It is my impression that the mind set of many Christians if not most Christians in the United States is to leave the task of evangelism and what we call “witnessing” to the specialists (i.e. pastors, missionaries, and other professional or lay ministers) because they are presumably better at it. (This is not so much the case with the persecuted church in China or Muslim controlled areas where it is dangerous to even go to church) This sort of attitude means that we approach so many chores as well as recreational activities without any serious thought that these may have great potential for our sharing the gospel. So we may plan to go to work, do some shopping, go to the gym, the bank, the post office, a court room,or a soccer game, etc.; but not give much thought beforehand to the prospect of sharing with others what we are all about in Jesus Christ. Some of us even get uptight about sharing the gospel with our neighbor or get discouraged because so many people seem to be disinterested or even offended if we talk “religion” with them. Now before I go any further with this, let me say that this is not another “pep talk” to urge you to “get the word out.” All that does is make some Christians even more resistant to “evangelism” not because they do not believe in doing it but because it is so uncomfortable for them. So then where am I going?
First off I am not interested in giving you some easy lessons on how to witness. There are plenty of good programs for that (e.g. Explosion Evangelism), but I am urging you to pray about your role in sharing the gospel. James Nicodem in his very readable book on prayer, “Prayer Coach” (Crossway Books, 2008), gives three tips on how we can become effective witnesses “without trying.” He counsels us to (1) pray before we begin any public activity like the ones mentioned above to simply ask God to present us with an OPENING to share Jesus Christ. We can also ask the Lord during our quiet times with him (assuming there is some of that in our lives) to provide us with an opening. Sometimes, an opening can be as easy as this. I know of a person who was very conscientious and ethical at work, who was asked by a fellow worker, “why do you bother to be so good? Nobody cares so why do you.?” The answer given was in five words: “Because I am a Christian.” The answer in itself was already an example of witnessing for Jesus. This brings us to Nicodem’s next point.
(2) If we are to ask the lord to open up for us an opportunity to share the gospel, it’s a good idea to ask for discernment to see the opportunity and for the boldness to seize the moment. Discernment and boldness go together because if we are timid about these opportunities we may “miss the boat altogether.” I am reminded of Nehemiah who was downcast about the plight of his people, and whispered a quick prayer before answering his boss’ inquiry about what he could do for him. He then revealed his burden to the one man in all the Persian Empire who could help Nehemiah’s people (actually that man, the Emperor, would be a tool in God’s hand, see Nehemiah 2:1-9 especially verse 4b). Nehemiah had also prayed about this situation a lot beforehand (see Chapter 1).
(3) Finally, we should ask the Lord to lead us to people who are open to the gospel. In the example above, Nehemiah was able to speak with someone who was “open” to help him. We should certainly be “always willing to share the reason for the hope that is within us (I Peter 3:15 KJV) with both those who are not really open as well as those who are. Actually the way things work out, we do not know how open people are unless we “test the waters.” Another prayer along with asking to be led to someone who is open is the request that God match us up with someone we are especially equipped to share with. Nehemiah and the Persian Emperor, Artaxerxes, were certainly a perfect match.
This kind of approach of prayer beforehand and “opportunistic” sharing is what I would call “intentional evangelism,” because we have no fixed agenda, no pressure to make a sale, and no desire to shove the gospel down anyone’s throat which we try to avoid anyway; yet it is intentional because we have prayed about it and we just be who we are in Christ and let God open doors rather than we trying to “break down doors.” It is intentional because we care about where people will spend eternity and make ourselves available (initially through prayer) to be used of God. I really like Paul’s statement about “how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news (Roman’s 10:15). When was the last time someone said you have beautiful feet?
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