.

But evangelism does not start with telling our stories. It starts with listening to others. Do you know the story of your neighbor or co-worker or friend? What if you asked them, with real curiosity and interest, about their story? I think your relationship would deepen, your care for them would deepen, you would find out you have more in common than you thought – with everybody – because everybody has a story. And in the midst of sharing stories, you will get a chance share how you have experienced God, to share about the times that you struggled, and to share about the victories, about the reality of the good news that you have experienced.

Share your thoughts with others and share them with me. If you are interested in exploring this further, one resource is Doable Evangelism.

Peace, hope and love

Doug