Re-Thinking Evangelism

Sometime last week, I linked to Joe Thorn's post on suburban evangelism which happened to show up on the same day that I met with one of our guys to talk about how we help people at Christ Church be evangelistic. The need is obvious - if mission for the sake of worship is the gathering principle of our church than the message of the gospel must become something that not only impacts our lives but the lives of those around us who are religious or non-religious.

I think the biggest hurdle we'll face in this little project of ours will be how to train/equip/prepare/mentor/lead people about being evangelistic. I've been through more than a few evangelism training courses and I have yet to come across one that doesn't fail on the basic level of turning into a sales pitch. And here's one reason I think that is - to the degree that the gospel is not our operating principle in life, we're sharing a product and not our lives. And if we do try to share our life and not sell an evangelistic product, we ultimately don't have anything sturdy enough to give to people.

So I don't know exactly what we're going to do, but here are some things I think are critical:

• Gospel 'output' will not be healthy and authentic without 'gospel' input. If our lives are being changed by the gospel - that will naturally move us towards mission while creating life that is attractive.
• Shape evangelism training around what is common. Way too much of evangelism training is shaped around someone's giftedness or personality. So if you prefer extraverted behavior or God has given you the ability to show up at Subway and ask the sandwich artist chick whether she thinks your footlong Subway Club could feed 5,000 people - and it works - don't try to pass that off as normal (thanks Chandler, for that illustration!). Being evangelistic involves us being who we are in the places where God has put us.
• We have to learn how to listen. Evangelistic people usually suck at this - we have our product that we want to sell and rarely do we take the time to listen to someone's story to hear where God is already working. Again, I think this goes back to not understanding the gospel and its impact on our life enough to be able to connect the gospel to someone else's story.
• We have to create realistic settings for evangelistic living to take place. This might be the hardest aspect of equipping people because it's very easy to create artificial and awkward settings to try to 'share our faith.' Like the mall...dorm rooms...people's homes...all of which are private places where people aren't particularly open to having someone ask them where they're going if they die tonight. Oh, that reminds me...
• We have to ask the right questions. Context matters - I have to use different questions in Watkinsville than I do with students at UGA because of differences in age, life stage, stories, etc.
• We have quit talking like insiders. Enough of our jargon, lingo, and acronyms. Learn what words mean and learn how to communicate it in a way the people around you can get it. Being around non-Christians regularly will help us avoid overly-technical, insider language.

Comments

[Jan :)]

Relationship and listening. I totally agree.
I've always been impressed by the fact that in John 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus (who was looking for his fulfillment in religiosity) that he must be born again, but in John 4 he takes a different approach & tells the Samaritan woman that He is the source of living water (she was looking for fulfillment in men). They each had different issues (well, ultimately they had the same issue - but you know what I mean), and Jesus "shared the gospel" by addressing those issues. He loved them, He knew them, and He met them at their point of greatest need. If we follow the Lord's example, we won't need a prepackaged approach.
That being said, I do think it's quite important that we stay in the scriptures, as well. Since the Word is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword, we need to be ready and able to share it when opportunities arise...and really, those opportunities abound daily. We just need to tune in.

[Matt Adair]

Jan - given that we're in an increasingly post-Christian culture that is rather skeptical of people tossing Bible verses at them like grenades, I think we're going to have to learn the Scriptures well enough to weave them into everyday language and life and shape them to the particular questions and doubts that keep people from Christ in the first place.

[Jan :)]

Oh, I'm with you on that, as well. That's why we need to stay in the scriptures, and not just memorize a few of our favorite things. But we can never downplay the importance of the Word of God. Afterall, He became flesh and dwelt among us. But weaving it in is critical if we're going to be effective. The biggest thing is to get out there and love our friends. When they see the difference, they'll ask the important questions. And that's when we need to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within us. Thanks,Matt!