Teaching Tuesday: Everyday Evangelism

Series: Be the Church
Sermon: Everyday Evangelism (11.10.24)

On Sunday I focused mostly on the “want to” of evangelism rather than the “how to.” Sharing the gospel with pre-believers is more about living fully for Jesus and out of that commitment flows our desire to attract other people to the church through God’s grace and gospel truth.

But, the “how to” does matter. There are a great many useful approaches, but today I'd like to focus on just one. In his book Love Your Church, author Tony Merida says nearly all effective evangelism is personal evangelism. The vast majority of people who are won to Christ are led by a believer with whom they have a relationship.

So, as you think about your various social circles, they generally comprise five categories:

• Familial: people in your family
• Geographical: people in your neighborhood or community
• Vocational: people at your workplace
• Recreational: people you do hobbies with, hang out with, or spend time with during your kids’ activities 
• Commercial: people you interact with at the grocery store or other shops

In the sermon on Sunday I challenged you to think of one person or family and invite them to church this week. Hopefully you all have your invite card and you’re planning to do just that.

Today I want to issue an even bigger challenge. I want you to think of at least one person in each of the five social circles, and commit to at least one (or two, or all five!) of these evangelistic tasks for each person on your list:

Pray for Them
C.S. Lewis said “I have two lists of names in my prayers, those for whose conversions I pray and those for whose conversions I give thanks. The little trickle of transferences from List A to List B is a great comfort.” May God bless them and us with some of these little trickle of transferences!

Invite Them
Have people over for dinner, to play pickleball or go for a walk, and especially to join you for a Sunday morning worship service or another MCC event.

Serve Them
Look for ways you can bless the people in your social circles. Offer to help with childcare or transportation, mow their lawn, take over some extra chili when you cook it for dinner, or pick up groceries.

Provide Them Resources
Ask them to read a Christian book or article with you, or to listen to a sermon or a faith-based podcast. This can be a great way to start a gospel conversation.  

Share the Gospel with Them
Look for various points at which you can go deeper into your faith. Remember that you’re not the only one commending something or someone to others. Everyone is evangelizing about something: essential oils, kale smoothies, their favorite sports team, their favorite brand of tractor, the best style of pizza (Chicago deep dish!). We manage to do a pretty good job talking about what we’re interested in and love and believe in. The gospel needs to be at the top of that list!

All church members are called to witness to our faith. It is a part of faithful followership of our Savior. It is also necessary for fruitfulness, and we should see it as a joyful opportunity to usher others into the same hope, joy, and peace we experience as adopted children of God.

Let’s go fishing!

To know Him and make Him known!
- Pastor Brady