Creating a Culture of Evangelism
Do you find it difficult to share the gospel effectively? That probably describes most of us. We don’t find it difficult to be kind, or to love our neighbor, or even to serve the underserved among us. Those are natural overflows of the Holy Spirit living in a believer. However, when it comes to actually broaching the subjects of sin and judgment, and repentance and forgiveness (you know, the gospel), we often find ourselves hesitant to broach the subject with lost people.
Why is that?
Most Christians report that they have a fear of being rejected or ridiculed for their beliefs, or that someone with ask them a question about God or the Bible which they cannot answer. Let me give you some assurance for both of those fears. If you’re sharing the gospel of Christ regularly, both of those fears will be realized – that is, they will come true. You will be ridiculed and rejected, and you will be asked questions which you cannot answer. Christ promised as much (read John 15:18-26).
Nevertheless, we are commanded to share the gospel (read Matthew 28:18-20). To neglect this assignment from Christ is to be disobedient to Him. This means that we must, through the power of the Holy Spirit, overcome these fears and share the Good News anyway. This is the hard work of creating a culture of evangelism at Lakewood. We are praying for the Lord to send us new people and new families. We are returning to Sunday School classes. We are looking at returning to additional services in 2021.
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed to the Lord, “Not my will, but yours.” You and I must pray this same prayer. Despite the fearful thing which Christ was facing, He obeyed the Lord’s will. Despite the things we fear about evangelism, we must obey the Lord’s will.
I am planning to teach an evangelism training class in early 2021, and we’ll talk about these fears and tools which we can use to overcome them. In the meantime, you will be blessed to read this small book by J. Mack Stiles titled, Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus. It is approximately 100 pages of large print, easy reading, on a middle school level. It would probably be only one or two chapters of your average sized book. I would encourage all Lakewood members to purchase and read this book before the new year.
When we overcome our fear, we unleash the power of the Holy Spirit to those things which we could never accomplish on our own. The eternal destination of our friends, family, and neighbors are at stake.
Pastor Bruce