Evangelism: A whole community job

Main point: Everyday evangelism is a job for everyone, not just for “professionals”

Evangelism is an intrinsic part of any healthy church. It’s part of gospel community. It shapes our gospel teaching. And perhaps it’s helpful to outline two potential approaches to evangelism a gospel-centered church can have: frog-centered, and lizard-centered.

FROGS AND LIZARDS

Frogs are very good at catching flies with their long tongues. They stay on their lily pad, waiting for that fly to come close.

Lizards are not so good at catching flies. But they move around. They see more flies, and some they catch.

There may be a lot of biology-related holes in this analogy (if there are, blame the Lausanne Conference for World Evangelisation 1989—that seems to be where it was first used). But it’s a helpful way of thinking about evangelism (hopefully you won’t mind being described as a “frog” or a “lizard”!).

A JOB FOR PROS?

Could it be that often we (consciously or subconsciously) think of evangelism as a job for the pros, the people who work for the church? They’re great at explaining and defending the gospel—they have long tongues!

Problem is, the pros don’t get around that much. They’re not in the workplaces; not at the school gates; not in the sports clubs. That’s where the lizards, the ordinary church members, are. They come into contact with a lot more flies (non-Christians) than the professionals.

Every day, the church membership can be seeking to evangelise far, far more people than the church leadership ever can—particularly in a time when cultural reasons for contact with church leaders, such as baptisms and weddings, are fading.

WHY DON’T WE?

So why don’t we? Maybe it’s because evangelism is seen as too hard, or too complicated. Or because we’ve tried it and “failed”. Or because we’ve simply never been challenged to do it. The obstacle to every-member evangelism will vary from church to church.

But the key is to empower and equip the lizards to go fly-hunting. A few ideas:

• Interview people up front who came to church because a friend had first told them something of the gospel. Big point: God uses our witnessing!
• Don’t overcomplicate what evangelism is. It’s talking about Christ—the king—Jesus—the Rescuer. Encourage people to realize that if they’ve done that, they’ve done evangelism.
• Define what success is. Our job is to tell people. How they respond is not our responsibility, it’s between them and God. Success is not bringing 10 people to the carol service. It is not seeing your brother come to Christ. It is telling someone the message about Christ Jesus—however they respond. This is hugely liberating.
• Remind each other that ultimately, you’re evangelism is for Jesus’ deserved glory (Matthew 28 v 18-20). Look at Jesus. Love Jesus. Be amazed by Jesus. Point out that Jesus deserves more praise. That’s the motivation.
• If you’re a frog, become a part-time lizard. Be in a sports team or an evening class or orchestra. Meet non-Christians., and try to evangelise them. It’ll show your church that you are willing to do it yourself, and it’ll show you that it’s not always easy!

Practical suggestion: Ask yourself, or others, what stops them sharing the gospel. Then think about whole-church solutions to those obstacles.