Growing up in the Church, it felt like I was isolated in a bubble, one that was comfortable and reassuring with minimal interaction with the rest of the world. But let it be known that God hasn’t called us to be in a state of comfort or complacency in the Church, but to be on edge for those who haven’t heard the gospel. Evangelism is something that each and every one of us is called to do from Scripture, to simply share the joy of the gospel that has touched our hearts. This is something that we often acknowledge and know, but do we live it out? Oftentimes, evangelism can be tough, scary and tiring. It isn’t an easy task fundamentally; we are going out into a world of sin in which people are more often than not going to reject, ignore and perhaps even lash out at you for sharing the gospel. Yet we are reminded in Scripture:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10)
For me, my experiences with evangelism started in high school, or at least what I thought was evangelism. It primarily began with answering questions from my friends surrounding creationism, world religions, homosexuality and morality. However, looking back on it, I recognize that there was one fundamentally incorrect way that I approached sharing Christianity with others. I was far too focused on controlling the conversation and often felt pressured into proving my point that I had completely left the gospel out of it. This mindset was further sustained through my growing interest in apologetics, which I felt was beneficial for the sole reason of winning debates. But by the end of each discussion, I was left feeling frustrated and stumped in the face of questions that I couldn’t answer, feeling unfulfilled as a result.
Yet what I failed to realize is that we don’t need to know all the answers to evangelize nor to completely convince the opposition that your view is correct. Let it be known that God has not called us to convert non-believers but to simply share the gospel and plant the seed that He might nurture by His grace. While strong apologetics is immensely helpful in approaching difficult theological and moral questions, it led me down a path of evangelism that was devoid of the gospel, no longer qualifying it as evangelism. I had gotten so caught up in my own pursuit of being “right” that I lost sight of what true evangelism was — to simply share the joy of the gospel (Psalm 105:1, John 15:8).
This approach to evangelism fundamentally changed when I went to my first campus evangelism in Waterloo. If you haven’t gone yet, I strongly encourage you to go! It was scary at first but ultimately left me with a feeling of satisfaction and joy. The difference between campus evangelism and my previous experience with my friends was that I was going to be talking with people I have never met before. As a result, my approach to evangelism changed vastly where I would lead first with the gospel, then answer any difficult questions that would follow. This left me with a sense of reassurance and hope, knowing that the seed was planted in their heart and all that was left was to trust in God to do his work. Furthermore, God still chose to use my gift in apologetics to do good, though it had been a stumbling block before.
What I also realized from campus evangelism was that so many people on campus have never heard of the gospel. This is a scary and surprising realization since we live in a country founded upon Christian principles, but also one that should urge us to pursue the hearts of non-believers so much more. So many people perish every day without hearing the gospel — is that not reason enough to sacrifice our comfort to share?
Finally, I want to share something that I shared at Fall 2021 retreat and hopefully, it will encourage you to be courageous and passionate to bring the gospel to the world. On October 7th, 2021, I found out that a friend from high school had committed suicide. He was a passionate atheist, one of the people that would often ask me the most difficult moral questions concerning Christianity and the person that I was too afraid to share the gospel with for fear of rejection. The only thing that I can say now is — sorry — I’m sorry that I put my own comfort and fears of rejection above your salvation in Christ, and I’m sorry God that when I was weak I did not trust in your power to save. What people need above all else is a relationship with Christ and God chooses to use us in our weakness and flaws to do his work regardless.
Brothers and sisters, I leave you with this… God has not called us to wait for the world to come to us nor to keep this gospel to ourselves, but for us to go out to the world, to be the salt of the Earth, to be the light that illuminates the darkness of sin (Matthew 5:13–16). Each and every one of us regardless of our gifts have the capability to evangelize, lest we hold this joy of the gospel to ourselves. But be encouraged brothers and sisters, for when we pray to be equipped and for opportunities to appear, God is faithful and he will surely answer. Be prepared and aware because we are God’s ambassadors and the world is watching. So I implore all of you reading — be courageous — light a fire in your hearts for evangelism because you never know when God will present you with an opportunity or when it will finally be too late.
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)
