Bible-believing Christians know they are called to be Christ’s witnesses (Acts 1:8). They understand they are to commit their lives to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18–20). But some Christians have never begun the exciting adventure of sharing their faith, while others may witness sporadically but not consistently. How can believers cultivate a Great Commission lifestyle? In this article, I share advice for cultivating and maintaining evangelism as a way of life.
The Importance of Verbal Proclamation
Evangelism is not “mere presence.” We hear that faulty perspective expressed often today. Individuals declare, “I’m just going to witness with my life and let my life do the talking.” Some “quote” Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226), claiming he opined, “Preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary.” Whether or not Francis uttered that phrase is debated, but regardless, the statement is not biblically sound. Affirming “preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary” is like saying “feed the hungry at all times; use food if necessary.”
Jesus is the gospel. Hence, the good news must be shared verbally. Evangelism is more than mere presence. LeRoy Eims shares a powerful illustration:
A Christian businessman in Seattle confessed how he had unknowingly discouraged a business associate from coming to Christ for years. One day the friend told the Christian businessman he had met the Lord the night before at a Billy Graham meeting. The longtime Christian was elated and said so, but the new Christian replied, “Friend, you’re the reason I have resisted becoming a Christian all these years. I figured if a person could live a good life as you do and not be a Christian, there was no need to become one!”
As Eims points out, this Christian businessman had sought to live an exemplary life, but he had not communicated his source of strength for doing so.
How will people know where our hope is found if we do not tell them? We may think that our life is bearing testimony, but without an accompanying verbal witness, the gospel has not been communicated. Evangelism is not “mere presence.” We might re-cast the mistakenly attributed quote of St. Francis of Assisi in this way: “Share the gospel at all times, and use words, because they are necessary.”
The Relationship between a Christian’s Walk and Talk
Our life is not the gospel. The gospel must be shared verbally. But our “walk” does carry weight. The following diagram is one I developed after wrestling with the relationship between our “walk” and our “talk” in evangelism. As the diagram shows, both are always necessary. If you live a committed Christian life but never share the gospel verbally, then how does your non-Christian neighbor know the source of your hope? And conversely, if you communicate the gospel verbally but are a complete jerk in the process, then those words of eternal life may well fall on deaf ears.
Both “walk” and “talk” are important, but their relative importance is dependent on the relationship between the witness and the person to whom he or she is witnessing.
Your life (versus your words only) is going to speak loudly when sharing with a family member. Remember the context of 1 Peter 3. Peter is writing to wives who have unbelieving husbands; he tells them that the way to reach their unbelieving husbands is not by continually preaching to them, not by trying to nag them into the kingdom. On the contrary, Peter instructs wives to communicate the good news to their unbelieving husbands and then to let their lives reinforce the gospel. With a family member or close friend, your walk will carry a lot of weight, but note that the gospel still must be shared verbally for evangelism to have taken place.
But with acquaintances or complete strangers (Person C stands for a Cornelius-type person, a “stranger” whom the Lord providentially brings across our path), the Christian’s “walk” becomes less significant in relation to his or her “talk.” The person doesn’t know us well (or at all) and therefore cannot reflect deeply on the Christian character that might be present in our life. But even the manner in which we communicate with that person, whether an acquaintance or a “Person C,” will speak loudly to them. We can share the good news of the love of Christ with others, but if we do it in a harsh, unloving manner, then the message might be ignored. What is the relationship between a Christian’s walk and talk? Both are always necessary. Live out the hope found in the gospel at all times and use words because they are necessary.
Keeping Evangelism as a Lifestyle
How can we maintain witnessing as a regular part of our life, not something that we sporadically engage? Let me suggest several ways.
1 COMMIT YOURSELF TO A LIFESTYLE OF EVANGELISM
A lot of things happen by accident, but evangelism is not typically one of them. We must commit ourselves to a lifestyle of sharing the good news with others. Oscar Thompson reflected, “When I am walking in submission to my Lord, I bump into more people accidentally who need Jesus than I ever could run down on purpose.” Be ready anywhere, anytime, and anyhow. Commit to share the good news “in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2 ESV).
2 PRAY FOR SENSITIVITY TO OTHERS AND OPPORTUNITIES TO WITNESS
Each morning, “lift up your eyes” and see that the “fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35). We need that daily reminder, because left to ourselves, when we wake up each morning, our focus is too readily on our own struggles, our own troubles, and our own to-do lists. Pray that the Holy Spirit would make you sensitive to witnessing opportunities throughout the day. That is a prayer that God delights to answer! Beginning each day with that prayer sensitizes us to opportunities we might have otherwise overlooked.
3 PRAY FOR COMPASSION AND BOLDNESS
We often face two struggles in terms of sharing the gospel: a lack of compassion and a lack of boldness. We too easily lose our sense of compassion, and when we look upon the lost multitudes, instead of having compassion as our Lord did (Matt 9:36), we look on them with coldness or callousness or criticism or condemnation. Pray often, “Lord, give me the heart of compassion that you have.” Pray also for boldness. The early church prayed for boldness (Acts 4:29). Why? Because they were fearful and needed it! God delights to answer prayers for compassion for others and boldness to share the gospel.
4 BE A SOWER, NOT A SOIL INSPECTOR
Mark 4 recounts the parable of the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, seed fell on different kinds of soil. Notice Jesus did not say that the sower went out to inspect the soil, and then where he thought he found good soil he sowed the seed, but where the soil did not look good he withheld the seed. I am afraid that is sometimes the way that we approach sowing the seed of the gospel. We mistakenly believe there is a limited amount of seed because we sow it very sparingly. As the sower went out to sow, he sowed indiscriminately, he sowed widely. Yes, some of the seed fell on hard soil, but some of it fell on good soil. Determine to be a sower and not a soil inspector.
5 CULTIVATE YOUR DAILY WALK WITH CHRIST
I believe one of the most significant verses related to personal evangelism is Matthew
12:34, where Jesus says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” If we are having trouble talking about Christ, then that is not really a speech problem but a heart problem. When we are really passionate about something, we do not have trouble talking about it. Grandparents don’t need any training to talk about their grandchildren. Cultivate your love relationship with Christ. When you are passionately in love with him and when his love is overflowing in your life, talking about him is as natural as breathing.
What a responsibility to be entrusted with the gospel message to share with others! What a privilege to be able to point others to Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior! How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news (Rom 10:15)! Let’s make sharing that message a way of life!