Everyday Evangelists - Part 4: Tools

This is the fourth and final installment in this series. Enjoy!

Tools
When I was in fourth grade, my Dad and I built a soapbox derby. As an imaginative kid, I had a vision in my head of how this process was going to work and what the pieces and parts were going to look like. The kit we received from the organization included all the necessary hardware and a shopping list – so we headed off to the lumber yard. Had the shopping trip gone like I imagined, we would have had a trailer full of large boards and metal peices to pull home that day – after all we were building an entire car! I was both perplexed and disappointed when the largest pieces we bought were a sheet of 4x8 plywood to cut the sides and top of the car and one 2x16 board for the base of the car. Everything we got that day fit in the back of Dad’s truck! The reality of what we needed was much simpler that my over-active imagination made it out to be.

Starting as early as Jr. High School, I have been taught, practiced, and worked though more techniques, methods and sure fire tools for gospel presentations and personal evangelism than I can recall. From the relationship evangelism style of Young Life to the mall surveys that were an assignment in a personal evangelism class, I have seen and used a broad range of tools of the trade. There are four elements that I have found constant necessities regardless of the context or approach to sharing the gospel.

1) The Word of God. “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”2 Timothy 3:14-17

As discussed above, a passion for God’s Word is a key element in developing a passion for evangelism. Having it nested firmly in your toolbox, however takes interest in the scriptures from a passion to a practice. As we undertake the process of evangelism, we need to be grounded in what God has to say about key issues such as sin and salvation, heaven and hell, and life and death. Understanding what the Bible teaches on these topics does not require an in depth knowledge of the doctrinal history of each issue. The goal of understanding is to provide a base knowledge of the truth we seek to communicate and a filter we can use to sort out false doctrines we may encounter as we broach spiritual topics with an unbelieving, ungrounded world.

2) Prayer. “Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.” I Thessalonians 3:1

“Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” Romans 10:1

While this may feel painfully obvious, it is often a most neglected tool in the evangelism process. Prayer is our opportunity to quiet our minds to things of this world and refocus our thoughts and sensitivity to God and His will. While prayer for general efforts in evangelism is never a bad idea, there are several specifics that should be at the forefront of our prayers.

· Pray for specific opportunities that are part of your natural course of life: a PTA meeting, an office picnic, etc.
· Pray for specific people in your life. It may even be beneficial to develop a list of the top ten or top five people God has put on your heart to be on regular alert for outreach opportunities.
· Pray for protection and stamina. Engaging in the act of evangelism is something our spiritual enemies will not take lightly; rest assured that the deceiver will be at his best to thwart our efforts. Evangelism is one of several activities that move a person from religious defense – just trying to live a good life and not do wrong things – to spiritual offense – proactively seeking to take new ground in our lives as well as the life of others for the sake of Christ.


3) Your Testimony. “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.” 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5

Your testimony is the story of the specific events leading up to your personal decision to follow Christ. This is your account of the change that God made in your life and is longing to make in the life of every unbeliever. You should be able to share your testimony in less than five minuets, support your claims about the process in your life with scripture, and include an example of how the change that took place at that moment continues to impact your life today. The goal of your testimony is to share with an unbeliever that you understand and have experienced first hand the truth that is revealed in scripture. This is often, but not always, a good time to invite a person to experience God’s love in a personal way by accepting Christ as their savior. The timing for this invitation is something to you will need to look to the Holy Spirit for prompting toward. Don’t assume that it’s your job to make this happen. The work in the heart of a person is something we have no control over, no matter how persuasive, convincing or knowledgeable we may be.

4) Your Story. “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ.” Philippians 3:4-9

In contrast to your testimony, your story about more than the moment you received Christ; it is a collection of experiences and events in your life that demonstrate God’s faithfulness or support your claims to his truth. Paul pulled from his history in the Jewish culture and traditions to lend credibility to his claims. In a similar way, your story pulls from your personal experience. It is not about your spiritual or personal success. On the contrary, your story may leave you in a very open, vulnerable and consequently uncomfortable place. Paul does not set out his religious qualifications as a way to elevate himself, but rather to show his once misguided reliance on religious tradition.

You should be able to share your story in short slices, making them relevant to a specific context. For example, if you grew up in a broken home, you may relate that part of your story to an unbeliever who is dealing with their own kids through a divorce. You may have lost a job, experienced the death of a parent or close friend, been on a mission trip or built a house with a neighbor. Nothing is off limits. Anywhere you have been, anything you have experienced that points your life closer to God is worthy of your story.

In spite of my delusions of grandeur, we did get that car built and had several successful runs down the track (and one not-so-successful, but that’s another story!) By keeping the big picture in perspective and following the lead of those who have made a few trips down that mountain, we can set ourselves up with the right tools for the right opportunities to share God’s truth as He leads us through our daily lives.

While we are not all called to pursue a vocation of Christian ministry, every believer is called be a minister to the world in which we live, work and play. Left to our own random efforts, evangelism will be become a “by-the-way” activity that we occasionally embrace. With minimal effort and deliberateness, any believer can adopt a lifestyle that fulfills our biblical mandate to be an everyday evangelist.

It’s Time to Go
Since the beginning of this year at our home church here in North Texas, our pastors have ended our Sunday services with a challenge to “live it forward.” While a traditional “benediction” (literally meaning “to speak good thoughts or blessings”) marks the end of a service, this challenge reminds us that when we walk out the door we are continuing a process – one that involves more doing than speaking and doesn’t always fit into our plans and schedules, but one that God himself has set into motion and has ultimate control over. As everyday evangelists – Christians seeking honor God in our hearts and use the tools he has giving us to make the most of every opportunity – it is our calling to seek God daily and consciously bow our will to His.

I’m still sitting in the study looking out the window and there are still people walking by. Our community is no different that every other community across our country and around our world: it’s full of people who need to experience and know the tangible love of our God and His risen Son!

I think its time to turn off the computer, go outside and say “hello”!

Everyday Evangelists Part 3: Opportunity

(This is part three of a four part series. Parts 1 & 2 are posted in the June Archives.)

Opportunity
When my wife and I were married, I did what every red-blooded American man should do: I registered at The Home Depot. While I was sure to include the big-ticket items – a table saw, lawnmower, etc - I also included several small tools that I knew my closest friends could afford. A friend of my parents, who had been a general contractor for thirty plus years, got a hold of the list and, in his own words, “took some liberties with my selections.” Instead of the inexpensive pack of screwdrivers I had on the list, he presented me with a vintage set of forged tools (which I still use on a regular basis), and instead of the light hammer I had on the list, he gave me a heavy framing hammer, forged from a single piece of steel. While this is a great tool – one I doubt I could even buy today – it sits idle in my tool box for one simple reason: I have never framed a house!

If I ever want to but my framing hammer to use, I will need to go out of my way to find a frame to build. If we want to pour out our hearts and use our tools for outreach, we need to either find or create opportunities to do so! From my experience in intentionally reaching out in our communities, there are two ways opportunities present themselves: they cross our paths as we go through the course of our everyday lives or we plan them in advance and intentionally prepare to be productive in specific areas. Furthermore, a key essential to fostering opportunities for outreach involves a deliberate step out of our comfortable church circles. (As I said, these are my observations from my life and experience, so there is not scripture attached to each of these points.)

1) As life brings it. Drawing from my hammer illustration, I can think of a few situations that I might need a framing hammer along the course of life. Living on the edge of tornado alley, the reality that a twister could tear through our neighborhood with little warning is ever present. If that should happen and I find myself with neighbors in need of shelter or need to clean up the wreckage left in the wake of the storm, I know I have a tool in my box that will be valuable.

The same is true with opportunities for outreach: live long enough and they will present themselves. Every new person we meet, every pot-luck dinner we attend and kids sporting event we watch presents a chance to interact with people who may have never been adequately exposed to the gospel. With the right tools in your toolbox, you will be prepared to take advantage of these opportunities as life brings them your way.

2) As you bring it into life. While I am a big fan of being prepared for what ever comes along, simply having a tool in the box does not make one a craftsman. While being prepared for opportunities when they arise is important, it is just as valuable to proactively create opportunities to engage the un-churched. This could be as simple as inviting several neighbors over for a cook-out or as organized as gathering with other believers to hand out free popsicles in a park on a hot summer day.

3) Stepping out of the Holy Huddle. While it is essential to a healthy Christian life to be grounded in fellowship with other believers, it is not at all realistic to expect to have an active evangelistic life if we limit our social, business and civic encounters to those within our spiritual circles. If the world is to know us as Christians by the love we share, we have to be in close enough proximity to them for it to rub off!

The proactive measures we take as believers to create opportunities for interaction with non-Christians are the first steps in moving simple relational evangelism to a more strategic endeavor. Maximizing our evangelistic energy comes when we couple those efforts with the appropriate knowledge of God’s word and sensitivity to God’s will.

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