The Gospel and its Evangelistic Imperative
As I was listening to one podcast I was challenged to think about these three questions;
1. Why don’t more Christians share their faith?
2. What is the Gospel?
3. What is the best way to proclaim it?
Why don’t more Christians share their faith?
Is this question assuming that there is a norm in the behavior of most Christians that reflects an absence of evangelism? I wonder how many influencers affect one’s attempt to personal evangelism. Mocking, ridicule, lack of self-confidence, overwhelming (or it least seems that way) amount of info that seems to contradict our efforts. Do we need to have the ‘gift’ of evangelism in order to evangelize? It’s a big risk. It means stepping out. There are probably more excuses. Sincere as they might be, could it be that they are still excuses.
What is the gospel?
I’ve been asked this question a lot. I have even asked myself this question to safeguard myself from presenting the wrong gospel. Is the gospel presented in its fullness or are some elements left out in order to avoid being ‘offensive’? Could it be that those who are presenting the gospel without all its parts be doing so because they themselves do not subscribe to the sum of its parts? Is the content of the Christian gospel ‘offensive’ even to those who profess it? Maybe a challenge facing most Christians is to fully understand the message we need to proclaim.
What is the best way to proclaim it?
Relationships? Friendships? Debates? Street evangelism? Without words? With words? More ways than you can shake a bible at. Methodologies, strategies, structure, statistics, classes, seminars, books, DVD’s, podcasts, blogs, vlogs, facebook, MSN; what is the best ways to proclaim the gospel? Could it be that more effort is spent learning than is spent doing? Then again, how can we do it if we do not know it?
Something interesting was said about how we examine our success. Success in evangelism does not come in numbers or conversions but success in evangelism comes when it is spoken out loud. Martin Luther said, “Evangelism is purely getting the words from our mouths to others ears”. Maybe this might release some from the fear of being ‘unsuccessful’.
Maybe there are more people sharing their faith than we realize. I know I want to share the gospel more than I do. Let’s be courageous and leave the results to God. Why should we fear man when God made heavens and the earth?
