Teaching people about evangelism is a huge waste of time and resources.
As a pastor, I dreaded all the seminars, workshops, books and video series intended to motivate and make successful evangelists of our congregation. Why? Because they didn’t work.
It is astounding how much training people have received, but with so little results! And I have found that this is frustrating and very discouraging to them. More and more of this training is not going to change anything.
Most of the creative ideas and approaches articulated in those dozens of new resources published every year were, and continue to be, wonderful. But, because evangelism is an activity, the only training approach that will actually work is going out and doing it.
Learning By Doing
There is no better way to learn evangelism than by doing it. And it doesn’t take very long to learn to share the Gospel. Simply ask people to observe you sharing the first few times, then have them join you in the next few conversations, even taking the lead as they feel ready, and finally you can observe them and set them loose to be training others.
Sharing the Gospel regularly develops confidence, joy and new skills. Once people are actually involved in the activity of telling others about Jesus Christ for a while, the content from those evangelism resources becomes valuable to them, and then they can meaningfully reflect on their practice.
Wait Until People Are Serious
A few years ago I decided to focus on mentoring those who truly desired to do evangelism and develop in this area. I put together a personal evangelism development form that was filled out quarterly. This gave us a starting point in our initial discussion, and served as a guide in our coaching meetings and prayer times.
Here are the categories of questions included:
That year I had three people take me up on this personal evangelism development plan. We all grew during those individual meetings, and encouraged one another to be more intentional in our evangelism. And we witnessed God's power working upon those many dear people with whom we shared the love of God.
We all came to a deeper experiential understanding of our Apostle Paul's words in Philemon 1:6 ESV “I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.”
As a pastor, I dreaded all the seminars, workshops, books and video series intended to motivate and make successful evangelists of our congregation. Why? Because they didn’t work.
It is astounding how much training people have received, but with so little results! And I have found that this is frustrating and very discouraging to them. More and more of this training is not going to change anything.
Most of the creative ideas and approaches articulated in those dozens of new resources published every year were, and continue to be, wonderful. But, because evangelism is an activity, the only training approach that will actually work is going out and doing it.
Learning By Doing
There is no better way to learn evangelism than by doing it. And it doesn’t take very long to learn to share the Gospel. Simply ask people to observe you sharing the first few times, then have them join you in the next few conversations, even taking the lead as they feel ready, and finally you can observe them and set them loose to be training others.
Sharing the Gospel regularly develops confidence, joy and new skills. Once people are actually involved in the activity of telling others about Jesus Christ for a while, the content from those evangelism resources becomes valuable to them, and then they can meaningfully reflect on their practice.
Wait Until People Are Serious
A few years ago I decided to focus on mentoring those who truly desired to do evangelism and develop in this area. I put together a personal evangelism development form that was filled out quarterly. This gave us a starting point in our initial discussion, and served as a guide in our coaching meetings and prayer times.
Here are the categories of questions included:
- List the people with whom you have shared the Gospel fully and clearly. And include a brief statement on each person’s present status and notes for prayer.
- This past year, how many unchurched people have you invited to worship, or an evangelistic event, or any type of church event at all? How many came? Who and what were the results?
- Which evangelistic training events have you attended over the years? What have you found most helpful in your personal outreach? Are you currently working through any particular material?
- Have you participated in short-term mission trips? Did you actually do evangelism on the mission trips? In which upcoming trips are you interested?
- Have you been a part of any community service projects, either through the church or outside of the church this year? What do you do in the community?
- In what non-Christian relational networks are you active? For what upcoming special relationship building activities would you like prayer?
- In which evangelistic, church planting or mission prayer groups have you regularly participated, or led? Do you regularly prayer walk your neighborhood, or join others in doing so in their neighborhoods?
- Who are the top ten people on your evangelistic prayer list? Are you focusing your prayers and conversations on those upon whom you have seen God moving in their lives and their thinking?
That year I had three people take me up on this personal evangelism development plan. We all grew during those individual meetings, and encouraged one another to be more intentional in our evangelism. And we witnessed God's power working upon those many dear people with whom we shared the love of God.
We all came to a deeper experiential understanding of our Apostle Paul's words in Philemon 1:6 ESV “I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.”
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