My First Evangelism Experience
I remember the first time I ever intentionally focused on leading someone to Christ.
My first evangelism conversation was an amazing experience, once I got past all the mental stress I had created for myself.
Faith Story Number 3: The Gospel Story
The gospel story is the one story that all Christians must master and know well.
When you learn one of these really well, you will remove a lot of fear in personal evangelism.
How to be ready to share the gospel
Have you seen an evangelistic moment (a potential divine appointment) develop suddenly in a conversation and found yourself not yet ready to share the gospel?
Learn two tips from Philip (Acts 8) to be ready
Using Tracts for Evangelism
A mother asked about using tracts for personal evangelism. Tracts may not always be useful in every context, but using tracts for evangelism can be a helpful conversation starter, a great seed planter, and the Holy Spirit can use it much later than the day the person received it.
6 Different Gospel Presentations for Personal Evangelism
We always want to be prepared to explain our faith.
We get better at it as we mature in Christ.
God's sovereignty is not an excuse to avoid evangelism, nor to be sloppy in our presentation.
The fear of the E-word
In the November 2014 issue of Presbyterians Today, I share an article that gives 3 basic steps to overcome your personal fear of evangelism. Sometimes called “the e-word,” as if evangelism is an unspeakable curse word, personal evangelism is generally not a regular discipline among believers in mainline churches because of associations with pushy street …
Is Relational Evangelism in the Old Testament?
Is relational Evangelism in the Old Testament? A look at some possible scripture examples.
7 Observations from Fox News’ Kirsten Powers’ Testimony
Christianity Today recently released an article you may have seen, Fox News’ Highly Reluctant Jesus Follower. It’s a worthy article to read Kirsten Powers’ first hand personal testimony of how she became a follower of Jesus. It is getting a lot of airplay at the moment (I must have seen it 30 times already in …
Give This Book to Your Spiritually Thirsty Friend
One spiritual conversation is just not enough. The Lord will use many conversations to help bring your friend to Christ. But sometimes, you’ll want something that you can give your spiritually thirsty friend something that they can read and ponder over. Books are good for this. Invite your friend to read one with you and …
Are you a Genesis 3 Christian?
I listened to the testimony of an adult woman from Guatemala. She is 2nd from the left in the image. Her journey to faith brought me to tears, and once again aroused my desire to help other people share the good news of Jesus Christ. As you read or listen her story, ask yourself this …
7 Detours in Evangelistic Conversation
In a recent Outreach Magazine article (Nov/Dec 2012), Larry Osborne put together a list of 7 detours in evangelistic conversations. Detours are conversational rabbit trails that are deflect significant evangelistic conversation elsewhere, rather than at the true spiritual need of others. We often step into those rabbit trails, thinking that we might have to: defend …
Book Review: Done – What most religions don’t tell you about the Bible
Cary Schmidt has written a useful introduction to the gospel: Done.: What most religions don’t tell you about the Bible. Its chapters cover the basic gospel script of Do Vs. Done as the framework for a simple explanation of the gospel that allows someone who is considering Christianity to examine the biblical evidence and reasoning …
Appropriate Silence in Personal Witnessing
I’ve got a few friends who have always been hostile to talking about faith. Their level of spiritual thirst has been low. In fact, it’s downright hostile. We remain friends, but talking about Jesus provokes emotional hostility or an evasive awkward silence.
How to Mess Up a Christmas Party with Evangelism
Have you ever been “sandbagged” at a party where the organizer had a hidden agenda? To sandbag your Christmas party guests is to unexpectedly thrust your guests into a socially awkward or highly uncomfortable situation where they are unable to escape, metaphorically speaking.
Fruitless Evangelism – How to Keep Going While Waiting
No matter how much I share my faith, there are people in my life who remain apart from Christ. As an evangelist, that’s hard. Here is how I keep going.
Sharing Faith With Your Friends
“How do you find forgiveness?” This was a question my neighbor asks while we visit at the poolside on a spring day. While our kids are splashing, shouting, screaming, laughing and diving into the water, my friend talks with me about deep issues of the heart. How did we get to this point? How did …
How to kill spiritual thirst
You’ve probably seen it: An opening in a conversation when a non Christian expresses their spiritual insight, or opens up about some restlessness in their heart. Then well-meaning Christians become a one-way torrent of gospel information about what a person needs to believe and why other religions are wrong. Or maybe you’ve seen this: Your …
How to talk about spiritual things with a friend
Moving a conversation around to spiritual things can be the most difficult part of witnessing. We can talk freely with our friends about many subjects, but are at a loss when we want to bridge the gap between everyday life and the Lord. What does driving to work every morning or playing golf or washing …
Do I Need to Know My Spiritual Gifts before I do Evangelism?
Today’s Guest Article is from Jeffrey Johnson, author of Got Style? Personality Based Evangelism, who recently did a blog book tour (see related links at the end). See my review of Got Style at Personality Based Evangelism
Book Review: Evangelism in the New Testament
“Offenses ought to be pardoned, for few offend willingly, but only as led by some excitement” — Hegesippus, 300 BC. When a book on evangelism methodology starts with a quote about pardoning offences, I wonder why the author feels the need to start there with his reader. I finished reading Evangelism in the New testament …
Matching the Gospel to a Persons Need
We’ve all heard about evangelism and our personality as the witness — how we best conduct personal evangelism out of a particular style. But what about our hearer? The person we are witnessing to? Can we help shape our gospel presentation to their need, to the language of their heart, to their spiritual thirst?
Contextualizing the Gospel Crossculturally
Being cross cultural missionaries, I run into a clash of worldviews. Likewise, teaching in a missions institute on worldviews, I seek to offer explanations and suggest strategies to contextualize the gospel. We may not see it a lot in the US, but a common worldview I encounter when I minister in Latin America is animism. …
God’s Plan for Sharing — A Church Vision for Outreach
The North American Mission Board is developing a new evangelism initiative to fulfill their 2020 vision of “Every Believer Sharing, Every Person Hearing.” “God’s Plan for Sharing” is meant to encourage Christians to prayerfully and thoughtfully engage in the most effective approach for making Christ known. GPS lays out four biblical mileposts to lead your …
Webinar Resources — Church Transformation with Ron Crandall
“How can skillful pastors who long for the resurrection power of God to be manifest in their churches learn to patiently guide a congregation through all the necessary stages of change involved in a turn around?” Ron Crandall – Turnaround Churches and Beyond