Evangelism

[alban]

Surely i can't be the only one who here who desperately wants to share and express my faith with other, but just finds themself physically unable to. Why on earth is it so difficult to say the words 'i love Jesus' to some of my closest friends? Perhaps the natural responce would be the devil is holding me back, but i really don't feel that. I fully appreciate the need and urgency to spread the gospel, but just have tremendous laziness when it is actually needed to be done. Have other Anglicans felt this. How do you overcome it?

[Lel]

If you find it difficult to use words, don't use words. Why do you have to say "I Love Jesus" in order to share your faith with others? What about engaging in Christ-like action? Feed the hungry, share a smile, help an old lady across the street, nail a roof, whatever is needed to share Christ.

Sorry for the not-too-terribly-Anglican point of view!

[romaneagle13]

This "you-can't-mention-the-word-God-in-public" type attitude that prevails in our society today sure doesn't help. It makes hard to discuss our feelings about God and/or religion because you have to worry that you will offend someone who doesn't beleive the same way. Plus, a lot of people feel that talking about this stuff is "wierd" or inappropriate. I agree that sometimes the best way to tell people is by your actions.

[AveMaria]

Something I think we all need to be aware of, when engaging in evangelism, is that so many people out there who are currently unchurched have been witnessed to in a very spiritually abusive manner, and any sort of discussion that even remotely touches on God or religion is enough to make them throw up their guard, tune out, tell you off, or run for the hills. Talk about alienation!

There's a lot of suspicion and negative stereotypes of Christians out there, and I think a key point for successful evangelism is gently correcting this problem.

I was at a training on evangelism about 2 months back, and this was one of the big issues we discussed.

I tend to have a much more subtle, gentle style of personal evangelism. For example, I'm involved in a lot of interesting community service projects through my church, and it's very natural to discuss those projects with friends, coworkers, or salesclerks (if I'm buying supplies for a community project).

As an example, about a month ago, I was shopping at one of those big warehouse clubs (like Sams, BJs, or CostCo) and we were buying hundreds of athletic socks and undergarments, for a clothing drive for the homeless. A couple of people commented on the contents of our cart, and so we explained what we were doing, and why, which led into an interesting discussion of the Sermon on the Mount. The one lady had never read it before and she told me she was going to go home and dig out a Bible and read it.

Something else that helps me is to remember that sometimes, all we are supposed to do is plant the seed.

[SeenAndUnseen]

One of the disappointing things about just letting your actions speak for you is they seldom lead others to really delve in and figure out why. Most of the time if you feed a hungry person, they thank you and eat. They don't ask you about your religion, and if you offer it they tend to bristle, or they have a long story about why they don't do Christianity, and so on. And that's fine, of course. Or if you help someone in distress on the roadside, let them use your cell phone -- it's really nice of you, but it doesn't tend to lead to a conversation about Jesus. These things are really needed, but they tend to give people the warm fuzzies in more of a secular humanist kind of way.
Evangelism that is done outright and on purpose is much more likely to have the desired impact than random acts of kindness. It can be really awkward, almost always is awkward, shaking someone's hand, inviting them personally to come and visit your church, or asking them if they know Jesus or wish to know him better can only go one way or the other. Either the person will be receptive or will seemingly reject you, but he won't forget it. It might take five or ten years for anything to come of it, but the seed is planted and you did the best you could.
I'm not saying people should do this in the workplace or in public schools -- but out in "the community" there are many safe and more anonymous chances for this kind of encounter. But yes, it's really hard to find those appropriate moments, or find the courage to take advantage of them. Think of what it must have been like for the apostles after the Great Commission, when Jesus was a lot less well known and popular than he is today. That must have taken a lot of nerve.

[AveMaria]

Another thing I do, is find ways to casually slip something in about church, into normal conversation.

Examples:

"Isn't this weather doing horrible things to traffic? It took me 45 minutes to get to church last night, and it's only 5 miles!"

"Oh, Jane, I wanted to tell you, I know you love knitting, and I heard about a group of women from a local church who have a knitting circle, that knits blankets for prematurely born babies, I clipped this article from the paper in case you might be interested."

"I know you like jazz music, and there's going to be a jazz concert at my church next Friday as a fundraiser for the Tsunami relief, I have two tickets, would you like to go with me?"

Sometimes, the best we can do is get someone interested in the idea of a church, or inside the doors for a concert or performance or book discussion group. And once they've been inside and seen we're not scary, it's likely they might come back to check out Morning Prayer or Complines. And then they'll start to actively seek.

Obviously, this method doesn't work for all, but there's all kinds of different people out there, and this does work for some.

[AveMaria]

Sorry to double post, but I wanted to share this:

My favorite evangelism moment was at a flea market, when I'd just bought a small statue of St. Francis for my patio/deck, and was carrying him all the back to the car, and a lady asked me about my statue and offered to help me carry him (which was very helpful, he was heavy!) and she asked me a whole bunch of questions about Jesus.

[thejesusfish90]

Some awesome advice, I love your conversation starters Ave Maria ... Can i suggest paying a visit to the witnessing section of these forums... there is alot of edification to be had there and encouragement... I honestly believe that I could validly be the work of satan in this fear that we all have... I have the exact same fears/thoughts as you Alban and If we think about it, the greatest inhibitor to us spreading the gospel is indeed this perpetual fear, and really I believe that Satan propogates this fear in our hearts, and it effectively the greatest inhibitor to us spreading the gospel throughout the world, which perfectly lines up with satans cause ... Things that help me are starting small and working from there... so when your talking about what you did on the weekend you can say that you were at church, and maybe even comment upon the sermon/service... if your at college/school perhaps maybe invite friends along to the fellowship groups (theres one at my school which Im a leader of)... but once you get over the initial shock of actually having people know that your a christian, I think I becomes easier to move on to actual conversations about god... Other things which are helpful is conversation direction, I find that people discuss religion alot just in general chit chat (even at my level *high school), and you can use these conversations to either deal with misconceptions people may have regarding christianity, which is a good way of challenging and even changing peoples perspectives regarding us and the lord jesus (ie the christianity=moral code myth), I find that sometimes I overexagerate my fears about speaking of christianity in public, Ie thinking that if people know were christians they'll jump up and bit our heads off or immediately begin an impassioned debate upon the fine points of christianity.... Church outreach events are especially good opportunities for getting friends along as well... (my church is nearing the end of our annual outreach mission: "Good News Week", and they had all sorts of things to invite people to-- Parenting sessions, a kids club for primary schoolers, drop in centre at night for teens, mens health evening, ladies craft morning, outreach services and a friday night bushdance and spit roast).... But yeah, I can definately identify with alot of what you are experiencing and I have a feeling that we may be in a significant majority... But above all else prayer and the word of the lord are the greatest weapons against this kind of fear and for strengthening and boldness in reaching out into the world, which really is one of our greatest callings as christians to share with the world our great and wonderful news....

Hope my ramblings amount to some form of help

YBIC

Chris