When you think about the word evangelism, what's the first thing to pop into your head?
Go ahead, think about it!
What do you associate it with?
Is it missionaries traveling to different countries? Maybe you think of someone like Ray Comfort or Kirk Cameron going to different people and asking them questions about morality and their own beliefs while filming it. Hey, maybe you think of Billy Graham preaching to hundreds and hundreds of people or Greg Laurie and the Harvest Crusades.
I know I thought about all of that.
I even thought that being an evangelist only meant preaching the word of God.
But for whatever reason, there remains a secret to evangelism that was never meant to be a secret at all.
By definition, to evangelize means to preach the gospel. It means to convert to Christianity.
With that mindset, we tend to focus on the outcome of converting and not really on the process which is honestly the most important part.
Some are gifted with the gifts of teaching, evangelism, prophecy, etc. Some know all the facts but they forget the secret. How you communicate the gospel matters.
1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)
"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."
The not-so-secret secret to evangelism is love. Without it, all the faith and knowledge in the world means nothing.
You can have faith and know all the facts but if you can't communicate it in such a way that someone feels loved, what's the point?
No, you don't have to stand on the rooftop preaching. Not everyone has that gift or calling placed on their lives.
But everyone is called to love.
You can love in a million different ways. Listening to someone who just needs to talk.
Making food for someone who is hungry. Meeting someone wherever they are at in their lives.
While being able to defend what you believe is important, Phillip Yancey said, "No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost an argument."
Why is that? Well, the thing about communication is that people are going to remember how you made them feel, not what you said. If you made them feel uncomfortable by cornering them on the streets, they're going to remember that. But if you make them feel welcomed, loved, and important, they'll be more inclined to hear you. They'll be more willing to know that love.
So if winning the argument is more important to us, we've forgotten the truth that is written and poured all over the gospel.
Love wins. Start there and let His love move the way it does.
