From Nay to Yay — A Campus Evangelism Reflection
I think to a lot of newer brothers and sisters of the faith, the pretty word of evangelism isn’t quite understood. As some of you know, I came to faith around the middle of 2020 so I haven’t been exposed to ‘Christianese’ for too long. But the picture painted in my head of evangelism were street preachers yelling about condemnation and hell or going to some unnamed island and sharing the Gospel. Although this is definitely part of it, I've later found out that it isn’t always so grandiose. Evangelism is simply sharing the Good News… yes, it can be done across the globe on a mission but it is also sharing to friends/family and the community around you. I very clearly remember telling myself a while back that I would never do evangelism, “it’s too weird and hard. IMAGINE talking to a stranger about faith, lmao.” Even after the first Facebook post about campus evangelism, I told myself that there was no way I'd show up. But as we all know God can be quite funny at times and He positioned me in such a way that it was clear He wanted me to go. And so I obeyed, dragged my feet, and went…
To be real, there wasn’t any specific Scripture that popped into my mind and inspired me to go. Not a single one. I didn’t think about The Great Commission nor did I think about how much I should love other people. Naw bro, nothin. But, I know for a fact that I do want to be a great disciple, and so if God nudges me to go to campus evangelism, I’ll commit.
I may be wrong, but I think a lot of people want spiritual highs before they step out in faith. But stepping out in faith only requires a genuine heart for God. I may not have had perfect intentions going into my first time evangelizing but He knew my heart and that I would respond.
A personal motivation to step into the SLC basement that Friday was the thought that one day there might be a person that has many questions about Jesus, and there is no one around but me. How STUPID of a Christian would I be if I couldn’t answer at least the most basic of questions about faith. If I call myself a Christian, it means that I have committed my life to the servitude of the Kingdom. If I’ve been close to my Lord for multiple years, how in the world would I not be able to share about Him. Such a “person” with questions can be anyone, anywhere at any time. But for me, this individual has always been my dad. I’ve been continuously going to campus evangelism to absorb and learn how others share their faith so that I can share it firmly with my father again. The biggest challenge with him is that he had many questions, but no one gave him proper answers. Now, I have the chance to answer his questions. So if I don’t share with him, who will?
God knew about my lack of experience and so I was super duper blessed by some brothers and sisters during my first experience of campus evangelism. SHOUTOUT GOES TO JOHN who was my first partner and he honestly made walking around and finding strangers to talk to such a blast. The biggest lesson I learned was that someone’s salvation is not up to me. There is no specific sequence of words or topics that will change a heart of stone to flesh. That is God’s job so I will leave it to Him :). I know that some people may be afraid to evangelize because of a previous negative experience or they may think that it could cause someone to doubt or even deconvert. But please… you aren’t that powerful. I believe that this burden is not for a human to carry, and so the expectations going into a conversation shouldn’t be that high. For me, I now understand that I hold zero power; it is all the Holy Spirit and his mysterious ways.
One of the biggest takeaways I got from campus evangelism is that it is genuinely fun! Like… really, really fun. Yes, I definitely felt nervous during my first time walking to SLC to meet with everybody. But once we paired up and split off, God’s grace kicks into turbo gear and His presence is known. My nerves turned into excitement as I hoped to start a lot of conversations.
We all fear rejection. But who cares? If you worry about this so much, evaluate yourself and your pride. After being rejected the first time, I saw how insignificant fear of man truly is. Instead, we should fear the Lord!
Here are some final encouraging words: DON’T PUT SO MUCH PRESSURE ON YOURSELF. There may be days where you get completely rejected, but there may also be days where God positions a meeting that could spark something beautiful. Like I said previously, God holds all the power in someone’s salvation and not you. So just go out there and spread some seeds! It is impossible for you to know what type of soil it lands on!
Ok, my thoughts are becoming less and less congruent now. I’m outta here, peace.
