Tag: Evangelism

4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism – Part 3

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Practical1 Comment

Stumbling Block

In my last post, I explored our idea of Christian growth and how to free up our schedule to meet non-Christians.

Today we continue exploring what keeps us from modeling Paul’s activity in Athens — reach out, build relationships with folks, and then engage them with the gospel where they are on a daily basis.

4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism and How to Remove Them

(3) Our Idea of the Evangelistic Process 

At one extreme we may believe evangelism only happens during the Sunday Service. Those who believe that often think: If I can just get my non-believing friends to church, they will hear the gospel.

Thinking that way, however, severely hinders everyday evangelism because it leads us to believe that evangelism can only happen once a week by someone we believe to be a professional. As well as it is not true.

Jesus commissioned all of us to make disciples, not just the Pastor.

Or at another extreme we might believe evangelism only happens when we lead someone through a full on gospel presentation — something like The Romans Road or Two Ways to Live. None of which are bad. I actually think they can be helpful.

While helpful, these presentations can be hindrance if we believe they are the only way to share the gospel, or feel we have not shared the gospel unless we have walked someone through the entire presentation.

When we start thinking like that, we get into what I like to refer to as “checklist evangelism” — talking to someone about the gospel becomes more about us getting through the checklist than actually having a conversation.

When we are focused on our checklist rather than the person, our conversation becomes insensitive and awkward. Talking about the gospel, however, shouldn’t be insensitive, it shouldn’t be awkward.

It should be just as natural for us to talk about the gospel or what Jesus is doing in our life as it is for us to talk about the weather or our favorite sports team.

So instead of working off a checklist, we have to find ways to include Jesus in our conversation. If you are wondering how to naturally include Jesus in your conversation, let me recommend a good book for you. It is entitled Questioning Evangelism by Michael Newman

Question for Reflection

  1. What hindrances do you see regarding the evangelistic process you have used or even been taught in the past?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon: Spread the Gospel – Growth Through Discipleship – Week 5

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4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism – Part 2

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Practical6 Comments

Stumbling Block

In my last post, I explored ways we can build relationships with non-believers and then engage them with the gospel.

Today we continue exploring what keeps us from modeling Paul’s activity in Athens — reach out, build relationships with folks, and then engage them with the gospel where they are on a daily basis.

4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism and How to Remove Them

(2) Our Idea of Christian Growth 

It’s a common idea in the church community to equate growing in our knowledge of the Bible with Christian growth. Growing as a Christian, however, doesn’t just mean growing in biblical knowledge. It is that, but also much more. It involves us growing in our love for God and others. As well as it involves us growing in our ability and desire to serve others and spread the gospel.

Since we often equate Christian growth with growth in biblical knowledge, we fill our schedules with church events, Bible studies, and meetings with other Christians.

While those things are good and necessary, they can hinder everyday evangelism. You see, if we are always meeting with Christians, we aren’t going to have the relational capacity to meet non-believers, nor are we going to have the time.

Don’t Load Your Schedule with Church Activities 

So one way to make some time is not to load our schedules with church activities. I, and the other teachers and leaders at my church, put a lot of effort into the things we do every week. As much as I want all these things to be well attended, I would rather a member say no to some of them so they will have time to hang out with a non-believer and build the gospel into their lives.

So if our schedule is so full of church activities that we don’t have time to meet any non-believers, or minister to them, then we need to pull back a little bit.

Being a disciple isn’t just about attending church, being a disciple is instead about making disciples.

Making disciples is what God has called us to do. If we have the opportunity to make disciples, then we need to take the opportunity given and skip the church activity.

Now, I have to be careful here because I don’t want to give you the impression I am advocating anyone quit attending church altogether, nor for you to start skipping church events so you can sit home in your recliner. We need to be involved in our churches. We need each other. We need Christian community. We need to learn God’s Word, so we shouldn’t completely blow church off. However, we shouldn’t let church activities consume our life so much so that we don’t have time to engage non-believers, build relationships, and speak the truth of the gospel into their lives.

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you agree that too much church can hinder us from making disciples?
  2. How do you find the balance between church activities and making disciples?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon: Spread the Gospel – Growth Through Discipleship – Week 5

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4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism – Part 1

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Practical9 Comments

Stumbling Block

In my last post, I talked about the need for us to model Paul’s method of evangelism in Athens — reach out, build relationships with folks, and then engage them with the gospel where they are on a daily basis.

But often we don’t do what Paul models for us. We don’t engage people where they are on a daily basis. Why? Why don’t we do that? Well, let me offer you:

4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism and How to Remove Them

(1) We Don’t Have Relationships with Non-Believers 

As Christians it is easy to focus our entire lives around the church. So much so that everyone we know either goes to our church or another church in town. When you only have relationships with Christians, however, it is hard to engage the lost on a consistent basis because you don’t know anyone who is lost. Everyone you know already believes in Jesus as their Savior.

So one stumbling block to everyday evangelism is not knowing enough lost people, which means we need to build some relationships. I would encourage you to start building relationships with non-believers because I believe:

Relationships are the key to being able to spread the gospel consistently.

You are more likely to talk with a friend about Jesus than a complete stranger. Think about it, how many of you are actually going to approach a random stranger on the street or go knock on a door. Unless someone makes you do it, most of you are probably not going to. So if we are going to do everyday evangelism, we need to look for people to build relationships with.

Plus, I believe relationship evangelism is more effective. Research tells us that 43% of people come to Christ through a friend or co-worker. I believe it. At the last Conference I attended, the host took a poll as to how people came to Christ. The largest part of the 7 or 8 thousand in attendance said they came to Christ because someone they knew told them about Jesus.

Now I am not saying street evangelism or evangelistic events aren’t effective. People get saved through those avenues everyday. The most effective way, however, seems to be through relational evangelism. So we need to focus on building relationships with folks.

You Have the Time to Build Relationships with Non-believers

You may not think you have the opportunities to do that given your schedule or life stage. But you do. You have the opportunity in the things you already are involved in each and every week. Think about about.

(1) Extracurricular Activities

Most of you have kids or grandkids who are involved in sports or some other extracurricular activity. These activities are an excellent opportunity for you to build relationship with other parents or grandparents. You already have something in common — your child plays on the same team or participates in the same activity — so the hard part is already over. Now, you just have to work on getting to know the other parents a little better.

(2) Work

Another place you have an opportunity to meet non-believers and build relationships with them is at work. This is one thing I miss about working in the secular world — the ease with which I could build relationships with my co-workers who weren’t believers and then speak into their lives.

One way I got to know my co-workers well was by going to lunch with them. Now I didn’t do that everyday. Eating out is expensive, but I did go out with them every now and again. I would encourage you to do the same.

If lunch doesn’t work for you, invite a person in the office over for dinner, to watch the game, go golfing, hunting, or whatever else it is that you do.

(3) Neighbors and Re-Connect with Old Friends

Still another way to meet and build relationships with non-believers is your neighborhood, or for you to reconnect with your non-Christian friends from school.

Cookouts are a great way to meet your neighbors or reconnect with your old high school buddies. Invite them over one Saturday afternoon and just hang out, get to know them, or find out what they have been up to, in the case of those you haven’t seen in a while.

(4) Shift the Setting You Do Things In

Often times as Christians, we like to do things in Christian settings. We play sports in a Christian league, drink coffee at a Christian coffee shop, look for books in a Christian book store, or hold Bible studies at the church instead of out in the community.

However, if you isolate yourself and live in a Christian bubble, you aren’t going to meet any non-Christians. Instead of isolating yourself, find a way to do the things you normally do out among non-believers.

For me this means spending some of my day working from the coffee shop. I could spend my day in the comfort of my study, but I don’t. Instead I spend most of my afternoons at Starbucks.

Through the years I have had the opportunity to talk to a number of people, to build relationships with them, and to speak the gospel into their lives. I am not even aggressive at getting to know others. I just go, do my work and every so often God places someone in my path that I don’t know, we become friends, and we end up talking about Jesus every now and again.

Another example is our church’s Friday Morning Men’s Bible Study. We have that at IHOP every Friday at 6:30am. The reason we do that is so we can have breakfast and coffee together, but also so we can be a witness for Jesus in our community.

So there are a number of ways to build relationships with folks, we just have to do it.

Question for Reflection

  1. How do you build relationships with non-believers?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon: Spread the Gospel – Growth Through Discipleship – Week 5

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Engage People Where They Are With The Gospel

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical5 Comments

The City

Acts 17 provides one picture of how Paul evangelized the lost. In the city of Athens, we learn he went to the synagogue to engage the Jews on the Sabbath, and the rest of the week he went to the marketplace to engage the more secular minded.

The Market Place was this huge open air area in the middle of town where everyone gathered for business, arts, buying and selling, or just to hang out with their friends. We don’t really have anything like it today. Technology has allowed us to spread out and do all these things from the comfort of our office or home.

However, in Paul’s day, the Market Place was were everything happened. It was where everyone gathered. I would imagine Paul walking around the Market Place, getting to know folks there, and then engaging small groups here and there with the gospel.

Today we should do the same.We should reach out, build relationships with folks, and engage them with the gospel where they are on a daily basis. Our Market Place might look different than Paul’s. Instead of everything huddled into one area, it’s spread out. We work in one part of town, shop in another, eat and drink our coffee someone else.

Even though our Market Place looks different than Paul’s, I believe the principle still applies. We should do what Paul did — reach out, build relationships with folks, and then engage them with the gospel where they are on a daily basis.

Question for Reflection

  1. How do you build relationships in your market place?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon: Spread the Gospel – Growth Through Discipleship – Week 5

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Everyday Evangelism

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, PracticalLeave a comment

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Every other year I try to go to a conference hosted by Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY — Together for the Gospel. Not only is a great time to hear the Word preached and fellowship with folks I haven’t seen in years, but it is a great opportunity to pick up a lot of books. Every year I go, I come back with at least 40-50 books. Most of those are handpicked by those putting on the conference and are free.

One of the free books I got at the last conference was Evangelism: How the whole church speaks of Jesus by Mack Stiles.

Outreach Misconception and Correction

In the book, Stiles tells of a time when he went to speak on Evangelism at another church. They had a question and answer session after his talk. One lady noticed that a lot of Vietnamese were moving into the neighborhood. She wanted to know how the church was going to reach out to them.

Here is what Stiles told her:

“It is really not the best thing for ‘the church’ to set up programs for Vietnamese outreach, but rather for you to think how you can reach out. I would recommend you learn something about the Vietnamese culture, maybe by learning some greetings in Vietnamese, trying their food, and learning about their struggles they face living in the majority culture. Reach out and invite the friends you make to come with you to your homes, a small group Bible study, or church. Then, perhaps, some of you should even think of moving into the Vietnamese community with the purpose of [spreading] the gospel among that community.” — Stiles, Evangelism, 66.

Probably not the answer the lady was thinking she would get, but that is what Stiles recommended — that we not wait for the church to setup a program to reach a specific people, but that those in the church take it upon themselves to go and reach those people.

Everyday Evangelism as Community Missionaries

I think Stiles is right. If we want to impact our community and city, we can’t wait for the church to setup an outreach to a specific people. Instead, we have to reach out on our own. We have to see ourselves as missionaries to our community and city.

As missionaries we must seek to build relationships with folks everyday with the purpose of speaking the gospel into their lives.

Everyday evangelism happens when everyone in a church sees it as their responsibility to daily reach out to those in the community with the purpose of building relationships and spreading the gospel.

Question for Reflection

  1. How do you reach out to your community?

Resources

Mack Stiles, Evangelism: How the whole church speaks of Jesus, 66.

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Get in the Game

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Discipleship, Evangelism, PastoralLeave a comment

Football Huddle

All too often Christians are found retreating into a holy huddle, to their own corner of the world that doesn’t include non-believers. But instead of gathering together in a holy huddle, I believe we are supposed to interact with and engage non-believers. If we don’t, then we can’t accomplish the Great Commission — to make disciples because we don’t know any non-believers.

If we want to win non-believers to Christ, we have to know non-believers.

It’s Easy to Do

The reason I bring this up is because I know it is easy for us as Christians to gather together in our holy huddle. For a time, that is fine, but at some point we have to break the huddle and engage those around us with the gospel, especially knowing that Jesus could return at any point.

A Silly Example that Rings True

Imagine throwing down a couple of hundred dollars for a ticket to a Cowboys game, fighting traffic all the way down to Arlington, and spending even more time finding a parking spot and even more money at the concession stand, only to see the Cowboys never break the huddle after fielding the first kickoff. No amazing play for a touchdown. No last minute “hail mary” to win the game. No, none of that happens, instead they turn the ball over to the other team because of delay of game penalties. Imagine seeing that.

We are no different than the Cowboys, if we remain in our holy huddle. Sure it is safe in there, but if we never engage anyone with the gospel, all we are doing is turning things over to the other team. That’s not good because the other team isn’t just going to score a touchdown. No, instead they are going to score someone’s soul.

Who Do You Know?

So instead of remaining in a holy huddle we need to engage those around us with the gospel. In order to engage non-believers with the gospel, we have to know non-believers.

A good question to ask yourself to see if you are stuck in a holy huddle or if you have broke and you are playing the game is simple: How many people do you know that is a non-believer?

When I say know, I don’t mean know of. Instead I mean how many do you know? How many people do you personally engage with on a weekly basis that is a non-believer?

We have to know non-believers in order to accomplish the Great Commission.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Are you stuck in a holy huddle or are you playing the game?
  2. Would you share some ways you get to know non-believers?

Resources

Post adapted from my sermon: Are you ready for the return of Jesus?

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