Read: John 9:24-27
Evangelism. The word is enough to make even the most committed of Christian break out in a cold sweat. There’s something nerve-racking about telling someone about your faith. We may all agree that it’s important, that it’s something every Christian should do, but it’s still something that scares us to death. When you tell someone about your faith, you’re putting yourself in a very vulnerable position. Just when we feel like we ought to share our faith, we start to question ourselves. What if this person is offended by what I say? What if they look at me differently because of this? What if I can’t answer all their questions? What if I say something wrong? The pressure is almost too much for many Christians to bear.
As a matter of fact, the pressure of evangelism just might be getting to us. Just this past week, I found some statistics on evangelism that made my jaw drop. It seems the church in America has an almost paralyzing fear of sharing their faith. Take a look at these stats:
- “95% of all Christians have never won a soul to Christ.”
- “80% of all Christians do not consistently witness for Christ.”
- “Less than two percent are involved in the ministry of evangelism.”
- “71% do not give toward the financing of the Great Commission.”
We are doing a terrible job at evangelism. We’re not sharing our faith. We’re not spreading the good news of God’s Kingdom. It seems that we are so petrified of telling other people about Jesus that we have simply chosen not to.
But, what if we’ve made evangelism too hard? What if our real problem is that we’ve complicated what sharing our faith is all about? After all, our contemporary ideas of evangelism put a lot of emphasis on our own knowledge. If we want to share our faith, we have to know the right Bible verses, the right things to say, and even the right answers to the tough questions people might ask. Our concept of evangelism requires us to know a lot of stuff.
Yet, looking at the example of the man born blind, there seems to be only one thing we need to know in order to share our faith. Standing before the Sanhedrin, this healed man didn’t have all the answers. He didn’t know a lot of theology. The only thing he knew was what Jesus had done for him. As he told the Pharisees and Sadducees:
“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Given the opportunity to be a witness, the blind man didn’t need all the answers. He didn’t need a doctrinal statement, either. All he needed to do was recount what happened when he met Jesus. In order to be a witness, all this man had to do was tell people the difference Jesus Christ had made in his life.
Evangelism, therefore, isn’t complicated. Evangelism is simply sharing your story – telling others what Jesus has done for you. You don’t need to have all the answers; you don’t have to have the Bible memorized. All you need to know is the story of how you first encountered Jesus and how it changed your life.
As it turns out, that story is the most powerful evangelistic tool you have at your disposal. After all, people can’t argue with your experience. They can’t question the difference Jesus has made in you. The Pharisees couldn’t deny that the man had been healed of his blindness; neither can the people in your life deny what Jesus has done for you. There’s no debating the power of a transformed life.
Craig Groeschel wrote about this very subject in his book The Christian Atheist:
“Even though this newly healed man didn’t know enough to debate theology, he was an expert on one topic – his own experience. He was blind and now he could see. Everywhere he went, this healed man could tell his story to anyone who would listen, and his changed life was proof of what had happened. We can do the same. Start with these words: ‘Let me tell you my story.’ Then just fill in the blanks. You might have been forgiven of many sins or saved from a life of drug addiction. Perhaps you were sick and God healed you, or you were searching for something meaningful in life and your search ended when you found Christ. You may have grown up in church and known about God since Elmo was your favorite furry friend, but you only personally experienced his goodness later in life. Even if you don’t feel like your story is powerful or dramatic, God can use it.”
Evangelism isn’t difficult. It’s not something to be scared of. Evangelism is like storytelling. It’s like telling people how you and Jesus first met. That story is all you need to know if you really want to share your faith. It doesn’t have to be flashy; it doesn’t have to be elaborate. The blind man told his story with one simple sentence: “I was blind but now I see!”
What will your story be?
Questions to Consider:
What is your story? How has Jesus changed your life? How can you use this in evangelism?
Read Acts 1:8. What did Jesus tell the disciples they would be? What does a ‘witness’ do?