Acts 22:15 “You will his [Jesus] witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.”
The “E” word. Evangelism. It’s the most dreaded and most misunderstood word in the Christian vocabulary. I’m pretty sure that when most Christians hear it, they immediately conjure up images of street preachers, tract/pamphlet distribution, and door-to-door “Do you know Jesus?” conversations.
But here in this passage is the best definition of what it means to do evangelism and to be a witness. A witness simply shares what they have seen and heard – and by heard I don’t mean they paid attention to the sermon and can recite it (though paying attention would be a nice and gracious thing J). Heard means what you’ve heard from God.
“But a witness to what?!” one might ask. And therein lies the the rub. I’ve been teaching this mode of evangelism for many years and have discovered that too many people literally have nothing to share. They’ve not experienced any manifestations of the Spirit – never actually had a conversation with Jesus and have no meaningful relationship with Him that they can speak of.
Sadly, I had one pastor confess that his “metaphor” was God – that he had no connection with Jesus whatsoever (I was sorta under the impression that Christianity was based on an experience of and with Jesus).
On the other hand, many Christians simply haven’t been taught what it means to be a witness or how one can be witness or what they could be a witness to.
Here’s step one. Answer the Ultimate Question for yourself. “What is it about your relationship with Jesus that your world needs to know?”
The key to the question is that it’s about Jesus, NOT about the church. No one but you and other Christians care one whit about your relationship with the church. The Church (the capital C church) has reputation as a hateful, conflicted, hypocritical, judgmental, arrogant, and bigoted group of people all gathered together in one place. And very few people want to associate with that kind of group (and why would they?!!). Instead, what the world is looking for is an answer to their deepest yearning: “Does God even know I exist, and if he does, does he even care?” YOUR answer to the ultimate question gives people hope that if THAT happened to you, if THAT was your experience, then it could happen to them too. And hope is a powerful thing.
So, what’s your answer to the ultimate question? I’d love to hear it.
Mine, in a nutshell, is this.
I was born into the church and there’s never been a time in my life when I didn’t feel like Jesus wasn’t a part of my life (in Christian parlance, there’s never been a time when Jesus wasn’t “in my heart”). But mostly I had beliefs ABOUT Jesus and though I prayed regularly, my life was pretty much like what I perceive most “good” people’s lives are like. But my own life felt pretty purposeless. I went from one job to the next and from one address to another, but wasn’t really fulfilling anything.
Then one time when I was praying, I “heard” (not audibly, but from deep within) Jesus say to me “You know, you can keep this up, or else you can really follow me and do what you know I’ve called you to do. I’ve had my call on you since before you were born. At that moment I got clarity of purpose. I KNEW what my life was all about. Ever since, as a minister in-of-and for the church, my life has not only had purpose, but it’s been the most exciting thing I’ve ever experienced. I can’t wait to get out of bed and get started – every day now for over 30 years. And every day it’s like Jesus goes on ahead of me to the next hill and beckons “Come on! We’re going THIS way today.” And I follow – and it’s been the ride of my life. For me Jesus has been – and is – my guide who leads me day-by-day and step-by-step.
Soo … what is it about your relationship with Jesus the world needs to hear? I’m interested to hear!
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