Evangelism

[Guest]

Hi all,

I am interested in some of the ways you guys evangelize. Personally, I am always willing to share the Gospel and often get the chance when people just kind of "pop up" in my life, but I also make an effort once a week or so to go out with a brother from church and hand out tracts and try to engage people in coversation.

So far in my short walk with the Lord (3yrs) I really havn't seen any real fruit. Of course that doesn't mean that there isn't a seed that has sprung up fruit somewhere as a result of our efforts for the Lord. But to be honest, I really want to see some fruit!

So anyway, I would like to know what kinds of things some of the posters here do for evangelism.

Places, people,

"Methods" (I don't like that word but...),

Dealing with disappointment in this area...

Criticism of how I seem to be thinking about the subject above.

Anything that comes to mind.

Thanks yall,

[Guest]

What is the gospel, Derek? When you share it with people, what (in a nutshell) do you actually say? How do you hope that they will respond? What should they actually do to give you evidence of "fruit"?

[Guest]

I don't want to criticize the methods of those with the evangelist calling, but it seems to me that our society has been "tracted" to death.

There may be those who come to know the Lord by receiving a tract, but I think that most people view it as sort of a salesmanship approach and their cynicism the drowns out the beauty of the message.

When I look at Jesus' approach to evangelism, I think more often than not we see Him just going about His business and seizing the opportunities that were before Him as the Holy Spirit would open the doors. Blind men would call out to him as He was passing by, He would run into a Samaritan woman at a well as He was going to get a drink, He would go have dinner with a tax collector, etc. It seems that Jesus would just befriend everyone along the way and be Himself, showing that He valued them and had compassion on them.

I could be way off here, but I wonder how much fruit would be produced if we stopped trying to produce it. The most fruitful conversations I've had with unbelievers have been when I wasn't trying to "witness" to them.

In general, I think people these days have a real aversion to someone else's agenda (I know I do) and they can usually spot it a mile away. I think God is able to reel them in if we are simply faithful to be open for Him to use us.

Just my thoughts.

[Guest]

i agree, christopher. i have been frustrated at my attempts to actively evangelize because they generally fail miserably. i am simply not gifted in explaining what should be a simple message. people like billy graham make it sound so simple, but he is a charismatic figure; the tone of his speech alone makes people listen.

living a solid christian life is the best witness, i have found. sure, you have to be able to speak when called to do so; my wife is much better at this than i am, i believe largely because she is a very compassionate person.

Paidion makes a good point-- if the "fruit" one seeks when evangelizing is simply having the person recite a "sinners prayer" then more harm may be done than good. responsible evangelism requires extensive follow up, in my opinion.

TK

[Guest]

Paidion makes a good point-- if the "fruit" one seeks when evangelizing is simply having the person recite a "sinners prayer" then more harm may be done than good. responsible evangelism requires extensive follow up, in my opinion.

Personally, I am not an advocate of the "sinners prayer." That's not what I meant.

I am thinking more along the lines of meeting people, telling them about Jesus, and them actually wanting to hear more. I consider a conversation "fruitful" if someone just winds up closer to wanting to follow Jesus, or even if they are just questioning their worldview.

I would think it were fruitful if someone became interested in Jesus and we were able to start a small group bible study. Anything really that gets someone thinking about God, and of course if someone came to God I would consider it fruit. Of course, I really don't expect the latter just from talking to someone for 15mins on Saturday morning.

What is the gospel, Derek? When you share it with people, what (in a nutshell) do you actually say?

Hi Paidion,

Thanks for responding.

Well, I don't have a "nutshell" version really. Typically, if we are handing out tracts, when someone is responsive in some way, (i.e. doesn't just walk on past) we try to start a conversation about spiritual things and just talk. We are going out praying that God will lead us to those He is working on.

I would try to tell them all you would expect I suppose. Jesus was sent from God, died for our sins, resurected and exalted as Lord of all, and requires/commands that all should repent from their sins, follow and obey Him as Lord, etc...

It really never comes out in a neat package like that of course, but over the course of a conversation. which may go any number of directions. I have never really followed the "tell them the Gospel, ask if they want to say "the prayer", send them on their way" approach.

We usually ask if we can pray for folks as well. It usually goes well, but then we never see these people again and rarely do they seem interested in anything else.

How do you hope that they will respond? What should they actually do to give you evidence of "fruit"?

See above for the "fruit" question. I was using the term loosely. I suppose it has some connotations that I did not mean to express.

There may be those who come to know the Lord by receiving a tract, but I think that most people view it as sort of a salesmanship approach and their cynicism the drowns out the beauty of the message.

Hi Christopher,

I tend to agree, that's why I am posting. For us tracts are just a way to start a conversation. People read them too, and that can't hurt. They do at least have God's word in them, which is better than nothing.

I could be way off here, but I wonder how much fruit would be produced if we stopped trying to produce it. The most fruitful conversations I've had with unbelievers have been when I wasn't trying to "witness" to them

That's probably true. As to the latter part of your statement, this has been true in my experience as well. However, surely we shouldn't just wait around and wait for people to just cross our path. I just want to do more than that.

Surely the example of Paul was one of someone who went out and spread the Gospel not just by "living as a solid Christian" and waiting on it to rub off on others. Of course I do believe that living as a true believer is every bit as important and evangelistic as anything, but not a substitute for active positive evangelism (assuming one is called to evangelism).

When I look at Jesus' approach to evangelism, I think more often than not we see Him just going about His business and seizing the opportunities that were before Him as the Holy Spirit would open the doors. Blind men would call out to him as He was passing by, He would run into a Samaritan woman at a well as He was going to get a drink, He would go have dinner with a tax collector, etc. It seems that Jesus would just befriend everyone along the way and be Himself, showing that He valued them and had compassion on them.

I have never really seen Jesus' approach this way. I don't know why. I will try to read with this in mind.

Thanks guys for your responses. I will be thinking about all of this.

God bless!

[Guest]

I've led people to the Lord by simply living differently than those around me. I know people often scoff at this approach but it's worked for me. I pray for God to put people in my path who would naturally be influanced in this way and he certainly has!

Most people I know ask me for advice... usually on a daily basis. It's kind of tiring, honestly, but God has simply made me an approachable kind of man. People I hardly know ask me questions about spiritual things. My thought on this phenomenon is that God is perhaps using me a little differently than he uses other servants.

Another thing that has kind of helped is politics, oddly enough. People sometimes ask me if I'm a democrat, to which I reply, "no." Then they say, "Oh... so you're a republican?" To this I also reply, "no." This usualy starts a long winded conversation that ends with me procliming something to the effect of, "Mankind's problems cannot be solved through laws and governments... change only comes when people seek to know God and recieve a new heart." Strangely enough, I've not once had someone react strongly against this statement.... either liberal or conservative.