Evangelism: What does that mean?

At Fellowship we have bee talking a lot about Evangelism. We have been going through this Natural Church Development process, which looks at the strengths and weaknesses in seven vital categories. The lowest category for our church was "Need Oriented Evangelism". As some members of the congregation met to discuss the results of the NCD process and to discuss our lowest factor, the question got raised, "what is the definition of evangelism?"

I would say that a good majority of the people in the room saw evangelism as standing on a street corner and telling random strangers about Jesus. One man I talked to said, "I know that I am supposed to evangelize, but if evangelism mean to talk to random strangers, then I am very uncomfortable doing that." As Christ followers we know that we are instructed to, "love our neighbor" and "make disciples of every nation", but what does that actually look like?

Other people that I talked to had a different idea of evangelism. They thought that evangelism was to make friends with non-christian people and invite them to events at the church. One person said that his goal was to minister to his co-workers by getting them to come to church and keep them coming back.

Another view of evangelism come to us from Saint Francis of Assisi, who famously said, "preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words." He is basically saying, let your actions, your life, your daily interactions with people show the love and compassion of Jesus. So what does that look like? Well....it's not so clear. I think that is different for everyone based on their gifts and life situation. It can also depend on how one defines the gospel of Jesus. However, we do know that this means that we should act in Christ-like ways to those in which we have interactions with. We need to promote justice, forgive others, feed the poor, tell the truth, live humbly, love unconditionally, etc. What does that look like in your life? Maybe you are a high school or college student and you need to stand up for a friend or for the truth. Maybe you are middle aged and can help provide resources to those in need in your community. That might mean being a mentor or providing leadership for a non-profit. Whatever it might be, nearly anything that you do already, could be done in the name of Jesus in a way that bears witness to the gospel to which we have been called.

But what about those who believe differently than us? Check back later for more on evangelism!