I was listening to a radio program the other day while driving in my car and the pastor teaching said two main things. He said salvation and regular church attendance go together and that Christians don't evangelize enough or share their faith. He claimed the average Christian has never led anyone to Christ. First, I would like to say that you are not saved by attending a church. Yes, if you are saved you should try attending a church but if you don't attend a church contrary to what the pastor says it does not mean you are not saved. Salvation is dependent on the atonement and the Holy Spirit not a building and tithing. But what I really would like to talk briefly about is evangelism. I think he is wrong when he said that the average Christian doesn't evangelize.
Years ago, I was hooked on evangelism. I was upfront with people and prayed the prayer of salvation with hundreds of people. I even used to knock on doors and stop cars. I thought for sure you had to speak scripture and confront everyone with the Gospel. I thought I was something special preaching to everyone I met and chased down. But I was not as special as I thought. When I would brag about how I evangelize to everyone and get in their face some Christians would tell me they don't do it like that. They said they do presence evangelism. I would snicker and think you're just afraid and lazy, the right way is to beat people over the head with scripture and confront them. I felt a need to confront everyone and today looking back at it some people just prayed the prayer of salvation to get me to leave them alone. They didn't mean it. Sure, I planted some seeds but I also turned a lot of people off and left them with a sour taste in their mouth.
I now know that things like presence evangelism and forming relationships with people in order to evangelize is a good thing. It doesn't mean you're a wimp it means you're not a religious jerk. We can't assault people with scripture and confront everyone. To most people scripture means nothing. So why always speak it to people? When we look at how Christ evangelized, he only assaulted religious people with scripture. The rest of the time Christ was forming nonjudgmental relationships with people and speaking to them on their level. He didn't spend His time confronting everyone. Jesus also used prophetic evangelism and helped people by feeding them, doing miracles for them and giving them hope. He helped people in need. While we can't always go around healing everyone like Christ did and give out prophetic words, we can speak to people in such a way that it touches their heart like a prophetic word does and we can help people in need like a miracle can do. From being a shoulder to cry on, giving and sharing advice and principles in a non-religious way we can evangelize as Christ did.
Pleasing Christ
I know that some will say well brother Becker we can and are doing the healings and miracles that Christ is doing and giving out accurate prophetic words. My friend and I just raised two people from the dead, turned cavities into gold teeth and gave a prophetic word that told some guy his birthdate and credit card number. People may not like this, but I don't believe that kind of stories. While it is possible for someone to do healings, miracles and tell people specific things prophetically, it happens a lot less than you think. Yes, many people who claim to be doing that stuff are liars. There I said it, they are not telling the truth and are running a scam. Is it wrong to try and do that stuff? No, but you will find that very rarely will you be able to. Its just not reality. We need to find creative ways in helping people and speaking to their heart that are biased on reality and not assaulting them with scripture and religious stuff. I have met people that you couldn't have a down to earth conversation with them without them quoting the Bible 200 times. We have to be able to meet people on their level and be down to earth. As I said before most people don't care at all what the Bible says except believers. Backslidden people don't care what the Bible says either, using it will only turn them off. So, remember be cautious about beating people up with scripture and you don't need to confront everyone with the Gospel.
There are plenty of non-confrontational ways to evangelize. I know some people brag about being a martyr but sometimes they bring on the persecution themselves when it's not necessary. Don't be a martyr. Be a human being and love people. Usually love won't get you persecuted. I know that pastor is wrong. I think a lot more people evangelize than he thinks they just do it in ways not to his liking. But we can't please everyone, the only one we need to really please is Christ.
Adam Becker
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