The “I don’t have the gift of evangelism” Card

The command is clear — “Go into all the world and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). It is not a suggestion, nor is it reserved for those with the gift of evangelism. .” 

 Yes, some people have the gift of evangelism and their primary mandate according to Ephesians 4:11-12 is NOT to do all the evangelism themselves but to equip God’s people to do it!

There is a temptation to remake yourself in the image of those exuberant souls with the gift of evangelism. You know, the ones who share their faith as naturally as breathing, and have stories of leading to Christ waitresses, strangers on the plane, punks ,monks and skunks.  

Yet, my most successful faith sharing encounters are not slick and polished, but heartfelt and sincere. People are not moved by a well-rehearsed spiel, but an authentic conversation.The problem is not the mission I have been given, nor is it the tools I have been equipped with. It is my own misunderstanding of what evangelism is.

The first misunderstanding is when we focus on the task and not the person when this happens evangelism becomes a legalistic hurdle to overcome; we lose sight of what is really important. People become projects. We may miss out on genuine connection in the drive to share the entire gospel story. One of the things that has helped me the most is to understand that I can talk to non-Christians in exactly the same way I talk to Christian friends. I don’t need to change who I am or live a dual life. I just need to let the light of Christ shine through me at all times, and trust that people will be attracted to that light.

The second misunderstanding which enrolls us into the “evangelism is a gift” school comes from viewing it as an accomplishment rather than a matter of obedience,

The problem comes from when we have an unreal expectation of what we should be accomplishing

“I witnessed to that person and he totally rejected what I said” or “I wish I had more answers to the questions they were asking me” or how about this one I never win people to Christ -God you got it wrong when you said I would be a fisher of people ,what you meant to say was I would be a keeper of the aquarium

No wonder people try and give up at these point. Unrealistic expectations.   

 Please understand this about evangelism: Success in witnessing is taking the initiative to share Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and leaving the results to God. You see, we cannot control whether or not a person comes to Christ. Jesus Himself said that no one comes to Him unless the Holy Spirit draws him/her. Converting people is God’s job, not ours. We have the privilege of being part of the process by simply telling people what we know about Jesus. It takes the pressure off to know that what they do with that information is between them and God–it’s not about us.

 When we take what is everybody’s thing - and reaching the lost is everybody’s thing - and make it just a few people’s thing, there are a number of consequences:

• Reaching the lost appears to be aspecialist area, leaving the majority uninvolved.
• Reaching the lost becomes a ‘burn-out’ ministry, because only a few are doing the work of all.
• Reaching the lost gets a bad reputation as a ‘Cinderella’ area of church life and people begin to fear the ‘E’ word - evangelism.
• An ‘us and them’ atmosphere develops between those working hard to reach people and those who aren’t.

So what’s your “Get out of jail free” Card for evangelism? Is it the “Use words if necessary” card? or the anti confrontational evangelism card? or the “I don’t have the gift” card? ”

Whatever it is, take that card out and give it a life sentence in the bin. And then share the good news with your life, with your love and with your words to everyone you encounter. Just like Jesus did.