How can Christians share the Gospel?
As Christians, we know two things: 1.) That God called us to be witnesses, and 2.) We have people around us who are not believers.
But the tension is this: We don’t always know how.
We could be afraid of rejection or fear failure. Some of us just don’t know how to articulate the Gospel. There’s also this: We don’t share the Gospel because we don’t believe in its power to transform people’s lives, and we think this because we don’t truly believe the Gospel can transform our own lives.
So how can we address and overcome these obstacles?
Intentionally Evangelistic
1. First, We Need To Pray More For Gospel-Sharing Opportunities
We should pray every day for 3-5 people who need to hear the Gospel. I pray for my kids’ future spouses already, and they are 9, 7, and 2 years old. We pray for a lot of things, but we don’t intentionally pray for people in our lives who are unbelievers because we underestimate the power of prayer. So let us first pray.
2. Secondly, We Need To Practice Hospitality
In North American culture, we are all about privacy. That’s why we have big backyard and fences. But we need to be countercultural and invite people into our homes and into our lives, even if it means giving up our own preferences and privacy. Hospitality helps bring people into our lives so we can share the Gospel with them.
3. Thirdly, We Need To Be Strategic In Engaging People Relationally And Building Friendship
I always go to the same Starbucks near my house, and everybody knows who I am. Everyone on my street knows I’m a pastor. The parents on my son’s baseball team and my daughter’s softball team know that I’m pastor. That knowledge has allowed us to have some surprisingly deep spiritual conversations.
The goal is to eventually invite these people to my home to practice hospitality. As friendship is built, trust is developed. Hopefully, there will an opportunity for me to extend an invitation for them to come out to an event at our church, whether it’s a Sunday service or a Sunday gathering or a Bible study. From there, I will look for more opportunities to extend the Gospel to them.
4. Fourth, We Need Gospel Fluency
If we are fluent in a language, then it flows out of us naturally, just like riding a bike or driving. We also need to be fluent in the Gospel to the point where the Gospel isn’t just talked about at church, but it’s also incorporated into every aspect of our everyday lives.
When that happens, then we can naturally talk about the redemptive parts of our lives or pointing out grace while we’re taking walks with our neighbors or having water cooler conversations.
We’re so afraid to talk about Bible truth, but we need to know, study, and articulate the Gospel so that we have opportunities to share and live out our testimonies to bring the Gospel into their lives.
5. Finally, We Need To Preach The Gospel To Ourselves
We need to pray that the Gospel would so affect us that we would be enamored by Jesus. When the Gospel penetrates our lives, we will have urgency, desperation, and a desire to reach other people with the Gospel.
A lot of times, we feel like we’re not sharing the Gospel well. Or we don’t see the Gospel in a clear enough light that we don’t feel the need to preach to others.
But this is where we need to remind ourselves of the Gospel so that even if we fail, it’s not our failure. We need the light of Christ to penetrate our hearts so we know of the world’s desperate need for him. Finally, we need to be faithful, and God will use our faithfulness, which will bear fruit as well.
It is very important for us to understand that there are opportunities for us to be intentionally evangelistic. God has called us to have a sense of urgency while continuing to reach people with compassion, effort, and persistence. In the everyday context of our lives, we need to be that light and be that salt. Let us go and make Jesus’ name known.