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This past Monday I sat down in my office for a meeting of the minds of some individuals burdened about the sea of unchurched college students in our nation. Actually we were more concerned about our ineffectiveness in reaching students.
I sat with the new head of collegiate evangelism at NAMB, officials from SEBTS, and a couple of the sharpest college ministers I have ever met, Brad O’Brien from Summit Church in Durham, and Dave Owens of Providence Baptist in Raleigh. Dave had been my student about a decade ago, and sadly we have had little time for fellowship since.
As we visited Dave made a comment that stuck with me, not because of its profundity, but because another former student had said the same to me not a week prior.
Dave said something like this, “I appreciate the things you taught me in class. But the thing that stuck with me, the one moment I remember most about you, comes from outside class. You went with a few students to lunch, and we watched the way you shared Christ with the waitress. That meant more than anything in class.”
I recognize sharing this incident makes me the hero, so I will have to add a post one day about the many times and ways I was a pathetic model of a Christian, let alone of a witness. I am not sure the web has enough space for that one.
My point in sharing this is to demonstrate a simple point I have observed over the years: evangelism is caught more than taught. So much of the talk today revolves around being missional, or reformissional, or a barbarian, or leading a revolution, or whether we should pull out our velvet Elvis picture, jump on a trampoline for inspiration, or start microbrewing for the glory of God. We hear of theotopical preaching, narrative, expository, maybe even suppository preaching (jk). We are implored to be friends of sinners, to celebrate our freedom, to hate legalism, on and on. And so much of this I affirm (okay I will brew only coffee).
But there is a bottom line to all this rhetoric, important as it all may be. People still need to hear about good news. And believers need to be equipped to share it: not only in words, but in how we serve our employer, offer hospitality in our community, and how we demonstrate changed lives and changed families. That being said, so many Christ followers need an example on how to do Christiniaty as much as a teacher on what to believe.
So take a little quiz (I am a prof and love to give them):
1. The last time I shared Christ with a lost person in the presence of a younger believer was ______________.
2. The last time I had an unchurched person in my home was ______________.
3. The last time I was invited to (and went to) and unchurched person’s home was ____________.
4. The last time a believer thanked me for demonstrating (not telling) how to share Christ was _______________.
Years ago I figured out how to work a crowd. Not necessarily a good thing I suppose, but as I speak at a lot of evangelism conferences and pastors meetings, audience analysis is likely helpful. I spoke in a state to a group of pastors. I admit, I set them up. I gave about five consecutive examples of deplorable conditions in the SBC regarding evangelism, things like decisions not disciples, the huge number of baptismless churches, the apathy of believers, only in more flowery terms so people just had to AMEN if they loved Jesus. Then I said, “I can tell you how to change that in your state, and it won’t cost you any money” (which always communicates to cheap Baptist preachers). They were sitting up, ready for the most AMEN-able punch line.
“Every week starting this Sunday, simply mention a time the previous week you shared Christ with someone,” I said. “Do this every week for a few months, and I believe you will see more people get the importance, and as you tell how you shared, insights on how to share Christ than any program would ever accomplish.”
The room grew strangely quiet. I literally saw dozens of heads drop as pastors gazed at the floor. Why? They knew. You cannot speak weekly of sharing Christ if you are not sharing Christ.
The good news is I have shared this with students who have testified to a remarkable increase in effective witnessing (not just Tuesday night-style, but sharing consistently) in their people. It is caught more than taught.
Richard Baxter, the great Puritan who wept for the souls of men, said it like this: “Your people can tell when you have been much with God; that will be most in their ears, that is most in your heart.”
Those you lead are catching a perspective of ministry from you. What in your life is most contagious?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 at 11:00 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.