What's Your Mission?

Last semester I took an evangelism class...and it changed my life. I'd always known the importance of sharing the gospel, but this class forced me to come face to face with the fact that I wasn't sharing the gospel. At all.

Why?

For starters, I was scared. I didn't want to make a mistake or not be able to answer a question, and I certainly didn't relish the idea of walking up to a random stranger and trying to tell them they were sinners in need of saving. I think that this is the fear for most Christians. But today, I want to tell you that evangelism and proclaiming the gospel IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU WILL EVER DO!

Sharing the gospel is not simply sharing an idea or a personal opinion, but it is the proclamation of the gospel through the Holy Spirit, with the aim of persuading people to repent and believe in Christ. Sharing the gospel is also not sharing just when you see that someone is interested or when you feel "prepared." Trust me, you will never feel fully prepared. That's okay because it keeps you reliant on God.

There are people all over the world who don't even know the name of Jesus and who, unless someone tells them, will die and spend an eternity in hell in suffering and banishment from God. It's real and it's harsh, but it's the truth. You might be the last person someone meets before they die who has the knowledge of the only thing that can bring them true and lasting joy. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins…that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” In Paul's mind, the gospel was of first importance. And it should be for us as well.

We won't have all the answers, and that's okay! The Holy Spirit is the one who opens hearts and minds and He is powerful enough to use our fumbling, broken explanations to plant seeds. If you and I have the cure, the promise of hope, why wouldn't we share it with others?

A story that powerfully impacted me recently was something that atheist Penn Jillette said about Christians. It's a long quote, but it's worth reading.

"I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all.

If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward...how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.

He's right. But we shouldn't have to have an atheist telling us this to know that the gospel is the best news anyone in the world could hear.

I want to share a quick personal story of one of the first times I actually fully shared the gospel with someone and then in my next post, I will share the tools I was given to share the gospel.

I met K.D. in the library of a university. She was putting away books from a cart. I went up to her, introduced myself, and asked her if she’d be willing to share about her spiritual beliefs with me. As she shared, I gathered that she grew up in a Christian home and was hurt by some bad experiences. As a result she turned away from Christianity completely and had a hard life, including being homeless several times. She said she now did ancestral worship and was happy where she’s at.

I asked her if she remembered the gospel at all from growing up but she didn’t so I asked if I could share it with her. She very willingly agreed and I walked through the whole gospel story. I tried to emphasize how sin broke our relationship with God and people tried to fill that gap with other things, relationships, wealth, or more things that ultimately didn’t satisfy. I shared how God sent His son Jesus, who is God in the flesh to come down and ultimately die for our sins, paying the price and restoring us to a right relationship with God.

At the end, she nodded, but she it was clear that she didn't have a biblical view of Jesus and who he really was. I asked her if she would ever consider believing in Jesus and she repeatedly affirmed that she didn’t “see herself coming back to Christianity.” She was very vague but said that as long as people followed their hearts and had good morals, all religions would eventually lead to God. She argued that if you were true to yourself and didn’t hurt others, then you would be on the road to heaven. 

I gently pushed back and said that I personally believed that Christianity was the only way and shared the Scripture where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” She nodded and agreed, but didn’t go much further. 

I was struck by the fact that she seemed so close and yet so far. She was very smart and she agreed with me on a lot of things. She acknowledged that it was quite clear that there was a higher power in this life. She also said that she believed that people innately knew that there was a right or wrong. I believe that the Lord was working in her life so that she even recognized these things. 

We prayed and I left and haven't seen her again. However, I left praying that the seeds that had been planted would grow and she would come back to God.

Not every conversation ends in someone giving their life to Christ, but it doesn't mean that any of it was wasted. God uses us and others to plant seeds. We might be just a piece of the process or the only person someone hears about Christ from. Regardless, God uses us in His grand plan of redemption and that brings with it the honor of serving and responsibility and joy of sharing the good news.