THREE REASONS NOT TO EVANGELIZE - Christianity Today

As most pastors know, it’s easier to tell others about the importance of evangelism, and even to do it from the pulpit, than it is actually to do personal evangelism, face to face with someone who needs Christ.

We have so many other responsibilities, so many good reasons why we aren’t sharing our faith. And yet, we still sense that quiet voice that echoes Paul’s words to Timothy, a pastor, to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5).

Though the answer is not simple, neither is it as difficult as we often make it. I’m an evangelist and therefore out of town a lot. When I am home, I’m in an office handling administrative details, counseling, answering correspondence, and training Christian men. I like to have my evenings with my family, whom I don’t want to lose while I’m out trying to win the world. At the same time, I want to be a personal evangelist, not simply a pulpit evangelist.

As I have wrestled with these tensions, I’ve identified three reasons I’ve used in the past for not evangelizing. And here’s what I’ve done.

“I’m so busy”

After all, where do we find the time? Faced with sermon preparation, possibly a Sunday school lesson, committee meetings, counseling appointments, hospital visits, staff meetings, calendar planning, outside speaking engagements, weddings, funerals, and to top it all, being the spouse and parent we should be, where do we find the hours necessary for evangelism?

I’ve learned that I don’t necessarily have to take time out of my schedule in order to evangelize one-on-one. All I have to do is work people without Christ into my schedule.

My days are full, but I do eat lunch, and there’s no rule that says I have to stay in my office to eat it alone. So I have learned to take advantage of the one time during the day when most men appreciate the chance to get away for an hour, relax, and talk. Since they’re not in front of wife or children, they often feel more freedom to express candidly what they think about God and their religious beliefs, even if their friends are present.

When I told the pastor of one church where I was speaking that Fred had invited me to lunch with a couple of his friends, he was delighted and amused. “To my knowledge this fellow doesn’t know the Lord himself, yet he’s bringing two non-Christians with him!”

Fred himself turned the conversation to spiritual things by asking questions about my message of the previous Sunday, and that enabled me to share the gospel in a natural way across the table with all three men. Later in the car, after we had dropped off the other two at work, he told me that I had gotten through to him that Sunday morning.

“I had never understood that salvation is by grace and not by works,” he said, moments before placing his trust in Christ.

Becoming a lunch-hour evangelist may be less challenging than we initially assume. We already may be in contact with several people who would be glad for the invitation. Perhaps it is the man who prints the church bulletin. A pastor easily can say, “You’ve given us such good and dependable service. I’d like to treat you to lunch.” Or how about the man who just paved the church parking lot? Or the building contractor, or the wedding photographer-to say nothing about the non-Christian men who have visited the church services?

A lunch invitation to get acquainted and ask simply, “Are you interested in spiritual things?” is an easy way to beat the problem of busyness.

I discovered another convenient way to work evangelism into my regular schedule. The first time I went to my present barber I asked him when his slowest time was. I had two reasons. Most of us have more important things to do than wait in line at a barbershop for two hours. Even more important, I wanted to come when no one else was likely to be there. That way, if the Lord provided the chance, I could talk with him about the gospel without his being intimidated by the presence of others.

Sure enough, the second time I was there he asked, “Where do you work?” I explained that I was a minister who did evangelistic work. I told him that I speak in a different church each night, taking a paragraph from the Bible and explaining it.

He immediately told me how irritated he gets at hypocrites. Obviously he had been turned off by people whose language said one thing and their life another.

“Hypocrites turn me off, too,” I agreed. I went on to explain that the message of Christianity centers on Christ, not Christians. Then I recounted the gospel, assuring him that One who would die on a cross for him was not a hypocrite. He not only listened, but also accepted a booklet titled, Can You Be Sure You’re Going to Heaven? Because of his background, he’s still trying to sort it all out in his mind.

“I’m surrounded by Christians”

Since we work in churches, we tend to be around Christians. Even an evangelist like me can spend all day with the pastor and other members of the church, waiting for the unchurched to show up at the meetings. But now I make a conscious attempt to be around non-Christians as a normal part of my life. It’s not hard.

Not everyone uses lunch time to sit and eat. One pastor I know plays handball at that time almost every day. He could have found a man in his church to play with him, but instead he put an ad in the local paper for a noon-hour handball partner. A fireman whose schedule was open at that hour replied. The fact that the person who placed the ad was a pastor didn’t deter him at all.

In fact, the fireman was very impressed with his new partner’s warm, sincere, and nonthreatening manner. As their relationship developed, he felt free to interact with the pastor about spiritual things because he sensed that even if he disagreed with him, he would still have a friend.

Months later the pastor had the joy of seeing the fireman come to the Savior.

My own favorite exercise is jogging, which I started doing regularly more than twelve years ago. My initial motive was to stay in shape. Now I also see it as a good chance to evangelize “on the run.” Sometimes simply admiring creation in the presence of a non-Christian leads to conversations about the Creator.

Another pastor friend of mine enjoys bowling. He and his wife joined a bowling league both to relax and to build relationships with the unchurched. One evening they invited a couple in the league to have dinner with them. As the wives were in the kitchen and the husbands in the living room, the man suddenly said to the pastor, “So you’re a minister. What is it you do?” The pastor explained his job was to help people understand the Bible. He briefly presented the gospel. A few weeks later, they invited the couple to a service in the church. Eventually both husband and the wife trusted Christ, all because of the way God used a bowling league.

That pastor also likes to fish. He looks for unchurched men who share that interest. A Christian teenager in his church had a stepdad who showed no interest in spiritual things, but as the pastor introduced himself and mentioned how much he enjoyed fishing, the stepdad responded, “I have a boat. Maybe we could go sometime.” The pastor took him up on it.

As they enjoyed the time in the boat, the man expressed the problems he was having in his marriage. The pastor responded, “I’m convinced that to have a good marriage, it’s important for both individuals to know God and to be growing as Christians.” He then explained the gospel. The man didn’t trust Christ right then, but he was open and appreciated the pastor’s concern expressed in the middle of a lake.

“People are turned off by ministers”

I once assumed that people were intimidated by our identity as ministers. I now think that being a preacher is not a hindrance in evangelism; it’s an asset. All I have to do is mention that I’m a preacher, and many people begin to talk about spiritual matters without hesitation. Maybe it’s because they think I get paid to talk about the gospel. Besides that, people with whom God is dealing usually welcome the opportunity to talk with someone they deem an authority in spiritual things.

Two years ago when we moved from one suburb of Dallas to another, we asked God to use our contacts in buying, selling, and moving to reach someone who didn’t know him. One day when I was talking to the mortgage banker who handled our loan, he appeared intrigued that I was a preacher.

When he asked about it, I answered, “I spend my life explaining the Bible to people, and I really enjoy it.” I briefly remarked how interested I find many to be in the Bible.

“I don’t know much about the Bible, but whenever I’ve read it, it has struck me as being interesting,” he answered.

“When we get settled in,” I said, “maybe we could have you and your wife for dinner.” Not only did he promise to come, but he seemed surprised that he could walk into a preacher’s home so easily.

When they came, I told him again how much I appreciated the help he’d given us in arranging the financing for our home. We had a great talk over dinner. Afterward, while our wives visited together in the kitchen, we sat at the table.

I began, “Several weeks ago when I was in your office, you asked me what I did and appeared to have some interest in spiritual things. Do you?”

He quickly told me that his wife was a Christian but that he wasn’t. He added, “I’ve always felt I didn’t need God, that I was a self-made man, but I’m starting to think differently now that I have a small boy. I don’t think I can be a good father without the Lord’s help.”

As I took the Bible and explained the gospel to him, he told me he wasn’t ready to make a decision, but he readily accepted my invitation to get together for breakfast after he had thought more about what I had said. I gave him one of our booklets to offer him more to think about.

Several weeks later, as we ate breakfast, he said, “I’m ready.”

Recently another experience convinced me that being a minister is not a liability in sharing my faith.

One Saturday morning we had to call a plumber. When the man finished, I invited him to sit down for a snack. He readily accepted, and as I asked about his life, he mentioned how difficult things had been for him.

“My life has not been a bed of roses either,” I said. “Something I’ve discovered, though, has made a big difference. Are you interested in spiritual things?”

That triggered a rather long recitation of his past sins, concluding with his admission that he certainly needed help. Within minutes he had placed his trust in Christ to save him.

“I had a feeling that this was going to be a great morning,” he added.

“Why is that?”

“I found out before I came here that you were a preacher. For the last six months I’ve been wondering how to be saved. I figured you could tell me.”

-Larry Moyer

executive director, EvanTell Inc.

Dallas, Texas