How do I help such people improve their personal evangelism skills?

By far, when I ask people about their evangelism fears at personal  evangelism training seminars or while giving coaching by phone, contact evangelism is one of the first or second fears that come right out.

I find  mental images of “Contact Evangelism Gone Wild.”

The associations and fears with these images present a evangelism training challenge.

1.  Contact evangelism can be too aggressive

Some evangelists thrive on this manner of contact evangelism, regardless of how they come across to people.

Just yesterday, I met a gentleman who loves this style of evangelism. He admitted that he can sometimes get aggressive.

He feels the urgency of the gospel message and wants people to hear it.  He believes that sin is so offensive to God that one just has to be bold and confront people on their sin.

Even as he told me how he evangelizes, he got very passionate, slamming his left fist into right hand for emphasis, and I could see how people would perceive him as aggressive.

A few months ago, I met another pastor who told me about his approach to evangelism in his neighborhood, “These people need you to get in their face, or else they won’t hear you at all.  If you are not in their face, you’ll be ignored.  That’s the problem with relational evangelists – you take too long.”

2.Contact evangelism can be mis-timed.

My wife was at the bus station for some travel.

The bus was delayed.

The delay stretched into 3-4 hours.

With each delay, the frustration level of the passengers increased.

People were getting tired, hungry, and angry.  They hadn’t planned a delay, didn’t have money for food, and their plans for the evening they had at their destination were seriously messed up.

The contact evangelist team showed up and started telling these already tired and frustrated people they were sinners.

It didn’t go over well.

Sharing Jesus in this way with tired, angry, and hungry people nearly caused a riot.  It resulted in loud voices, tense moments, shouting, and trading of hostile words.

The evangelists went away rejoicing, considering themselves worthy of suffering for the Lord.

The bus passengers were still mad at life circumstances, and very little was visibly accomplished for the kingdom.

Instead, it appeared to turn lots of people off to obnoxious Christians.

3.  Contact Evangelism is for wierdos.

The sterotype is so embedded into our consciousness that it is funny.

You could probably say it with me.

“Standing on the street corner with a bullhorn.”

Other similar images rattle off:

• Reading bible at passer-bys
• Preaching a long sermon to no one in particular
• Wearing sandwich boards saying “End is near”

Many of us have probably seen

• street preachers at traffic intersections preaching at whomever is there at any given moment
• walking through the city carrying a cross or some other Christian symbol
• You Tube Videos of street preachers that make us blush.

My point is not to poke fun or diminish their work, but to say that this image of contact evangelism is sense of personal embarrassment to many people with whom I speak.

“That’s not for me, please don’t make me do that.”

Is there a place for contact evangelism?

In my next post, I will look at the place of contact evangelism as a methodolgy that has it’s place in evangelistic work.

• How to present the gospel in less than 3 minutes
• How to steer a conversation to Jesus.
• How to present the Good News to a total stranger.

These passionate evangelists

• go door to door on Saturdays in their community.
• prepare open air campaigns in local parks
• distribute tracts to anyone who will receive them
• talk about Jesus to anyone who is sitting on a park bench.

They are well trained in contact evangelism and have the personal courage to make it happen.

My own experience with contact evangelism

I’ve done contact evangelism like this on the mission field (That’s me in the picture in the khaki pants).

My first mission trip to Vienna Austria was doing nothing but contact evangelism on the streets on Vienna (right in the main plaza).

I’ve taken youth to a local shopping mall and talked with people in food court, and talked with strangers in cafes and on airplanes.

Other trips to Latin America during the past 15 years have also seen me do evangelism this way.  I’ve grown comfortable with contact evangelism and can do it.

But I keep asking myself:

How can I train the ordinary person in the pew to do evangelism?

For grandma who wants to share her faith.  . .

For the regular person in the pew, the perception of this evangelism method is uncomfortable or too intimidating.

I’m thinking of some of the sweet Christians I’ve met who

• have in churches for years and want to talk about Jesus with their family members.
• are introverts
• are not “in your face” type of people.

As a method of evangelism for the ordinary person in the church pew, this evangelism method has its training challenges.

Even where this form is practiced by the churches where I have been giving evangelism workshops, people are privately confessing to me that

• This scares them.
• They don’t like interrupting people’s life
• They subject themselves to rejection that’s hard to not personalize.

These perceptions are real and present a real challenge to personal evangelism training.

When I train on workshops, this is a common image of evangelism that immediately comes to mind when I ask about evangelism.

In the next post, I’ll look at some of  my experiences with contact evangelism.

I’m not writing to critique or dismiss this method.  Rather, I am thinking how to train people in personal evangelism who have rejected this method for themselves.

He calls it “Your 50%”.

Essentially, Furtick calls us to remember that

• We are called to bear witness to our faith.
• God is responsible for calling people to respond in faith.

The proclamation of the gospel message through word and deed is our part.

The changing of the heart towards repentance is God’s part.

I’ve heard some teaching in the past that puts the whole burden on us:

• If you don’t share, and they die in hell, it’s your fault.
• If you don’t communicate the gospel exactly right, they are not converted.
• If you don’t share the gospel from the right starting point, they are not converted.

Those might be extreme examples, but people carry that guilt.  In my conferences, I run into a lot of them.

We need to remember

• God’s sovereignty over the process of evangelism
• How the Holy Spirit draws a person to faith
• Christian Conversion is mysterious.

Furtick concludes with

It’s good to feel the weight of people’s souls.

It’s motivating to your 50%.

But it’s bad to carry around the weight of their will.

That’s coveting their 50%.

And it will load a weight of guilt upon you that you were never meant to bear. Jesus wants to bear their guilt. If they don’t believe, they will bear it.

For your own sake, don’t take something that’s not yours to carry.

I thought I was invited to give my workshop on personal evangelism.

Because of some miscommunication, I didn’t realize that this was my expected purpose until it was too late.

The organizer mentioned that 53 people were attending the workshop.  Here is what she said after the event.

“We often want evangelism reduced to a formula we can put into a book and follow it like a recipe.  But what you’ve helped us to see is that evangelism is a process, and that it’s a process that each one of worked through ourselves in coming to faith.

This helps us to realize that when we go door to door, we need to be patient with people who are not yet ready to receive, and be receptive to noticing those who are.  We need to be listening to the Spiritual Thirst.”

Reflections

I don’t normally teach on door to door style evangelism, and didn’t realize ahead of time that this was my expected purpose.

However, the style of evangelism that I teach can be applied to door to door evangelism, by focusing on listening to the Holy Spirit and find those who are ready to engage in genuine spiritual conversation.

Door to door techniques can be used well to

• Invite people to a special church event
• Find out the spiritual needs of the community
• Offer to pray with people who mention a spiritual need
• Engage in evangelistic conversations when people are open to such conversations.

A Sales Call for Jesus

I think many door to door conversations can go wrong when it becomes a “sales call for Jesus.”  In this method, the evangelist has a fixed script to follow, trying to argue an often unwilling person to accept the offer of eternal life.

If a person is spiritually ready like the Ethiopian eunuch was in Acts 8, this can be done well – the person is spiritually thirsty and willing to learn more.

But if a person answering the door has little interest, or wants to argue about theology, then there is no spiritual thirst, and to try and stick to the script causes hostility, anger, and perhaps a deafness.  Scripts are helpful when the spiritual thirst is present, and quite often useless when it’s not.

Effective door to door mission

I think the key to door to door approaches is to listen for a person’s level of spiritual thirst.

If it is there, keep going in conversation about the person’s spiritual thirst.  You get to help them move closer in their journey to Christ.

If there is none, offer to pray about a need and then move on.  Door to door campaigns are not the place to waste time with the unwilling.

To learn more about discovering spiritual thirst, read the related links, or get the course I have on audio CD by clicking on the banner.

Image source: Morgue File

Let me ask you this

If you do door to door evangelism, what are some effective lessons you want to share with those who are not comfortable with it?

I invite your comments below.

This kind of nudge is more than an intuition.  It’s the voice of God inviting you to join Him in His redemptive work.

It’s God speaking to you through the Holy Spirit.

I think it starts off as a feeling of

“there is something to do, but I’m afraid of taking that step.”

“I’m not sure this is of the Lord, so I’ll just go on with my life.”

This kind of nudge grows heavier.  It is a sense of intense spiritual heaviness that God is underlining this person for you.

The longer you reflect on it, that feeling moves to

“I think I have to do something and I better do it now.”

The Spirit of God is inviting you to participate in the work of drawing a person to Jesus.

You might call it a prompting, a leading, a nudge, but it clearly seems to be “not you.”

Examples of that Nudge:

My friend Jimmy felt this kind of nudge when he noticed a man standing outside the door of a drugstore.  He simply had to engage the man in a conversation.  It led to a conversation that helped that man move forward in his journey to faith.

Pastor Richard White felt this kind of nudge to talk with a man who’s car had broken down on the side of the road. (See this video Can Pastors Find Time for Evangelism?)

Remember Phillip in Acts 8:26ff, when he was wandering on the desert road, felt that Spirit given nudge to approach a stranger on the roadway (the Ethiopian Eunuch? – Read Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch).

I felt that nudge to go to the swimming pool and there I found my neighbor.  He started a conversation with me about his spiritual life.

Describing the experience

Have you felt that nudge?

How would you describe that?

She’s providing English tutoring a woman from an Asian Country.

This woman is married to a diplomat who works for their nation’s embassy.

This woman comes from a Buddist background, but doesn’t practice any of her religion of her youth.

While tutoring, the conversation turns to occupation.  What do we do for a living?

The conversation naturally drifts towards comparing religions and worldviews.

The question that drew our attention is when this woman makes the comment:

“I seem to be thinking more like a Christian. . . does that make me a Christian?”

The inquisitive nature of the question was a wide open door to talk about how does one become a Christian.

My wife was able to start the conversation on this topic, but the appointed hour had finished and her student had to leave to make another appointment.

Due to the circumstances, my wife didn’t get to finish a full gospel explanation, nor continue the conversation at a later time.  The embassy returned this family to their country of origin.

We have to leave this up to the sovereignty of God that other Christian believers will cross her path and continue the conversation from where we had to leave it.

Cooperating with the Holy Spirit.

This was a conversation where the Holy Spirit had been preparing the way.  Elements in this woman’s life had lined up to meet with my wife and get some clarity on the meaning of being a follower of Christ.

The conversation was natural, during the ordinary course of life.  It wasn’t scripted, nor manipulated, but a evangelism conversation as natural as breathing.

We believe that the Holy Spirit had prepared the way, and this conversation with my wife was yet another piece in the big picture that God is painting in the life of the embassy wife.

While a sense of urgency was felt to share the good news of Jesus and what it means to be a Christian, my wife also felt like the embassy official’s wife was not fully ready to make a decision.  There was missing a lack of the Spirit’s convicting of sin.  To force the matter would have been inappropriate.

To not engage in the conversation about “does that make me a christian?” would have also been inappropriate.

The Lord had orchestrated that my wife and the embassy official’s wife got to speak of this issue and for my wife to bring clarity to the official’s wife thinking process.

My wife was but one link in the chain that God is building to draw this woman to Jesus.

Debriefing the Conversation

She and I had a chance to debrief the conversation and think about different ways to answer the question or ask questions to open the conversation further.

Some questions I like to ask are:

1. “How did God point out that person to you?”
2. “Where did you notice God was already at work?”
3. “What was their spiritual thirst?”
4. “What would you do differently?”
5. “What did you share about Christ?”

Coaching Corner

Think about the last evangelistic conversation you had.

What would you do differently if you could do it over again?

I have taught on spiritual gifts as part of the Dunamis project in various countries and I find this of great interest.

Highlights:

The survey data point out several interesting conditions.

1. Between those who do not know their gift (15%), those who say they don’t have one (28%) and those who claimed gifts that are not biblical (20%), nearly two-thirds of the self-identified Christian population who claim to have heard about spiritual gifts have not been able to accurately apply whatever they have heard or what the Bible teaches on the subject to their lives.
2. A specific set of gifts, commonly described as the charismatic gifts, are widely possessed by Christians. Overall, 13% of Christian adults claimed to have one of more of those gifts (e.g., healing, interpretation, knowledge, miracles, prophecy, tongues). The people most likely to say they have a charismatic gift are woman (twice as likely as men); people without any college education; born again Christians; and people 45 or older. Intriguingly, although 13% say they have one or more charismatic gifts, the survey revealed that nearly twice as many (23%) described themselves as charismatics.
3. The stagnation of evangelism relates to many factors, but one of those is probably the fact that just 1% of Christian adults (self-described or born again) claims the gift of evangelism. While the Bible never suggests that one must possess this gift in order to share the gospel, the depressed proportion of believers who identify with that gift reflects the stalled growth of the Christian body in America.

Barna finds lots of interesting data about the evangelical church.  The statistic that most captured me was those who think they have the gift of evangelism.

Is evangelism a gift?

Is evangelism a mandate?

Does the gift of evangelism make one an evangelist?

Does the lack of the gift mean that one cannot evangelize?

Of course, I have my answers.  I’d like to know yours.  Feel free to share in the comments below.

How can you spiritually prepare yourself and the community for your outreach?

You are probably thinking:
1.  Planning meetings.
2.  Publicity
3.  Hoping for good weather. . .:)

Don’t forget prayer.  Prayer is the key to preparing yourself and the community for your upcoming outreach.

The practice of walking the neighborhood while praying is still a practice that people are learning and discovering.

In this FREE online webinar, evangelist and certified Intentional Community Evangelism trainer Darrel Davis of Foundation Ministries will share practical steps to

• Praying for your outreach events.
• Prayerwalking the community where you live.

Darrell Davis, of www.OnlyFoundation.org and will join me, Chris Walker, of www.Evangelismcoach.org in discussing this strategy as part of your evangelism outreach to your community.

*** No product pitches or sales (with exception of book mentions), but donations towards the cost of the webinar can be made after the webinar. ****

After the event, a PDF handout will be made available to participants.

Date doesn’t work for you?

To be automatically informed as to our next webinar, signup for our Free Evangelism Newsletter.

You’re email will not be sold or shared. Ever.

No Spam either.

See Prayer Walking — Developing An Evangelistic Vision for more information on prayer walking.  (Adapted from Follow Me: Becoming a Lifestyle Prayerwalker)

Other scheduled webinars:

Webinar with Bill Tenny-Brittian March 26 on Overcoming personal Fear in sharing your faith.

Because of travel engagements in 3 different countries during January, I’m just now responding (though I’ve been thinking about these for a while)

A series of posts this week will focus on sharing these.  It’s my hope that our readers will join in the conversation.

The question for today:

I know God called me as an evangelist.

I have no personal evangelism plan and feel a need for one .

I also like to know more how an evangelist lives his calling

Let me begin by referring you to

Telling the Story: Evangelism for the Next Generation 
by Luis Palau, Timothy Robnett

They answer your question in depth. 

As I read your question, I see that you have two in there.  One regarding a strategy, and the second about developing your calling.

Develop an Evangelism Strategy

I’ve written about this before in Do you have a Strategy for 2009?  There you will find additional links about developing a plan.

Other plans for your development might include a

• Develop an Evangelism Prayer List,
• Develop a reading plan of evangelism books. 
• Find and attend evangelism conferences.
• Use Facebook groups for evangelists (search for them).
• Learn how to use gospel scripts when God has opened the door.
• Learn how to recognize the working of the Holy Spirit.
• Shameless plug: grab my Evangelism newsletter to stay informed about free online evangelism training events and exclusive tips.

Living Your Calling as an Evangelist

In Chapter 3 of Telling the Story: Evangelism for the Next Generation 
Luis Palau writes about how an evangelist can begin to live out his calling.  I’ll simply put forth the summary.  Order your copy of Telling the Story: Evangelism for the Next Generation to read the whole thing.

• Dream great dreams (i.e, develop a giant faith, goals)
• Plan great plans (i.e. what is your ministry’s vision, strategy)
• Pray great prayers (i.e., the faith to ask)
• Obey great commands (i.e., go and fulfill)

Update:

I’ve been trading emails with one of the books authors, Tim Robnett.  I hope to have him scheduled for an upcoming webinar.  Subscribe to my Evangelism newsletter to stay informed about free online evangelism training events.