Tools For Evangelizing
When it comes to evangelizing, anyone that has done it even a few times will tell you every situation is different. If they’re honest, they’ll also tell you that its easy to get caught up in the flesh. This is true not only for a heated debate with an antagonist but also with an emotional mother mourning the loss of her son. Sounds crazy, but in both situations, our flesh will fight to: a) say what we think they need to hear, or b) say what they want to hear, rather than relying on the sufficiency of Scripture. There will be times when your flesh wins; it happens to EVERYONE. Don’t let that discourage you though. Our command from Christ Himself is to share the Gospel. Take every conversation as an opportunity to learn, and always be on the lookout for the next person you can speak with. If you keep your eyes open, you will find these people filling up their carts at the grocery store, window shopping at the mall, cheering at a local football game, picking up their kids from school, and yep, barbecuing at your next family get together. There is always an opportunity to share Christ, but it’s up to us to honor and glorify HIm with the time He has given us.That being said, again, every situation is completely different, and I’d be the last one to tell you to regurgitate the same lines to every individual. The suggestions below are just to maybe help break the ice in a conversation or if you completely forgot where you were in a conversation or where to go (it’s happened to me) then this is just to help you out a little and ease a certain direction. There are questions and videos that can be used as good tools while evangelizing, but make sure and NEVER rely on this page to share the Gospel as in John 14:26 it says,
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
And also as a good reminder, when we trust in the Lord and allow Him to speak He tells us in Matt 10:20,
“For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”
Christ will give you everything necessary to communicate with the person you are talking to and remember, you are talking, so don’t dominate the conversation. They are souls wandering in the darkness and need our help showing them the light, but a blind man will never hear your directions if you’re screaming at them or going over their head with things that just wouldn’t make sense to the world. Listen, converse, and trust in the Holy Spirit to guide you!
Read through Bill Jack’s Four Killer Questions & feel free to download our free Gospel Tracts here. These are by no means the end-all-be-all of what sharing the Gospel looks like, but they can give you an idea of where to start. If you don’t have time now you can always come back later.
Whats next? You’ve got them thinking and they’re listening. From there, you need to effectively communicate the Gospel. There are so many ways to do this, but the message NEVER changes. There is only ONE Gospel, and that is the saving news of Jesus Christ, the God of the Bible. There are certain fundamentals that need to be said for a person to understand what it means to put their trust in Christ. Here’s a basic outline you can use to ensure you hit the major points:
- They personally have sinned against God (Romans 3:23)
- They have personally earned the consequence of their sin (Romans 6:23)
- Their greatest works are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6)
- The only way to be saved from what they’ve earned is from God’s gift (Eph 2:8)
- God’s gift is Jesus Christ (John 3:16)
- Jesus Christ is the only way (John 14:6)
- Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1, John 1:14, 1 Tim 3:16)
- Christ took upon our consequence (2 Cor 5:21)
- After taking upon their consequence, He gave a promise to whom that believe will receive new life through His resurrection (John 11:25)
- They must believe and receive His work (the work 1 Cor 15 4-7) that saves them (John 3:36, John 1:12)
- People must understand that they need to be born again. (John 3) This is necessary.
- Repent (change their mind) from the old man and be made a new creation (2 Cor 5:17)
- Let Christ live in them. Being born again first means we have chosen to allow the old, selfish man to be buried with Christ. We are then born again, being raised to new life by having Jesus’ life now in us. (Gal 2.20, Romans 6:1-11)
Here are a couple examples of Christians presenting the Gospel:
Pride Before Destruction – Mark Cahill
Kirk Cameron Talks with Gang Members
Kyle With Moses the Off Duty Police Officer
