Dirty Words: Evangelism

Having spent time in and listening to pastors of mega-churches, I can tell you a very common theme among people who find themselves in these modern churches is that they at some point became very disillusioned with the church in which they grew up. There was an event or series of events that resulted in leaving the church altogether. I'm going to spend some time this week looking at some aspects of our faith that are still quite valid and necessary but have come to have very bad connotations for both the disillusioned church goer and those who know nothing of Christ.

Our first venture is evangelism, or if you are thinking about a person, an evangelist. For me, the first visual I get when I hear that word is a guy raining fire and brimstone down from the pulpit on TV. His air is more artwork than style, his suit is immaculate, and he has more gold on Flava-Flav. He's busy telling me all of the ways that I'm going to hell and telling me a good way to get back on track is to send him a check. Guess he needs a new Cadillac!

That may be the image I get and yours may or may not be similar, but that has nothing to do with true evangelism. The best and simplest way I've ever heard evangelism defined is that it's one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. Evangelism is very simply the act of a Christ Follower sharing Jesus with someone else! The Greek translation for evangelism is 'bringing the good news'. Evangelism as a verb can be translated 'to proclaim'. So...the act of evangelism is 'to proclaim the good news'. Someone who proclaims the good news is said to be an evangelist. That means you and I, when we share Jesus with others (no matter if they know Jesus or not) we are being evangelists. And oh, by the way, there's a little thing called the Great Commission that is Jesus instructing His followers (you and me!) to go be evangelists. Read on:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. -- Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

That's what you and I are here to do, plain and simple. Understand, you and I cannot possibly force a change in someone...that isn't an evangelist's work. Our work is to go into the world and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and the free gift of grace. We present God to them and let God worry about the transformation part. Here is a great example of what I'm talking about. From John 1:43-49...

Jesus starts the ball rolling by going and seeking Philip and calling him to follow:
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

The transformation of Philip must have been quick, because just a couple of verses later Philip is being an evangelist:
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
NOTE: Philip didn't go stand on a street corner with a bullhorn in a black suit and tie and scream at everyone who passed by...He did exactly what a follower of Jesus would have done. He went and sought out Nathanael and shared the good news. His job was only to bring Nathanael to a place where he could see for himself.

And here is what happened when Nathanael came face to face with Jesus:
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

BAM! Philip followed his calling, didn't get over the top about it, and convinced Nathanael to check it out for himself. Jesus did the rest.

If you know Jesus, then your calling is to be an evangelist and that means you proclaim the good news of Jesus to others. Sometimes that's going to be a very public thing and sometimes it's going to be a one on one thing. You share and offer to lead them to a place where they can see for themselves.

So you see? Evangelism isn't quite the scary or horrible thing you might have thought it was. Get out there and share the joy, the peace, and the love you know because of Jesus. Be an evangelist (without the weird hair and tons of gold)!!!