Are you proficient playing an instrument or a sport? If so, then I have a second question: were you good at it the first time you tried? Your answer is probably, “no.”
So why do many of us think we should be good at personal evangelism the first few times we try?
To be clear, evangelism is not like strumming a guitar or dribbling a basketball. It’s a spiritual activity. Nevertheless, there are still skills that can and must be learned.
The effective evangelist must learn a gospel presentation. You can learn to recognize when a door is opening to share the gospel. You also need to learn how to respond to tough questions and how to start a conversation with a complete stranger.
Most Christians do not actively share their faith, even though we are commanded to by our Lord. The reasons for our lack of obedience are many and varied, but the fact remains that Christ calls us to share His good news and we want to obey Him.
How can we take steps to become more active in personal evangelism?
1. Pray for your “one.” Many Kentucky Baptists have participated in a Who’s Your One campaign where they identified one person they would pray for by name over a 12-month period in hopes of that friend or family member becoming a Christ follower. Most lost people were prayed for before they became saved people. All of us can pray for lost people.
2. Enroll in a witness training course. There are some great training courses available to teach the average Christian how to share the gospel. A couple of good ones include Three Circles: Turning Everyday Conversations into Gospel Conversations and Bill Fay’s Share Jesus Without Fear. These courses, or ones like them, will help the participant be better equipped and encouraged to witness to others about Jesus. There are some online courses available, or you may be able to participate in one with your church.
3. Use church invite cards. See if your church has a supply of church invite cards that can be used to invite people to come to your church and hear your pastor share the gospel. These cards may be the size of a business card or a postcard. They include some sort of graphic, the name of the church, the service times and possibly a website address. They provide a simple way for you to invite people to visit your church and many people will take you up on your invitation.
4. Make a gospel appointment. One of the most sincere ways to share the good news is when you make an appointment to share Jesus with a friend or family member. You might begin by saying to them, “I have never shared with you the thing that is most important in my life, and I wonder if you would let me buy your lunch and do that?” Try it and see what happens.
5. Give away gospel booklets: While some think handing out gospel tracts is kind of cheesy, I beg to differ. There are certainly rude and insensitive ways of doing it, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There have been numerous times when a conversation led to me giving a gospel booklet to a person and the response was one of sincere appreciation. You can purchase packs of 25 of The Eternal Life Booklet or Steps to Peace with God by searching online. They are relatively inexpensive.
There are dozens of other ways we can take a next step in our personal evangelism in 2023. These are just a few. What step will you take so you can be more obedient to join Jesus in his Great Commission?
Dr. Todd Gray 