Evangelism Lessons

I recently gave our church ministry staff an assignment. Share the gospel with at least one person during the next week and report back. Here are some lessons we learned together.
1. We can easily be around only other believers. We work with other believers (at least we think the rest of our ministry team is saved!), serve in ministry with other believers and talk with other believers. It is easy to surround ourselves with Christians only.
2. It takes intentionality to get around lost people. Some of you work with numerous non-Christians. You are in “a target rich environment” as the military guys describe it. We pastors and full time ministry folks have to make an effort to be around people who aren’t followers of Christ.
3. Purposeful and meaningful connections with lost people are helpful for evangelism. One guy shared the gospel with a guy he knows from the gym. One guy shared with a neighbor. Intentional connections give us avenues and opportunities to share the gospel. One of the reasons I am the volunteer chaplain of a nearby college football team is because it gives me meaningful contact with young men who need Christ. Cold turkey evangelism is fine, but connections provide great opportunities.
4. We don’t share the gospel as much as we want. Evangelism takes some work and effort. We recognized that we can easily forget evangelism unless we consciously make an effort. Squeaky wheels get the grease and we are far more likely to hear the “squeaks” of problems from our Christian church friends than the unknown lost world.
5. Evangelism is good for us. Not only is evangelism good for the hearers, it is good for the sharers. We benefit from knowing how lost people think. We benefit from searching for answers to the questions they ask. We benefit from obeying the Lord in this important task. We benefit from moving from love of people in theory to love of people in action. We are better in our ministry responsibilities by knowing and loving and sharing with those who don’t yet know or care about the gospel. And, it is a wonderful thing to share the joy of seeing one come to know Christ as their Savior. That is good for our souls as well as theirs.

I hope you will share the life-changing message of the gospel with someone this week. Share with a neighbor or relative or classmate or co-worker. Be intentional and even a bit bold. You just might learn some things.