Hi all. I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth. I do a lot of personal evangelism and I also train Christians in how to share their faith. Rather than try to summarize what everyone said so far and jump all over the place I’ll just toss out some thoughts.
But first, not that you need my approval, I think ya’ll have a good handle on what it means to evangelize.
I think there are two important aspects to the presentation of the gospel – the unbeliever needs to hear the Word of God and they need the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Tracts do work and I know people that have been saved through them, I do think they are not the most efficient way of presenting the gospel. However, I have to tell you, I give out dozens of tracts every week – there are tons of opportunities to leave tracts when you may not be in a position to stop and talk with someone.
I think the more we know about God’s Word the better we can be used of Him to spread His truth. But, I also think that even a day-old believer (with no knowledge of the Bible) can be an effective witness. I think a good middle ground is just to have a thorough knowledge of how to lead someone through what they need to know to get saved – the Roman’s Road (though not the only method) is good. And that’s really all you need to lead multitudes to the Lord. It’s amazing how many people right here in America have never heard a clear presentation of the gospel.
But, the two most important tips I can give someone that wants to witness but isn’t sure what to do would be:
1. Go with someone that knows what they are doing and watch them present the gospel over and over again (in real life situations, not just the classroom) until you think you want to try. Then try with them watching you. This, I believe, is the Bible model and the one we use in our training. There is nothing like seeing the real thing with the Holy Spirit at work and God’s Word being listened to for you to get an understanding of what to do.
2. Handling questions. When I am presenting the gospel I keep in mind that it is my job to present the gospel, period. As a rule of thumb, I try to never answer extraneous questions while I am presenting the gospel to someone. In other words, if they ask a clarification question (What is sin? Can you repeat that?) then I will address it. If they ask a distracting question (Where did Cain get his wife? Is evolution true? Where is heaven?) I figure that it is the devil asking the question and the person who’s mouth it comes out of wouldn’t understand the answer without the Holy Spirit living in them, anyway. So, I gently say something like, “That was a good question, let me set that on the side and, if you’d like, we’ll come back to it later after I finish telling you what I want to tell you. Would that be alright?” In hundreds of encounters no one has ever said “no” or asked me the question after they got saved.
Finally, I do think training is priceless. I know there are some out there that just picked up the Bible after they got saved and went out and started to win the lost. But that is the exception and not the rule. Most of us (me included) need guidance and direction. A road map through training is a great way to get started. After you learn a plan and become comfortable with it then you can experiment and try new things. However, I know a longshoreman that I go out witnessing with sometimes and he does the same thing every time – he has won almost 2,000 people to Christ.
Some good programs for churches are David Wood’s Operation Go and Sword of the Lord’s Soul Winners’ Club. Each program takes about 12 weeks to get through and they really work.
God bless and don’t give up. God rewards the faithful!
