The following is adapted from the
first half of a talk I gave at WYnet Summer Camp 2011. The theme for
the week was Discipleship, and I spoke towards the end of the event
about mission-ship, or evangelism.
I introduced the talk by saying that
I knew they (the teens) had, or could get, advice on how to be "nice
people" very easily, and therefore I wanted to cut straight to
stuff about evangelism that could be applied in their lives at school
and college.
What
During my time at the University of
Chester, I heard what I think is the best definition of evangelism I
have ever heard. It went,
"Evangelism is just one beggar
telling another beggar where he can get free food."
There is no requirement to be any
different to those we talk to about Jesus. We just need to know the
Gospel, and tell them about it. We do not need the power to
manipulate a mind or attract a heart, because that is between them
and God. We use our mouths to make words appear in the air, but we
are not responsible for them once they have entered the ears of the
listener.
To evangelise; know the Gospel, and
speak to people. God will take care of the rest.
We can trust God to take care of the
rest because, as illustrated in the parable of the talents, we are
congratulated for being faithful, not for being successful (Luke
19:11-27).
So we don't need much. But we do need
an understanding of the Gospel.
The Gospel message is not that God is a
happy man in the sky who wants nice things for everyone. The Gospel
message, when fully told and heard, will provoke a strong reaction in
anyone.
The Context
Gospel literally means "Good
News". Good news is only listened to and acted upon if people
are aware of the bad news. If they aren't, maybe we need to talk
about the bad news first.
The bad news, the context of the
current world we live in, is that all humans are 'only human', and
therefore deserve to go to Hell. But the Good News that our hearts
yearn to hear is that God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die
on the cross and rise to new life, and this has enabled us to be in
relationship with God again. Jesus has given us the rest of eternity
to look forward to. Exactly how this works can be explored for longer
than a lifetime, so it is more important to decide whether to put
your trust in this and give your life to it than to feel that you
fully understand it first.
Distractions
Some Christians wear bracelets with the
accronym of "What Would Jesus Do?" written on them. But to
remember the Good News, the Gospel, the core of the Christian faith,
it is more helpful to ask "What Has Jesus Done?" If you can
skip straight to the message of the cross, many pointless debates
about secondary issues can be avoided.
Most of the secondary issues that are
brought up are about Christianity (or, "what Christians do, or
have done."). They can feel like conversations about God, but
they are actually conversations about people. They are missing the
main point. If you want to tell people about Jesus, don't talk about
Christianity, talk about Jesus!
So understand the Gospel, and tell it.
That's all we need to aim for. God will take care of the rest.
In the second half of the talk, I
mention Who we evangelise to, the 3 R's commonly used to attack us,
and what we can do Before and After.
great blog Ian, looking forward to part 2!
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