Whether you consider yourself a follower of Jesus or not - "evangelism" can be a scary word. For many Christians, the idea of sharing the message of Jesus with people can be paralyzing. Questions tremor in our minds. "What if I say the wrong thing? What if I get rejected? What if I come across as being a hypocrite?" and so on.
For the non-follower of Jesus, the word evangelism might envoke thoughts of cheesy TV preachers trying to rope you in so they can get your money. Or it may remind you of that fundamentalist uncle who always seems to be trying to cram Jesus down everybody's throat.
The reality is, evangelism simply means "spreading the good news". In one sense, everybody is an evangelist. Most normal human beings enjoy sharing "good news" with their friends and neigbhors. An MRI reports good results. An estranged child finds his or her way home. A person's neighborhood narrowly misses being enveloped by a forest fire. Good news - from the miraculous to the mundane - is something we like to share.
Unfortunately, sometimes Christians do a poor job communicating the good news of Jesus. As a pastor who talks about Jesus all the time, I regret that I have failed MANY times to accurately represent Him. This week at Valley, we will be diving into an incredible story to discover what evangelism is - and isn't. I invite you to join us for part or all of our current series "Vintage: Ancient Values for a Relevant Faith." I would also be interested in hearing about your experience with this scary word....evangelism....
Great post Jeremy! I Think sometimes as Christians we scare ourselves into our own ideas of what evangelism really is. I think as we become comfortable with the idea that people will not be turned off to hearing about Christ if we just make Christ apart of EVERYTHING we do and say, we will see that if you radiate Christ then the words will come naturally in our conversations. We don't have to whip out the Roman Road or Wordless Book to talk to people. Just BE Christ to those around you and the conversation will often start on it's own!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Vicki! Thanks for contributing your thoughts... :)
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