What do you think about the state of evangelism today?
What do you think of when you hear the word: evangelism? Is it a good thing? Or does it make you cringe? Do you think of a particular person, church, or perhaps even a certain political party? Over many years the word has come to mean different things to different people, but we need to get back to the true spirit of evangelism today.
So what does the word actually mean, apart from all its modern day associations and connotations? My online dictionary defines evangelism as: “the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness.”
It comes from the word “evangel” which comes from the Greek word euangelion, which simply means good news or good tidings. It’s often translated “gospel” in the Bible.
To evangelize, simply means to share your faith, the good news of Christ, publicly in some way.
Evangelism today takes many forms
I’ve talked to many Christians who are always looking for opportunities to share their faith, either one on one with friends and people they meet, or with small or large groups. I have also talked to Christians who are rather shy about sharing their faith if they do so at all. They don’t feel qualified or think they wouldn’t know what to say.
Sometimes people shy away from sharing their faith because they don’t like it when someone else tries to cram their faith down their throats and they don’t want to come across that way to others. I can totally understand that.
Aside from all the various, and sometime extreme approaches to evangelism today, I always like to come back to the life of Jesus to get a better understanding of any particular topic. And the topic of evangelism is no exception to this rule.
Jesus’s approach to evangelism
What does Jesus say about evangelism, about sharing your faith? And how does he tell us to do it?
Maybe the first question we need to ask is how did Jesus evangelize, or share the good tidings with people?
Basically, he just started telling everyone who would listen about the kingdom of heaven.
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Mark 1:14, 15 KJV
Here in these verses and wherever the word “gospel” is used, it’s the Greek word euangelion, which I mentioned earlier. It means good news or good tidings.
The good news, or gospel, Jesus was preaching about was the fact that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, not just way off in the future. That really was good news then. And it’s good news today.
To evangelize means to tell people the good news about the kingdom of heaven at hand. At least that was Jesus’s approach. He didn’t go around telling everyone they were miserable sinners, although he did point out the need for repentance, to think in a new way, to change a material perspective for a spiritual one.
Evangelism today is simply sharing the good news of your faith
If you had some really good news, wouldn’t you want to share it?
Several years ago a friend shared an Aha! moment she had when she realized how difficult it was to share her faith. She had made some brownies for a friend who thought they were the best brownies ever. My friend was delighted to share her recipe with her friend. That’s when she realized sharing her faith could be just as easy as sharing her recipe. She had something very good in her faith and she wanted to share it with others.
There’s a certain joy that comes from giving someone else good news. What better news than the fact that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that God loves them, and that Christ shows us the way to God’s love and washes away our fears and sins.
Evangelism today should not just be about the blood of Jesus
Lots of Christian evangelism today focuses primarily on telling people that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, that Jesus’s blood is what saves them. Now, the Bible does use language like that at times, but when you read everything Jesus says and everything in the New Testament on this issue, it’s clear there’s more to preaching the gospel than just telling people Jesus died for their sins and that his blood is what saves them.
Paul makes it very clear that Jesus’s crucifixion, without his resurrection, does not save us from our sins.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 1 Corinthians 15:17 NIV
When you share your faith, when you share the good news of Christ, it’s important to share the whole story of how Christ saves us. It’s not just his death on the cross, but his victory over death that brings God’s saving power to bear in our lives.
If you want to dig into that a little deeper, check out Episode 288: Jesus’s Death on the Cross Does not Save You from Your Sins; it’s His Resurrection.
How did Jesus evangelize?
So back to how Jesus evangelized, how he shared the “good news” that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
He told people about the kingdom, but not in esoteric, intellectual terms. He told simple parables and stories about certain aspects of what the kingdom of heaven is like.
That’s a good example for you and me. All too often I hear people who are deeply committed to preaching the good news of Christ, but they get a little too intellectual. They have well-crafted words and are very logical, but their words are coming from their head instead of their heart.
Better to be like Jesus. Tell people stories, parables, and metaphors that illustrate something about your faith. Share your own experience how God has shown up in your life.
Not too long after I started The Bible Speaks to You Podcast six years ago. I published Episode 32: The Parable of the Unbaked Cake. It’s a modern day parable about why it’s important to put your faith into practice instead of doing Bible study all day long or just talking about what you believe.
You can come up with your own parables and metaphors as well.
Evangelism today needs God’s anointing
What else can we learn from the way Jesus preached the good news?
I love these verses from Luke when Jesus came to his hometown synagogue and read from the book of Isaiah.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18, 19 NIV
The point here is that Jesus was not preaching on his own steam. He openly acknowledges that God has anointed him to preach, to proclaim the good news, to evangelize, and to minister to people in need.
This is true for you and me as well. You will not have the true spirit of evangelism, even if you say all the right words, if you’re sharing your faith just through human will or human talents and abilities. Jesus knew God had anointed him. You and I need to, and can, feel this same anointing from God today.
There’s no way to cover every detail of what it means to imbibe the spirit of evangelism today. But I’ll share a few ideas that have been helpful to me.
Inspiration for evangelism today
First of all, it’s absolutely crucial to remember Paul’s promise
…we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV
If you don’t feel worthy, willing, or capable of evangelism, of sharing your faith, it may be because you’re thinking of how you would do it with your own human intelligence, abilities, and desire, or the lack thereof.
But when you embrace the fact that you have the mind of Christ, it removes the fear of being incapable or not knowing what to do. It takes away the human ego, which is a huge stumbling block to following Christ’s example.
When you accept the mind of Christ as your own, you can say with Jesus,
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.” John 5:19, 30 NIV
What can you see God doing? How do you see God sending for His good news? When you keep your eyes on what God is doing, you’ll be in the right place at the right time and know what to say to someone in sharing your faith.
Evangelism today must begin with yourself
Evangelism really starts with yourself. If you expect others to repent, surrender to God, and follow Christ, you need to have an honest look at what you may not have repented of, areas in your life you have not surrendered to God, and ways you can follow Christ more faithfully.
Jesus puts it quite bluntly:
first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:5 NIV
You have to practice what you preach before you can expect others to listen to you.
This requires complete surrender to God, giving your whole heart to obey God’s will to the best of your ability. It requires repentance on your part, repentance in the fullest sense of the word, getting a new spiritual perspective, seeing the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Evangelism is a mindset
Evangelism today is not so much an event, but a mindset. It’s a way of loving your neighbor as yourself, every day. When you love your neighbor the way Jesus loved people, God will put you where you need to be to share your faith.
Think of how Jesus responded with love when he saw crowds of people.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36 NIV
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus didn’t call his listeners a bunch of miserable sinners. Although that’s how some preachers think they should preach the Gospel, and it’s how evangelism gets a bad name.
Jesus saw the immense worth in God’s eyes of everyone in those crowds who came to hear him. This was another way he expressed his love for them. He said,
You are the salt of the earth…
You are the light of the world. Matthew 5:13, 14 NIV
Imagine what it would have been like to hear those words. You would have felt loved. You would have felt valued.
Evangelism means to express love in a way that someone feels that love.
You can do this. You can share your faith, your love for God, and your love for Christ. It’s often more by your example than by words. But always be alert to the opportunities God gives you to let your light shine. Sharing an experience when God was present in your life may be just what someone needs to hear to be encouraged.
The need for prayer
The more you share your faith, the more you’re going to realize your own need to be closer to God. Even Jesus felt this.
There were times Jesus took specific time to pray.
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. Mark 1:35 KJV
…he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12 KJV
Jesus needed time alone with his heavenly Father. You and I do too. We need to take time and make time to pray for ourselves. We need to be close to God, to be in His presence. You can say the right words but if you don’t have the Holy Spirit with you, those words will be hollow.
A missed opportunity
Once, when I lived in Boston, I was walking to meet a friend for dinner. I met a man whose arm was in a cast and was asking for money to buy groceries for his family since he couldn’t work. I said I would be happy to pray for him, but that made him mad. He blamed God for his situation. The idea of praying for him was a good idea, but I did not really have the true spirit of love in my heart when I spoke to him. They were just words.
It was a total failure to share my faith with someone. It was a missed opportunity. What if I had said instead, “Well I’m going to meet a friend but if you’ll give me your address, I can bring you some groceries later”? If I had really been loving this man as my neighbor I might have said that or thought about something else I could do that would have really helped him.
And in doing so, it would have given me an opportunity to share my faith with him and be supportive.
Since that time years ago, I have had many opportunities to stop and talk with homeless people or someone asking for money. I have sat down with them and just talked with them. I have often prayed for and with them and asked them to pray for me. And it comes naturally because I have a lot more of Christ’s love in my heart than I did that day in Boston.
My point is, if I had been more prayed up, I might have responded in a more Christlike way with the man with the broken arm.
We also have a need for earnest, heartfelt time spent studying the Bible. It will nourish and replenish you in a way nothing else can.
Christ gives you authority
Your ability to preach, teach, and share your faith do not come from a degree at a Bible college, a certificate from an institution, or the approval of others. It comes directly from Christ. Christ appoints and anoints you just as he did his disciples.
Another thing to keep in mind is that evangelism today is not an activity of the human mind organizing and directing events or setting and strategizing on how to accomplish your goals. Evangelism is about being humble enough and receptive to being guided by the Holy Spirit.
My favorite example of this in the Bible is when the Christians in Antioch were fasting and praying and the Holy Spirit said out loud so they all heard it,
Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Acts 13:2 NIV
The next time you’re in church praying, remember the way these early Christians were praying. If it was possible for them to hear the Holy Spirit, then it must also be possible for us today. How can you and your fellow church members pray with the same spirit those early believers did?
Evangelism is not a business plan developed by the human mind or worldly ways of doing things. It is being filled with, listening for, and following the leadings of the Holy Spirit.
Fasting and evangelism today
And I want to talk about fasting a little bit. Those early Christians in Antioch were fasting and praying. We usually thing of it as going without food.
But look at the kind of fasting that pleases God. God says,
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Isaiah 58:6, 7 NIV
Fasting that pleases God is not so much about going without food. It’s about fasting, or refraining from being focused on yourself.
And this is a crucial part of evangelism, today and every day. It’s being focused on loving your neighbor and not so absorbed in just doing what you want to do.
Don’t compare yourself to others
All too often we tend to think of someone like Billy Graham who preached all over the world to hundreds of thousands, and millions of people over many years, as the model of evangelism today.
But you can’t compare yourself to Billy Graham or anyone else. You have to share your faith the way God calls you. You have to know the gifts and talents God has given you in order to use them in sharing your faith in your own unique way.
What has been helpful to me in sharing my faith is to establish a foundation on which to share it by building relationships with people. Sure, we may have those moments of talking with a stranger on the street who we’ll never see again, but more often we’re able to share our faith when we build a relationship with someone.
You show your faith by the way you live your life and the way you express love to someone. Then it becomes so natural to offer some words of encouragement, a Bible verse, an offer to pray for someone, or study the Bible together. Not in a pushy way, but with love, like you’d share your favorite brownie recipe.
Evangelism today is all about love
Evangelism today, true evangelism, can be summed up with one word “love.”
We need to live God’s love in our own lives: love for God but also accepting and feeling God’s love for us.
We need to grow in love, always growing closer to love and expressing it to others, building relationships based on love.
Then this love will overflow in the way you see and act toward others, in the way you share your faith.
If you see everyone as a miserable sinner who you need to convert, they will feel that.
If you see everyone as a dearly loved child of God, they will feel that love and be much more receptive.
The heart of evangelism
Evangelism today is helping someone discover who God made them to be and how much He loves them. It’s helping them see their place in the kingdom of heaven as a child of God and discovering their unique God-given purpose here on earth.
I’m going to repeat that:
Evangelism today is helping someone discover who God made them to be and how much He loves them. It’s helping them see their place in the kingdom of heaven as a child of God and discovering their unique God-given purpose here on earth.
Do you see yourself as an evangelist?
Do you think of yourself as an evangelist? If so, good for you. If not, maybe it’s time to embrace this idea, not in some stereotypical way but in the way God reveals to you.
Jesus said, not just to his immediate disciples, but to all his followers for all time, which includes you and me:
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15 NIV
I encourage you to ask God, in all humility, to give you opportunities to share your faith with those who need what you have to offer. And ask God to remove whatever is preventing you from doing this.
You may need to get out of your comfort zone, but you are more than able to do whatever God is calling you to do to share the good news that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and that the power of Christ is present today to forgive and heal just as it was 2,000 years ago.
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Photo credit: Sophia Richards
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and church mentor. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by learning to think, pray, and love like Jesus. Contact him here.
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Bible References
Mark 1:14, 15 KJV
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
1 Corinthians 15:17 NIV
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
Luke 4:18, 19 NIV
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV
16…we have the mind of Christ.
John 5:19, 30 NIV
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
30 I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.
Matthew 7:5 NIV
5 first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 9:36 NIV
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Matthew 5:13, 14 NIV
13 You are the salt of the earth.
14 You are the light of the world.
Mark 1:35 KJV
35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Luke 6:12 KJV
12 …he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Acts 13:2 NIV
2 Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
Isaiah 58:6, 7 NIV
6 Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Mark 16:15 NIV
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
