Why Do I Share About My Witness Encounters
A number of years ago I had the opportunity to sit down with a respected and faithful evangelist to ask him questions about gospel ministry. As I approached the meeting, I was nervous, because I was sitting with a man whom I had listened to, and whose books lined my shelves. As we started to chat over a cup of tea, I asked him, “How can we get more people involved in evangelism?”
The seasoned evangelist paused for quite some time as he turned my question over in his mind. Then he replied by saying, “Evangelism is more caught than taught.” With that he went on to explain that while evangelistic programs and training courses have a place in the life of raising up gospel workers, the real success he said comes when people actually see evangelism being done.
It is easy to talk about what should be done, it is another thing to do it. I remember once hearing of a health and safety expert who visited a timber yard in order to instruct all the workers on how to safely use a forklift. After explaining all the safe ways of lifting a load, one of the workers asked the expert, “How about you demonstrate what you mean by actually showing us how to lift the timber?” At this the health and safety expert replied, “I can’t as I haven’t got a forklift license.” Many in evangelism are like that; they can tell you how to do things properly, they can talk about the latest missional understanding of the culture, and how to more effectively communicate the good news to a post-Christian generation – but the problem is that many of them are merely speaking from a position of theory, not practice. As a result, when someone reads their books, it can feel as if they don’t know how to talk to someone, or that they lack the qualifications to be a witness. Rather, what we need is for people not just to be taught evangelism, but also to ‘catch’ evangelism.
This is the reason I write about the evangelistic encounters I am involved with; I want people to read what I’m doing, and then to see that they too can share the gospel. I hope to be one who can help others ‘catch’ evangelism. When I share about giving a tract to someone, or handing out a Gospel of John, then I hope the person who reads the update will be encouraged to go out and share the good news also. When I post about witnessing to a telemarketer, or talking to a stranger that I meet, I hope that inspires other Believers to go and do likewise.
As I look at the Apostle Paul, I see that he used this method of encouragement and teaching when he says in 1 Corinthians 11:1 – “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” Paul holds himself up as an example, and he calls on Believers to copy him as he copies Jesus. Likewise, the Evangelist should seek to model evangelism to those who are watching.
The Church has way too many armchair experts; men and women who have all the theories as to how things should be done, but rarely do they get into the game and actually talk to non-believers. What we need is people sharing real world examples of evangelism, and then calling on others to give it a go also. This is the reason courses such as The Way of the Master have been so successful; as the training isn’t all theory, there is a real-life example of evangelism taking place also.
When I share gospel encounters online, I am not doing it to get a pat on the back, I am doing it because I want to inspire Christians to be more active in evangelism. I would love to see believers of all denominations being stirred up for gospel work. We can all witness for Jesus, so the Evangelist needs to model how to do that, in order that the Church can be encouraged to go and make much of Jesus.