In the course of your lifetime, how many people have you led to Christ?
This is not a question most Christians in this country suffer well. In fact, I would predict that on first reading, an immediate objection of some kind or other crops up and the reader begins splitting hairs.
“Define led to Christ…”
“Well, people don’t actually lead others to Christ, the Holy Spirit does all the leading.”
“God doesn’t judge us on our ability to ‘win’ souls.”
We want to make a doctrinal statement, but we don’t want to answer the question.
I’ll answer the question: perhaps a dozen that I can be certain of. There could be as many as ten times that, but only a dozen or so come to mind. I have no doubt that I’ve been an influential sower, but as a reaper, not so much. 
Pretty sad when you think about it. Right now, the only person I’m actively pursuing in that regard is my own child. And since he’ll probably be our only child, that doesn’t make me much of an evangelist right now.
My lame excuse is that I tend to focus on discipleship. Give me the new believer and let me show them how to walk out their new faith. But when it comes to real evangelism that leads to conversions, I’m a stiff.
Sadly, I’ve got plenty of company. The church used to place more of a responsibility for Christians to be actively sowing and reaping. Nowadays, sowing gets all the buzz, and it’s a minute buzz at that. We think of evangelism as bringing someone to church to have someone else tell them about the Gospel. Us actually explain what we believe? No way. That’s why our church went seeker-sensitive, wasn’t it?
Twenty years ago, I routinely encountered people who tried to evangelize me. Today, it never happens. It’s been at least ten years since anyone’s come up to me and started into an evangelistic message.
There can be only one outcome from a Christians not sharing their faith. Those new folks in church this morning? Cannibalized from another church.
Gut Check #1: In the course of your lifetime, how many people have you led to Christ?
Comments are open and anonymous posting enabled…
Other posts in this series:
A similar question was asked to me in a survey my church passed at the members lunch. I’ve been a Christian four years and more than two I spent at this church who have taught me an outreach class after which we were supposed to be able to draw a bridge diagram and quote verses from memory. We went on campus doing a few cold calls. A few thoughts below:
1. God saves people thru you and thru me.
Of course you knew this. Just a reminder so that we do not grow weary when we do not see people coming to Christ. Having this in mind keeps us from being pushy and anxious for numbers. In no way it is an excuse for lazyness.
2. I read in your post the question a “you”. Is this placing emphasis in the individual or the community?
I struggle with the concept of evangelism a lot. Is this an individual or a community -read, body of believers- role? I am not talking of megachurchianity.
3. If some individuals are gifted with the gift of evangelism, are they supposed to go across the country like lone rangers? I read in my bible that Jesus sent his disciples in couples to preach the gospel with the authority He bestowed to them.
4. Isn’t emphasis on “the individual who led us to Christ what gave birth to factions in the Corinthian church?
5. I heard many saying that our enemies are the devil, the world and the flesh. If the resilience to the gospel that is found in unbelievers who are under Satan’s power and with a so-skewed worldview is overcome, we should keep praying that God give them hearts of flesh and open their eyes.
Impatience and lazyness are the twin enemies of gospel witnessing every Christian should avoid. Starting with myself.
Francisco,
I think both the community and the individual are responsible to both similar and varying degrees. Each of us is a light, but long-term discipleship needs to work itself out in community.
Yes, some are evangelists. I think they are uniquely gifted to share Christ. Still, EVERYONE is asked to share Christ, to be both a sower and a reaper. We seem to be doing poorly in the reaper department.
As to the “hero worship” of individual evangelists, the point there is not to eliminate the individual’s sharing of Christ, but the hero worship itself.
Asking for the ground to be plowed up in people’s lives is important.
Excellent. We really need to be made uncomfortable by these kinds of searching questions enough to search our hearts beyond our excuses and self-justifications. I was pondering the same issue this morning.
As Francisco suggests, some of our responses to the question may have more validity than others, but the provocative question is so necessary. Thanks. I look forward (I think…) to the rest of the series.
Keith,
Not all the questions in this series will be motivators like this one. Some may deal with a person’s struggles. Some will be hard-hitting.
None that I’ve ‘prayed the prayer’ with. But I can think of a few people I think I was helpful to around the time they were thinking about it, or just after they became a Christian. There’s a lot of talk in the church I’m part of about going fishing together, as the disciples would have done, rather than fishing alone as anglers do today. Evangelism isn’t just about me as an individual sharing my testimony and setting out the gospel, it’s also about people getting to know God’s people, the community of the church and seeing what makes them different. We’re a team, we can support each other in evangelism by knowing about the people each of us is trying to witness to, praying for them and meeting them. At some point, if people are going to become Christians, not just people with lots of Christian friends who think church is nice, they’re going to have to hear the gospel and get to grips with truth, but it takes the pressure off, if it’s not just me that has to tell them.
I admit I’m a wimp at evangelsim. I’ve done door-knocking, talking to people in the street, leafleting and hated doing it because it seemed so cold. (I think that’s more to do with what I’m like and what I’m comfortable with than what God can do. He does use those things and people do get saved on the doorstep sometimes.) But doing evangelism together, with back-up on the tricky questions, support when it’s going badly, or people to get excited with when someone moves a step closer sounds more like something I can do.
Pigwotflies,
I agree that the community is often better than the individual at doing things. However, falling back on the community has also become an excuse to keep from making individuals “replicators” who are able to evangelize others. Evangelism isn’t just for the hearers.
Consider this passage from Philemon:
By sharing our faith, we become more effective Christians because we ourselves will know Christ more intimately. That part of the equation is typically overlooked.
I don’t think it’s exactly ‘falling back’ on the community, more encouraging one another, spurring one another on, in the way that you’re doing now. And also helping one another out.
I like your point about knowing Christ better by sharing what we know and I think you’re right. My problem is usually using my personality as an excuse for not ‘doing evangelism’. My first experiences of being encouraged to evangelise where at university, through my CU. There’s this strong stereotype that comes through CUs, at least the ones I’ve experienced, that evangelism is all about turning every conversation to Jesus and taking as many people as possible through ‘2 ways to live’ or whatever your favourite gospel outline is. That way of doing things, just isn’t me, so for a while I felt I either had to change my personality radically, or just give up on evangelism. It’s taken me a long while to realise on the one hand that God can give me boldness to share my faith and on the other that that model isn’t the only way of witnessing. I still struggle with sharing Christian stuff because it feels so intimate, vulnerable to be sharing something so close to my heart. The encouragement and prayers of others helps me to know I’m not alone in feeling scared and that God is hugely bigger and more powerful that me and that it’s His truth I’m sharing, not just my own feelings.
This is a question that cuts to the bone and people will defend themselves with some theological framework or other.
Led to Christ to the point that they professed belief and followed, maybe 5–thank God, one of them my brother. Consistantly shared the gospel with an old friend for about 5 years, started backing off, we got different jobs then the next year he told me “Dude, I believe.” That was wild. Have been sharing with another friend for quite a few years so keep him in prayer.
Rey,
It’s the sower/reaper combo. The Bible says they will rejoice together. We may sow and sow, but another may reap. That’s okay. But we have to sow and we have to be prepared to reap.
I think one of the reasons we have problems is that we’re poor at discernment. Knowing when someone is ready is critical, but because we’re not paying attention to the Spirit on this, we miss it. Then there are people like your friend in whom the Word finally blossoms in its time.
I just prayed for your other friend.
Blessings.
Dan:
I don’t really know but I don’t think it’s been that many – less than 10? As for how many I’ve played some role in their coming to Christ, I have no way of knowing: sometimes you sow and others reap (Jn 4). Now, I have been instrumental in a few coming to Christ who are now in fulltime ministries: do I get credit for their evangelism, too, like in some cosmetic company pyramid scheme? I sure hope so, ’cause I’ll be rollin’ in the gold come judgment day! Yee-Haw!
Seriously, what I focus on far more is whether or not I’m evangelizing when I have or make the opportunity to do so. We all need to be faithful as messengers and not worry about how many “make a decision for Christ.” We’re ambassadors with a message of life and death, not gunslingers putting notches in our gospel belts.
Campus Crusade used to say that “successful evangelism was sharing the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.” I like that and try to live by that.
Mike,
While I agree with the Campus Crusade philosophy on the surface, it has great potential for creating lazy servants. I think one of the reasons so few people are being evangelized in this country is largely due to a “let’s leave it up to God” mentality rather than an active pursuit of the lost.
Not trying to refute what you’re saying, just pointing out how it can go awry.
Dan,
There is a balance. My dad told me he grew weary when the preacher after the sermon insisted over and over that people raise their hands and were asked to come up front. As you said, discernment is needed to know. And for that sometimes a few probing questions may help…
Dan:
You’re right, of course, about the laisser faire disposition that so many of us are prone to when it comes to evangelism. And certainly CCC’s saying can be abused, although I think you would agree that just about any approach can be misused or abused. We are quite creative in finding ways to shirk our stewardships and responsibilities.
I think, perhaps, that at the root of the problem is that we don’t really believe the Bible or truly accept God for who He is. We don’t see things from an eternal perspective, don’t believe what the Bible says about judgment, and don’t comprehend God’s holiness. So we act like evangelism is optional instead of vital.
We need to read, memorize, and meditate on Ezek 3.17-21 to get a grasp of how serious God takes our stewardship as messengers.
Wow, this is a tough one! Inasmuch as I do NOT believe that praying the standard “ask Jesus into your heart” prayer accomplishes much in the life of an unbeliever, other than to perhaps deceive him/her, I can’t say that I’ve really ever “led” anyone to Christ in that way. I believe I have influenced people here and there, I have held conversations with people entrenched in wrong beliefs or unbelief altogether, and have purchased Bibles for those who have asked for them. I haven’t done any of this as much as I ought – and I will endeavor to be honest about WHY I haven’t been more proactive in this regard:
1. The Scriptures are very clear that repentence accompanied by godly sorrow (a work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the unregenerate individual), is absolutely necessary for genuine conversion. He/she is brought to this place by hearing the Word of God. Sharing from the Scriptures for 15 or 20 minutes (when the opportunity presents itself) is a great way to plant seeds, but I myself would hesitate to pray with ANYONE who wasn’t exhibiting evidence of being under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, who wasn’t convinced of his/her utter and complete need of a Savior and who seemed to be engaging in a relatively easy transformation (as though they were changing socks). I would rather not have people believe they’re saved when they aren’t – but this is a fine line to walk, I admit, and a very big issue (at least for me). How to effectively evangelize the lost, how to uphold the holiness of God without sounding like a nut – all are questions I ponder frequently.
2. This is more difficult to admit…there are people for whom I simply have little or no compassion. There – I said it. I tend to have GREAT compassion for the marginalized, the lowly, the handicapped (I am moved to pray every time I see a handicapped individual on the street) – I have great compassion for animals, even, but the arrogant, the powerful, the ones who walk around with an air of self-importance and use their position to wipe their feet on other people merely make me angry – or worse, derisive. I have prayed about this as I don’t like this tendency in myself, but it is an area with which I still struggle. I appreciate YOUR prayers in this matter.
3. Finally, the last reason I don’t evangelize as much as I should is because I am fearful of NOT having an answer for every objection proffered (I know what the Bible says about much of what we deal with in everyday life, but I’m not good at the Chapter/Verse Memorization thing, as I have the kind of brain that thinks in images). I don’t want to be left holding the bag, so to speak, and I recognize that I need to delve more deeply into apologetics, theology, etc. as well as Scripture so that my ability to rightly divide the Word of God is not compromised by any curve balls thrown my way by a well-informed unbeliever.
Thanks for bringing this subject up. I will be praying about it in the days to come.
Blessings.
Anonymous,
I think repentance has various stages and not all are reached immediately, whether right before conversion or even many years into it. We have to get better at knowing what the Spirit of God is doing in someone’s life because someone’s genuine repentance is not something we can always see. Does it consist of crying more than a usual amount of tears or in intense breast beating? I don’t see those kinds of experiences as being any kind of proof. A person sitting in front of me may show no overt external signs, but massive changes are going on in the spiritual.
As to being a bit misanthropic, I appreciate that confession. I think you’ve said what a little people think, but are afraid to reveal. Whenever I hear about some great missionary who talked about figuratively walking barefoot over broken glass to reach that one lost person it bothers me that I don’t have that same zeal. I think this is a symptom of our Western decadence and it grieves me that so many of us are numb to spiritual realities.
Your last confession derails a lot of us. I believe the problem here is the outgrowth of the Enlightenment in which the mental triumphs over the spiritual. This turns evangelism into a battle of wits, but that’s a Western construct, not reality. Again, this is our American reality. Since nothing bothers most Americans more than appearing “stupid” about a topic they should know, we put ourselves on the bench and expect the all-star to do all the hitting. That’s not playing as a team.
This is the problem of modern Protestantism that it’s become more about hardcore apologetics and less about simply explaining the hope we have within us. We’ve made that into a necessity of having memorized enough Scriptures within a certain evangelistic methodology to be able to address every objection. But whatever happened to simply saying, “This is how Jesus changed my life” ?
I know what I’m going to say next will be controversial in many sectors, but here goes. We say that faith comes by hearing the Word of God, but isn’t the Word of God also the telling of your story and mine concerning what Jesus has done for us? You can’t tell that story without talking about all the Bible truths that led you and me to that point, can you? Doesn’t that work? If I say something like “I knew that couldn’t save myself because I could never pay for my own sins, and that’s why I needed Jesus,” isn’t that as good a confession of the truths of Scripture as perfectly going through The Romans Road or The Bridge Illustration? If I recast the truths of Scripture into my own story of conversion and discipleship, is this dishonoring God at all? Don’t we all do that? Didn’t Paul when he told his story of conversion on the road to Damascus?
I think if we look at it that way, we find more grace to be open about our faith rather than always worrying about the fact that we memorized an evangelistic verse in the RSV, but the Bible we’re showing someone now is NIV and the the two don’t read the same. Or that we’ll choke when someone brings up a philosophical question about evil or the nature of God.
In many ways, we’re making evangelism a burden and too many are dropping out as a result.
Good points Dan. Yesterday I sat for lunch with a guy who in the outside seems nice and it is very intelligent even to the point of intellectual intimidation.
It is good to share our testimonies. I have not problem with that. In fact we were supposed to do that almost at the end of the Bridge Illustration. However I often hear people saying “I ask Jesus into my heart”, or “I was mad but now I am glad”…a lot of emphasis in the me-myself-I illness. I just finished the Cross-centered Life by C. J. Mahaney and he tells a moving story. When somebody asked him at a coffee shop how he was doing he answered “better than I deserve”….you read the book for the rest. The point is this. I deserve hell for my sins. But praise be to God that I am getting something better: full forgiveness for my sins and an abundant life lived to the glory of God. We don’t hear today much about hell. I am not advocating the preaching of hell from the pulpit to entice people to buy “fire insurance” but I am talking about our personal testimonies. Would we bold to say that God brought us out of our hellishness?
Hi Dan:
RE: Repentence. I guess I am made hesitant by the numbers of people I see who believe themselves to be saved (because they prayed the sinner’s prayer) but are living lives that suggest otherwise. They sit under the preaching of a pastor on Sunday but spend their days in drunken revelry (and worse) and yet believe themselves on their way to heaven. We all know, or know of, people in that condition, and someone, somewhere, “led” them to believe as they do. Just something to be cautious about.
I also agree that the fruits of repentence are not always outwardly observable, but surely there must be a way to examine a person’s intent and understanding – I believe some of the old-time “greats” did just that (Knox, Edwards, etc.) – to perhaps ascertain whether they really are being drawn by the grace of God and not simply having an “experience.” Or should we simply sow seed, and trust that some of it will fall on good ground, and not worry about the rest? I don’t know. It does seem that the process is very easy, at least in the American Church, and that the way has become very broad, judging by the high percentage of Americans who believe themselves to be saved.
RE: Evangelizing the lost – well, yes, I do agree that our own testimony is important; however, many unbelievers reject personal testimony as too subjective and feel it has no universal relevance, or at least any relevance to their lives. We live in culture of relativism that exalts rugged individualism and that attitude carries over into the spiritual realm as well. There are almost no absolutes, anywhere, anymore, and my conversion story is just one of many anecdotes about finding one’s own inner peace. I know differently, but unless I can make a convincing case for the truth of my experience by pointing to an objective standard (and using it deftly), I run the risk of being dismissed as a nice person who has found her own path to God. There has to be a way to present the Gospel in all its muscular glory, and cut through the mushy-squishy stuff that passes for truth these days. I guess I just want to be ready with a feasible answer to challenges to my faith. I also recognize that I will frequently run up against people who are better informed, more intelligent and more adept at convoluted reasoning than I am, and I can’t spend my time worrying about it. I just don’t want to find myself in a conversation that suddenly veers off into matters theological or philosophical and have to sit there like a blank and repeat over and over ad infinitum “well, I don’t know the answer to THAT question, nor can I intelligently discuss it, but this is what Jesus did for me.”
Or am I wrong?
Dan,
13 – So there. I led more to Christ than you! Ha! Ha! That must make me more spiritual!
Just kidding. I just wanted to give you a good laugh and poke fun at the desire most of us (Chrisitians) have at comparing ourselves with ourselves and finding some sort of false sense of righteousness if we come out on top. Seriously, I’m not sure how many I have led to Christ (and by the way thank for not saying, “won to Christ”). Because I am a pastor I have numerous opportunities to witness and share the gospel “on the job”. Usually this takes place in my office or in someone’s home because of my job as a pastor. In this survey I won’t count those because it isn’t a fair comparison with other believers. As far as I know there has only been one person that I was the instrumental factor in their faith in Christ. Pretty sad, huh? It is THE one area in my life where I struggle the most and which I have the most dissatisfaction.
Don,
I hear that. We sometimes turn it into the “pros” and the “amateurs,” but if we ditched the one upmanship, we’d see more people coming to Christ, I think.
For the first few years of my walk I must have lead over a hundred people to Christ. I was so evangelism minded that people got saved everywhere I went. Literally. Grocery store, drug store isles, cashiers, I once stopped and helped a guy fix his car on the side of the road and lead him to Christ when we were done. One year I told all my coworkers that I was short on cash but I would pray for whatever need they had as a present. I lead everyone in that office to a profession of faith in Christ by the end of that day.
Lately, I only see people get saved when I preach. I do almost no evangelising and I am a little ashamed. Evangelism has to be your focus or you won’t do it. A farmer never once got a good crop by being a good person. Seeds have to be sown.
Did all of those people radically change their lives? No. But some did. The false hope criticism and critiques of tracts are just excuses not to witness. If people were really concerned that these things were no good they would go around handing out invitations to a bible study they were going to lead, but they don’t.
I am convicted Dan. Preach on!
Anonymous,
In my first few years as a believer, I wanted to disciple people the same way that you wanted to evangelize.
Pastors struggle with this, too. Some are great preachers and terrible evangelists, while some are the other way around. I’ve never understood why people expect pastors to be perfect in every type of ministry when the Bible never upholds that expectation. Maybe a pastor is a wonderful counselor and very compassionate to the hurting, but he’s not so good evangelizing or preaching. Do we honor that or do we complain about it?
Thanks for sharing.
plurality of pastors in the church can help with that. I believe so.
Agreed – it is one advantage of larger churches which can have multiple pastors. The risk is that it becomes – “oh – evangelism is not my job – that’s the pastor over there..”. The advantage is that the Spleen can go on being a spleen and the kidney can go on being a kidney – without trying to do everything all at once.
there is a flip side though. What about small and poor churches who can not afford more than one pastor? Doesn’t this relate to your church’s polity? Then, what? Isn’t the church called to raise their leaders/elders/pastors from within?
When I think back to when I committed, I cannot name a person who “led me” – many, many people gave me the Gospel, but it wasn’t until God spoke in my heart that I listened. I’ve had the experience from the other side – I’ve given the Gospel and “nothing” happened, but when I saw that person again some time later, they had given their lives to Christ. Was it “me”? I don’t know.
When my husband was dying, many people watched us and afterward there were at least three that told (not me, but our pastor) that they had given their lives to Christ after watching how we handled what we were going through.
“Leading” is often by example and we often don’t see the fruit as we lead.
On the other hand, the Western church is largely training people out of personally witnessing – if you know somebody you want to come to Christ, just invite them to Alpha. You don’t have to know how to witness, just get them to dinner and a video!
Ellen,
Yes, examples make a big difference.
I disagree, though, on the trend that we bring people to an event and have someone else share so that we don’t have to. I don’t think that helps any of us grow in Christ. Check out the passage from Philemon that I posted in a comment above. Part of evangelizing is for our own personal growth.
I disagree also – I don’t like Alpha and have chosen a church that doesn’t “do” Alpha. Lazy methods breeds lazy Christians. 😉
Witnessing? Plenty of that, though not much in the cold-calling, tract-bombing genres.
Reaping? Possibly one, when I was 10. I have doubts as to whether an actual conversion took place, or the kid went along with it to get me and my li’l brother off his back about it.
Thank you for the gut-check. I need it.
Well, I began to have so much to say about this topic that I couldn’t fit it all here..LOL…so I put it on my blog today. Thanks again for sparking a great discussion and getting us to think…:)
(scratches head)
Well, now.
I work with kids with disabilities, and I can only recall a couple of conversations in my lifetime held with people where I had to stand toe to toe to defend what I believed. I don’t believe I did much good in bringing them to the foot of the cross; I think I scared them off, actually. 🙂
But at a funeral for a child, I stood with the parents and I wept. I stood with the mom the day she received such horrible news, I held her for three hours, just praying and trying to help her get past the shock.
Later, another attendee at the funeral said to me, “You know, I was watching you that day, and I saw your wings of compassion stretched over that family. It was really amazing.”
Huh? Me, with wings? When I dent my frigging halo every single day?
I guess the answer is: My life is a witness. When someone asks, I tell them what I believe and also I tell them that the same God I believe in loves them, and why. I tell them that only He is responsible for making me into everything they say is so helpful to them.
Don’t know who’s decided to take advantage of that news; often I’m dropping it in people’s ears as I pass.
I’m normally a lurker but this post has prompted me to respond. I have so many thoughts regarding this issue. I used to be like so many other Christians who wanted to share but felt guilty about not doing so. This all changed about 4 1/2 years ago when I became involved in an urban mercy ministry at our church that is also very evangelistic. This has totally transformed both my understanding and experience of evangelism.
Some of my learnings include:
– Our motivation in sharing must be out of a love for Jesus and for people and not out of duty.
– We must see ourselves as coming alongside people as friends, never looking at them as objects or results.
– Our empowering must be by the Holy Spirit and not from our own efforts. We must be bold in the Spirit.
– We can’t underestimate the importance and power of a clear explanation of the gospel.
– Personality type is not important in being evangelistic. A willingness to step out in faith and take a risk is.
Underlying all this is the truth that the fields are white for harvest. We need to go out into the fields, though. Recent studies have shown an increasing isolation of all individuals in America. This is no less true for those in the church and may even be greater in some cases. Therefore, we need to be missional in our communities and intentionally seek out interactions with people outside of our natural circle of acquaintances.
A huge challenge in the current culture is getting a hearing. Many non-Christians have a perception of Christianity as implausible and completely irrelevant to their lives. Bringing our evangelism in context with a service makes people much more likely to listen to what we have to say and to give the Holy Spirit the chance to work. Even apart from the formal context of a specific ministry of service, we can apply this approach personally through offering prayer to people that we encounter, such as asking a waitress if there is anything that you can pray for her for right then and there. Whether they receive it or not, and many will, all tend to receive the request positively. Doing so gives an opportunity to let the Spirit work directly, both in touching the person and in revealing things to us through Spiritual giftings. Often, this will naturally lead to a discussion of spiritual matters in general and a natural opportunity to share the gospel.
In short we just need to do it, trusting in God through the work of the Spirit, and not rely on pastors or others. We don’t have to be slick, but we do have to care about people. One of our pastors often equates this to us bringing our five loaves and two fish, which God then multiplies.
A toughy…Perhaps this is what Jesus was referring to when He told the church at Ephesus that they had forsaken thier first love. I became a Christian at 5, and went out right away to share this with the person I thought needed it most: my 4 year old neighbor down the cul-de-sac. Isn’t that what we naturally do about something we are enthusiastic about? We will unabashedly evangelize about the movie we like, the restaraunt we enjoy, or our favorite music, but what about the One who saved us? We will argue convincingly about the chances of our favorite team making it to the playoffs, but what about the need of our friends to turn thier lives over to Christ?
I would imagine that our evangelistic fervour would increase if we daily recognized Jesus for who He is, and for what He has done for us. But we have forgotten our first love, and with it, our excitement, our belief, and our standing orders to live in the world, and while we are there, to make disciples of all nations. And that doesn’t mean leading people in the sinners prayer. It means using the Bible to deeply inculcate a knowledge and understanding of God, His will, and the role of His son in thier lives.
Some of us have greater abilities in specific areas of discipleship, but we are all responsible, and will be held responsible, for doing our part in the task we have been given.
The day I realized that it is our life that is our witness was the day of my husband’s funeral and my brother told me that he’d been watching us – and my mom told me that he was bringing his family to church.
A lot of people don’t evangelize because they don’t know how (at least that was one of my main reasons for not sharing). Mark Cahill’s book “One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven” is a great book to get informed on ways to share your faith pratically. And His zeal is bound to infect the reader to win souls to Christ. I believe another reason we don’t witness is because we are fear full of what people might think and say about us (the fear of man). If we are going to evangelize we have got to make it a priority. We have got to make oppurtunities corporately as a church and individually to meet sinners and make it a point to share our faith. Prayer is the key and first step before we witness to anyone. I would also suggest that churches stop assuming the kids in sunday school classes understand the gospel. We must warn them about God’s wrath and day of Judgment for all sinners at an early age in a clear and presentable fashion. Where are they going to go? They are the perfect captive audience. You can give them little quizes on what sin is, salvation, and how to obtain salvation. It is said many kids in churches grow up not even knowing the true meaning of salvation or how to obtain it through Jesus Christ. Living Water Ministries has books and tracts that speak to kids on their level about salvation. http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=141