Five Unimaginative Steps To Sharing The Gospel

As followers who love God, His Son, and His Word, there is a burden placed upon our hearts to see others love the same things as much as we do. The responsibility that comes with that burden is the Lord’s call to us to share His truth. The command is simple: make disciples. Two words are all it takes to convey the Lord’s plan. Despite its simplicity, though, most of us find it hard to do just that. In fact, most of us struggle to engage in the first step of making disciples, which is to share the gospel with others.

The difficulty invites believers to search for help that may guide them in methods and manners that ease the task of sharing the gospel. Quickly searching Google will yield results for ways to share the gospel easily or creatively. Some take the burden off the one sharing by promising simple steps with guaranteed success. Of course, success for believers is not in the number of conversions, but in the number of conversations. It should go without saying, that our responsibility is only to share and trust the Lord to work in hearts.

Yet, that’s where our struggles seem to begin—having the conversation. We search for creative ways to share the gospel, but that implies we are willing to share in the first place. A general observation suggests to me that we don’t need more creative ways to share, but rather we need to return to the basics.

‍Study

‍The first basic principle is to study the Word of God. This is where Ezra began his own relationship with God and His Word, by studying it (Ezra 7:10). As long as we are living, we should be growing, which comes by immersing ourselves in the Word of God. Studying is critical for several reasons. First, the more the Lord’s truth is preached to us by reading His word, the more convicted we become by it, compelling us to obey by sharing the gospel with others. There is another aspect of this, though. The more we fill our minds with His truth, the more prepared we are to address individual life circumstances, teaching others how God’s Word (and His way) are sufficient in addressing where they are.

‍Pray

‍It should go without saying that a basic step to sharing the gospel is prayer. It’s a fundamental aspect of the Christian life, causing us to lean on our Lord and have our wills aligned with His. Therefore, we are urged to pray continuously (1 Thessalonians 5:17). How do we pray about evangelism? The most obvious ways are to pray for opportunities, pray for the right words, and so on. But, if we want to see our church engage in evangelism, I think there are several specific ways we should be praying. First, we should pray for ourselves, not only that we would have opportunities, but that we would exemplify the Lord’s call to make disciples and that it may encourage others. Additionally, we pray for our churches, that the people would develop a heart inclined towards evangelism. As I have said repeatedly, I think the lack of evangelism is tied to our lack of prayer (1).

‍Model

‍Peter tells leaders to be an example to the flock. They are to model the Christian life, setting a pattern of holiness for the rest of the sheep to follow (1 Peter 5:3). Contained within this is obedience to the Lord’s commands, including making disciples, meaning we need to evangelize, disciple, and baptize. How can we expect the people of the church to share the Word if the leaders are not exemplifying it themselves? TeachWhen Ezra sought to study the Lord’s word, he did not stop there. Instead, he then placed it into practice in his own life before teaching it to others (Ezra 7:10). This is an acceptable pattern within the church: study, do, teach. When I ask others why they don’t share, frequently the answer is that they feel unprepared. Yet, ask what they are doing to prepare themselves, and the answer is nothing. Evangelism begins with preparation through teaching.

‍Send

‍Finally, sometimes people need to be compelled to share. Tap them personally to share the gospel. Maybe you ask them to join you in sharing with others or to organize a specific outreach. Or maybe they just need to be challenged to go out and share. Before this, though, you have to identify individuals to send. Look for those who are gifted and desire to be used by God.

Nothing that has been written here is revolutionary. There is nothing creative about what I am proposing, but sometimes our focus on the creative ways to share the gospel overshadows the fundamentals of God’s ways to share. It’s at this basic level that we seem to struggle the most. Yet, if we start here, I suspect we will find ourselves overwhelmed, but hopefully excited, by the opportunities that God brings to us.

‍

(1) I have made this statement several times in varying articles on the IFCA Harvesters blog. In fact, you can do a quick search and find a recent series I have done on the idea of connecting our prayer life with our evangelism. So, if you want to read more on the subject, I urge you to look around the website.

‍