During the interview ordeal, I mean process, for my hiring as Pastor of Outreach and Discipleship I said one of my goals for the church would be the “normalization of evangelism”. This passion to see the body of Christ as a natural, everyday witness to the grace and truth of Jesus Christ was borne out of both theological conviction and personal frustration.
The theological conviction comes from trusting what God tells us in his Word. I recently preached on the remarkable privilege we have been given by God to be “ambassadors for Christ.” The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19 that, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” He is not only building his church, but doing it through us! Scary thought isn’t it! But wait a minute, perhaps it is only scary when our focus is wrong. It isn’t the reconciling itself that is entrusted to us, but the message that is entrusted to us. Therefore, we don’t judge our evangelism by our cleaverness, or even by the results – we judge it by our faithfulness to the message, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As for my frustration, several years ago I grew increasingly agitated with impotent efforts at sharing my faith: both through the church and privately outside. Too often the church has used manipulation and guilt to get people to “do evangelism.” Take a guess at what then marks our evangelism: you got it, manipulation and guilt!
Mack Stiles has a good, simple definition of evangelism: Evangelism is teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade.
Stiles offers a very helpful reminder to us with the “aim to persuade” because people need more than a mere data transfer. Good evangelism is more than explaining, expanding, and answering questions. He says: “as we set out the facts of the gospel” and the reason for the hope within us, “remembering evangelism’s aim helps us to be compassionate, understanding, and loving (cf: 1 Pet. 3:15).”
This Sunday I will be sharing a little more detail regarding the three evangelism initiatives I mentioned in a recent sermon: i) the Christianity Explored course, ii) the Introduction to Christian Apologetics course and iii) the Evangelism Training Group (the GO Team). Although I am excited about the willingness of the church to engage in these outreach initiatives, I am most excited about how it will make us more effective, natural ministers of reconciliation in our daily lives. Please listen up for the details, and don’t hesitate to ask questions. See you Sunday!
Much love,
Pastor Gary