This series of posts on evangelism began with the question, “Where has Evangelism Gone?” Raising the issue that evangelism is a missing ingredient in our churches today. Post number two began with sharing the importance of using your salvation story to introduce the gospel.
This post will look at the one of the greatest evangelist's approach to the gospel. The evangelist is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. In the fourth chapter of the Gospel John we are given the example of Jesus in leading a salvation conversation. This post is likely to seem like something you have heard before. However, we often need to be reminded of the basics of Christian living. This passage gives us the basics of being a witness and doing the work of an evangelist.
Jesus example begins with a man on a mission. “He (Jesus) left Judea and departed for Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria.” A note, He could have went around without going through Samaria, which was a common practice of the Jews of that day. But, He didn't. To me this indicates He was on a mission. Recognizing we are called to a mission of evangelism is a prerequisite to any success in evangelism.
We are not always asked to go out of our way but should be ready to go. Also, we should be ready to give our time for evangelistic conversations at any time in our daily lives.
Going back to our original post we were reminded that the mission of the church and believers of evangelism has been lost or diminished. The sense of evangelism as our mission has in many churches been replaced by either social action or feeding the saints. These are both legitimate parts of our total mission but should be supportive of the mission of evangelism. And, not a replacement.
Jesus on mission in John 4 gives us an example being on an evangelistic mission. His example begins with being on mission and being ready to open up a salvation discussion. He had to overcome a many obstacles. Consider:
He is Jew in Samaria where there was a religious and racial disconnect.
He is a man talking to a woman. And, likely the woman was not a very respected woman.
He knew that some would question His talking to her. Which by the way His own disciples did raise questions about his actions.
These and other obstacles did not distract Him from the mission of evangelism.
The first steps in doing the “work of an evangelist” is following the example of Jesus are:
We need to be committed to the mission of finding those who do not know the Gospel.
We need to be ready to go out of our way to find those who need the Gospel.
We need to understand there will be obstacles that we need to get past.
We need to be ready to connect with anyone we come into contact with.
Let me challenge you to think of the last time you “went on a mission” to share the gospel? Or, when was last time time you prayed for an opportunity to share the gospel?” If we look for and pray for an opportunity to share our faith we will often be surprised at the opportunities.
If we are going to renew evangelism to be at the heart of the church we need to begin by making evangelism our mission. The mission needs to be personal and collective in the church.
The next post will continue with the example in Jesus on how and what we need to share in a gospel conversation.