There are lots of ways to justify not practicing evangelism: I don’t have the gift of evangelism. I’m not very persuasive. I’m too shy. I’m in seminary and never around unbelievers. There are lots of unspoken reasons as well. I suppose the most common one is fear.
Below are resources recommended by The Gospel Coalition to help with courage and making time for personal evangelism:
- Why We Should Have Courage to Speak About Christ, John Piper: He gives five reasons why sharing Christ can be harder today and five incentives Jesus gives for courage.
- The Christian Gospel – Why Share It?, Sinclair Ferguson: He explains three biblical motives that the apostle Paul had for sharing the gospel.
- Trusting the Holy Spirit, Kevin DeYoung: He encourages Christians to speak the gospel based on the fact that we haven our side a sovereign God who seeks out lost sheep. It removes our pride and pressure to be a pristine evangelist.
To give us some more encouragement, we asked Chris and Danielle Sallade, staff members of Princeton Evangelical Fellowship at Princeton University, What are some common obstacles that keep us from practicing evangelism and some encouragement to overcome those obstacles?
To love Jesus is to obey his commands (John 15:10). Yet for so many believers, obeying our Lord’s command to go out into the world and make disciples of all peoples (Matt. 28:18-20), is very challenging; so challenging, that we often fail to keep this command at all.
That evangelism brings struggle for the believer is nothing new. Though there are instances recorded in the New Testament of visible fruit from evangelism (for example, the Pentecost conversions in Acts 2, or Paul and the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:29-34), there are just as many instances of hardship and rejection. Paul’s preaching in Athens, recorded in Acts 17, garners a very different response from what was experienced on Pentecost in Acts 2.
It is hard for us to keep evangelism a priority because we face obstacles both from without (rejection, insult, and persecution from others) and obstacles from within (personal sin, fear of man, failure to see how evangelism promotes God’s glory, to name a few). As we combat these obstacles, let’s consider the following quote as our foundation:
“There are, in fact, two motives that should spur us constantly to evangelize. The first is love for God and concern for his glory; the second is love for man and concern for his welfare.” — J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (p. 73)
So first, we ought to evangelize because evangelism makes God’s name known and brings honor to his name. According to 9Marks: “Our ultimate motivation in evangelism must be to see God glorified, and God is glorified when the truth about him is known and made known. Thus our desire should be to glorify God by proclaiming the truth about him as often as we can. This motivation will sustain us when our love for others may run dry. If we are to faithfully evangelize despite rejection, opposition, and even persecution, our deepest motivation must be to glorify God.”
Second, the ultimate way to love our neighbor as we love ourselves is to share Christ with them, in order to rescue them from God’s wrath and enable them to experience the joy and peace of forgiveness in this life and the life to come. The Scriptures teach us that once we become a follower of Christ, we are made ambassadors for Christ. “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). We must keep this calling central to living for Christ.
Some Resources:
Evangelism for the TongueTied, Chap Bettis. A great beginning primer on how to share your faith with encouraging examples from the author’s personal experience. There are small group resources at the book’s website for using this material as a training manual.
Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World, Rebecca Pippert. Still a classic book that teaches believers how to make evangelism part of our every day lifestyle. Its strength is teaching how to bring the gospel into our everyday conversations. Pippert shares many practical examples from her life that help the reader overcome fears.
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J. I. Packer. A must read for understanding what the Scriptures teach about the role of God’s sovereignty in salvation and evangelism.
Concentric Circles of Concern, Oscar Thompson. Particularly focuses on the connection between our abiding in Christ and our evangelism. It also teaches how to prioritize relationships and think strategically in our evangelism.
The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Mark Dever. Answers all sorts of questions about evangelism, from “What is evangelism?” to “Why should I evangelize.” It is very thorough for developing a theology of evangelism and is excellent for teachers.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
