On Sunday (Sept 23) we talked about "Everyday Evangelism". In that chapter of the book "Everyday Church," we read about the "Four Points Of Intersection" that revolve around the four movements of the Story Of God. This is something we covered in a previous sermon series, and what we see is that every person is telling a story, and being able to understand and speak the four movements of God's Story into their story gives us the ability to intersect with their story in a way that can engage them in gospel conversations. Peter says in 1 Peter 3 that we should engage in evangelism "with gentleness and respect" and this is a good reminder for us as we think about evangelism. We must be winsome, but also bold. We must love and care for those that God has placed us in the midst of. The first step in evangelism is prayer. Without prayer, our evangelism will wear us out, and fall flat. But with prayer, we can begin to grow in our love for people and from there we can begin to practice some of the ideas in "Everyday Church". In particular, take some time this week to think thru the idea of "Generative Themes" as described on page 125. This requires learning the cares, hopes, and dreams of those that God has called you to, but this is an important part of the work of evangelism.
Lastly, we must remember that the results of our evangelism are not up to us. We don't bear the weight of the salvation of anyone. Jesus bears that weight, and all we need to continually learn to do is trust in Him.
Jesus promised to be with us as we go and make disciples.
We can trust that His words are true.
He is with us.