It would be good from early in your Christian life to learn the importance of not only a seasonal but a year-round habit of sharing your faith in Jesus. This evangelism lifestyle is especially significant for new Christians who yet retain unconverted friends to witness close-at-hand the transformative power of Christ.

Our Motivation

Ultimately, our aim is not to fill pews or to increase the coffers of the church. Rather, we seek to glorify God by exalting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to see the lost come out from under condemnation.

God is not glorified when we think Christ our local church is just for us. Nor is he when we take for granted the impact of Christ on our lives, or withhold the potential of that impact from others. God is not glorified either when material or temporal matters cloud over, or crowd out, the urgency and priority of the spiritual need of our peers. Neither is God glorified when we doubt his desire and power to save people from their sins. After all, we ourselves are evidence of his desire and power! While God has not promised that all to whom we witness will be saved (Acts 13:48), it is clear they will not come to Christ without access to his word of invitation and command (Matthew 11:28-30; Acts 17:30).

Conversely, God is glorified when, through our excitement about the gospel, we are compelled to reach out to unconverted friends (Ephesians 3:14–19); when our confidence is fueled by the promise that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17); and when we are inspired by what he’s done in history. How God delights to see his people energized and obedient (Acts 8:4), yearning to see others joining us in heaven!

Our Manner

Since God sovereignly draws his people out of the world and unto himself, we have no need to coerce or to cajole others to become followers of Christ. A sense of desperation is out of keeping with the riches Christ offers. Rather, it is with a sense of joy that we convey the blessings we have in Christ (cf., Romans 11:13–14).

In our outreach, much depends on our living, but also on our seeking of God in our interactions for the leading of his Spirit. The best evangelists are open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, knowing when to speak and how to respond (1 Peter 3:15). We need his power to loosen our tongues, his wisdom to use effectively our daily and weekly equipping with the Word (Ephesians 4:12), and his grace to believe that invitations to Christ and commands to repent will accomplish God’s purposes. 

God harmonizes his sovereignty and our responsibility. Remember how Jesus wept over Jerusalem, took to task those who led the blind astray, pled with the lost with a full and perfect blend of grace and truth, and ultimately died for them. All did not believe in him, but he was faithful in dying to himself and fruitful in saving his people. It is not for us to atone for their sins—Christ has accomplished that—but we are likewise called to die to ourselves and to relinquish our reputations for the sake of the lost.

Our Method

Since it is by the foolishness of preaching that men and women come to faith in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18) we understandably aim to invite friends to public worship. How we do so can determine how effective we are.

The direct approach: Christmas and Easter are great opportunities to invite anyone along to worship, for these seasons form points of contact with society. Everyone knows something about the Christmas and Easter narratives, even if they know little about Christianity or the church. Do pray, then, to be of use to God in filling your church’s Christmas and Easter services with any and all who need an encounter with God! Christmas and Easter are not holy (in the sense of being biblically  mandated), but they are very helpful for aiding outreach. 

In the remainder of the year, the direct invitation to worship will best suit those with previous experience of church. Public worship—what was called in Old Testament times the Qahal (“assembly”)—remains chiefly for God’s people. Accordingly, much of the pulpit ministry is geared to the equipping of the saints for ministry during the week. The evangelism which comes through the preached word in public worship is largely geared toward non-communicant members of the church; that is, toward those with some knowledge of Christianity. This focus agrees with that of Scripture, for teh Bible chiefly addresses the covenant community.

The indirect approach: With the increased gap between the church and society, those wishing to hear the message of the church may well find it easier to connect with Christian communities by first attending a social event, an informal Bible study, or a specific course (e.g., Christianity Explored, Griefshare, Divorce Care, etc.). This does not mean to say it is wrong to invite unchurched family, friends, or colleagues, first to public worship. How could it be? God is sovereign and can bless to them the welcome, the various elements of the service, even supposing the sermon stretches them initially. Just don’t expect the pulpit ministry to do for unchurched invitees what, in the main, it is not intended to. Few books of Scripture address those from outside the covenant community explicitly (e.g., the fool in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, parts of Daniel). The Scriptures teach us that the preaching to the unchurched takes on a different form (e.g., Acts 17:16–34), and occurs outside of public worship. That’s why we suggest initially the primary use of alternative venues for reaching those with little or no experience of biblical exposition and worship liturgies.

Our grasp of this will go some way to alleviating unwarranted expectations of the pulpit ministry, while maximizing the opportunities in church life for the unchurched to hear of Jesus.

Every blessing, then, on your life and service to Christ.