Recently, I had a great conversation with a friend of mine. I left that conversation really encouraged and grateful for our time together. We chatted about evangelism and the struggles of it when evangelizing to non-believers. While most times the primary goal of evangelizing is sharing the Gospel with non-believers, it doesn’t make it any easier. Sometimes the conversation spirals out of control and turns into arguments. Other times there may be dispute over the authenticity of the Bible. There’s no telling which way the conversation may go sometimes. However, one thing I shared with that friend and want to share with you now is to have the courage to share the Gospel with others. This is a great place to start when setting expectations for yourself in regards to preparing to evangelize.
One common misunderstanding when people think about evangelizing is they believe they need to know everything about the Bible, the Gospel, about God, about church, and so many other things. Once they figure out they don’t know as much as they would like, they become nervous and would just rather not share their faith with others. And I understand this concern, I understand it can be intimidating to imagine not having enough knowledge to have a conversation with someone else about your faith. But, I want to share some good news with you. You do not need to have all of the answers. You really don’t. Now, don’t hear me incorrectly here. When you share the Gospel with someone, understanding it well and understanding salvation is very important; so you should definitely know those items well. But, when it comes to someone asking you a random question like what the 7th chapter of Leviticus means, it is totally ok for you to say you aren’t sure. That is only fair and it would take a long time to prepare for any number of random questions someone may ask you about the Bible or specific details about the Bible. However, don’t leave a conversation saying “I don’t know”. Answering their question with “I’m not sure about that now, but I will study it and come back to you!” is a great response to a hard question and leaves an opportunity for a follow-up conversation.
Another piece of advice I would have for you is to understand that it is God that works in the hearts of others and saves them, not you. When it comes to us as Christians having Gospel conversations with others, we do not need to worry about making sure they understand the Gospel as well as we do. If we are faithful to explain it and let them ask questions, then we leave the rest of the work to God. And this is not a lazy response here, this is letting the Lord do His work. If we are able to plant a mustard seed of faith within someone, do you know what amazing work can be done with that faith? The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 that a mustard seed faith can move an entire mountain. You see, the power of that mustard seed does not come from us or the non-believer, it comes from and grows from God Himself. So when you are evangelizing to someone and fear you might not have done a good enough job or could’ve explained something better, be encouraged and remember that it is God that grows and nurtures the faith in others, not you. We are just the hands and feet of the Kingdom that God built, we just have to share this Good News with others.
Finally, I hope you have confidence when you evangelize to others. If confidence is something you lack when you have the opportunity to evangelize, I hope what I have already explained here will help you. But if it is still difficult, I would tell you I understand. But I would also quickly point you to the confidence you can have when you consider YOUR relationship with Jesus. Look here at 1 John 4:18-19: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.” This verse tells us that Christ’s love should be our confidence, our power when we share the Gospel with others. When we seek others out and introduce Christ to them, we do this because God’s love was first shown to us. God’s love becomes our confidence. And with that confidence, we can go to others and share that love.
I hope this encourages you as my conversation with a friend encouraged me.
His Glory Alone
