Jesus left us with a job to do – share the gospel (Matt. 28:19-20). Proclaiming the Good News is a task rooted in love and watered with urgency, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. In fact, many fear the commission of evangelism. What if I offend someone? What if I don’t know the answer to a question? What if… [fill in the blank]. That’s why author Os Guinness’s words are so fitting:

“…together we must rise to the challenge of our time. How can we speak for our Lord in a manner that does justice to the wonder of who God is, to the profundity of the good news he has entrusted to us, to the wily stubbornness of the human heart and mind, as well as to the wide-ranging challenges of today’s world and the mind-boggling prospects of tomorrow’s? In short, how can we as followers of Jesus be as truly persuasive as we desire to be?”[1]

I grew up in an age of the church that produced versions of evangelism marked with pressured pursuits of interpersonal alter-calls or threats of hellfire. And this impression, that it had to be done just right and end with a guaranteed result, was often crippling. I’ve now come to see evangelism as this beautiful opportunity of sharing the truth that has anchored my soul. I want others to know it and thereby have hope in this messy and often cruel world. But how? How do we do this when every person sharing the gospel and every person hearing it will be different? How do we do this when there are so many social variables and cultural obstacles? It seems to me that the best place to look for advice is the instruction given to the early Christians themselves. In a culture that deemed believers subversive or deranged, and in a time when they were persecuted for the truth they proclaimed, here is the instruction of the Apostle Peter:

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

Revering Christ as Lord
In the endeavor to authentically share my faith with others, it has helped me immensely to remember that Christ is Lord. This may seem ridiculously obvious, but when I remind myself that he is the only who can save, I also remember that the weight of salvation is not on me to deliver. My role is to be a faithful witness. This means it is okay when people don’t accept Christ immediately after talking to me. I’m not a bad Christian if, when I’m tired or distracted, I don’t give my best presentation or remember later something more I could have said. Perhaps my gospel conversation is planting a seed, or simply watering a seed someone else planted. It doesn’t matter because it is only God who can make that seed grow (1 Cor. 3:6). Personally, I like the way apologist Greg Koukl describes gospel conversations as being a pebble in the shoe. It’s something small, but you also can’t ignore it, even when you want to. I have a Master’s Degree in Apologetics and I often still walk away with face-palm moments of “O I should have…” But you know what? Maybe it was only a pebble, but pebbles can be powerful in the hands of a sovereign God, and every exposure to truth someone has is opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work in them. Just because someone doesn’t “get saved” at the end of our interaction, doesn’t mean it was a failed event. Ultimately, it is God’s job to control the universe, including gospel encounters. It is my job to be a faithful and willing representative.

Be Prepared to Answer
Now, before we relinquish all responsibility though, it is important to understand the balance. While it is certainly Christ who saves, he does also choose to use us in the process. On one hand then, while we shouldn’t suffer undue pressure, on the other hand we should also take to heart Peter’s directive to be prepared. If you assert that Christianity it true, you can bet that you’ll be asked how you know it is. How do you know the Scripture is reliable? How can you say that God is good when there is so much evil in the world? How do you know the Jesus story isn’t just more ancient mythology? How do you know your truth is the only truth? How. Do. You. Know?

Now, this is not to say that we can be experts on all things, we can’t, but we are all called to be able to give answers for the truth and hope we possess. Furthermore, we are called to love God with our minds (Matt. 22:37). Christians all too frequently confirm the social stereotype that we have checked our brains at the door and instead live on blind belief in the ridiculous and celebrate sentimentality. Christianity is astounding but it is not ridiculous, it is actually logically consistent. Christianity does require faith and trust, but that doesn’t mean it is without reliable evidence. However, to prove these things may mean that we need to put a little effort into to understanding our faith and how to respond to common questions regarding it. If we’re being honest, in all the time that is spent on social media or watching a show via some platform, it would be just as easy, although more intellectual effort, to watch a OneMinuteApologist Video or visit many of the resources out there. The Great Commission is not a suggestion, and often to get people to a place where they are willing to hear the actual gospel message, we have to do the work of removing the misconceptions and strong objections that stand as road-blocks. This requires us to be equipped, but it will also strengthen our own faith in the process. The reality is that the more we learn about God, the more we fall in love with him, and that leads to greater worship of him in our lives!

Additionally, being prepared may also require us to practice communicating the things we have learned. I find with my own students that they often have head knowledge that they can’t articulate because they have not practiced actually speaking what they know. Talking with like-minded believers about these things helps us when it comes to articulating thoughts to people who do not agree with us. So grab a friend and a coffee and get to discussing questions you have, or that your kids have, or that have been posed to you. Practice will not make perfect, but it will help make you prepared.

Before moving on, let me address one more thought on the topic about personal testimonies. I’ve heard some say that all you need to share Jesus is your story. In other words, just share what he’s done in your life. While there is certainly a time and place for sharing your personal encounter with Christ, and while that can be a meaningful, powerful and effective tool, I would also give a caution. In such a pluralistic culture, where people are taught to pursue what is ‘true to them,’ someone can hear your story and be happy that it works for you, while at the same time rejecting it for themselves. Additionally, what about when we are sharing with someone of another belief system? If that person has had some sort of experience within their own faith, how then do we mediate between experiences? Testimonies are good, but if they are the only evangelistic tool you have, you may run into some muddied waters. Think about one of the greatest evangelists and missionaries of all time – Paul. He constantly shared his story (Acts 9, 22 and 26), but he also reasoned with people from the Scriptures (Acts 17:2) and their own cultural philosophies (Acts 14:16-34). So we see that it is not just our studied reasoning or just our testimony – it is both the evidence and our personal experience that makes us persuasive in our presentation of the gospel.

Gentleness and Respect
It is also interesting that Peter mentions the way this gospel sharing is to be delivered. In fact, the how is just as important as the what! Gentleness and respect are not currently the most abundant traits in our society. Turn on the TV or scroll through a feed and what you see and hear is a lot of divisiveness, disregard and disrespect – from both sides. We are called to more – to better. The way we witness should be reflective of Christ himself. It cannot be about proving a point or winning a debate. It cannot be about displaying knowledge, especially when articulate confidence becomes a weapon used to belittle those with whom we disagree. This all adds to the ugly, deafening noise which ultimately fails in light of eternity. The goal is to be the type of person who displays Christ in all we say and do, including how we say and do it.

It’s both insightful and challenging to me that Peter is telling early Christians to be ready to give an answer, when asked about their hope. In the midst of hatred for the church and the suffering it was enduring, the way Christians lived and loved made people curious to know more about what they believed. In other words, their gentleness and respect created gospel opportunities that they should be prepared for. It seems fairly revealing for our own gospel sharing as well: Do people around me want to know more about the hope I have?

This question is a two-pronged assessment that is not for the faint of heart. First, it causes us to assess if we have taken the time to interact with acquaintances, neighbors and coworkers in order for them to know we are Christians? This is where many of us fail because it requires time and discomfort. With our busy schedules and personal comfort zones, all too often our Christianity is lived out within the walls of the church. It is true that by serving in the local church and participating in its outreaches we are doing kingdom work, but we can too easily think this exempts us from our personal responsibility in the Great Commission. How many of us are willing to hold the door or serve coffee at church while we live simultaneously silent in our own neighborhoods and workplaces?

The second component of this assessment requires us to evaluate how people respond to us. Whether in person or online, is the way we engage with others a loving representation of Christ? Don’t get me wrong, there can be love without truth, and that is spiritually ineffective, but truth without love is both alienating and harmful. What does it matter if we have the truth, when no one wants to have ongoing conversations with us? Maybe we are saved, but the world is still perishing around us. This is why Scripture tells us that Jesus came full of truth and grace (John 1:14), and simply put, we need to be more like Jesus.

So What Now?
When discussing the Scriptural mandate to share the gospel, and then evaluating through personal application, it can be too easy to take bait of shame and guilt or to drink from the bitter well of defensiveness. I hope that we instead see the importance of our task, and discern the areas where we can grow and become more intentional. With any sport, skill or pursuit, honest evaluation is helpful for making adjustments and improvements. Peter encouraged the early church to remember Christ, be ready to engage in discussion about their hope and to do so in a very particular way. Those instructions are for us today as well. As Os Guinness said, “Together we must rise to the challenge of our time.” Every age of the church must live out this commission. It is now our time and our challenge. This world is noisy place, but the message people need most to hear is the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Footnotes
[1] Os Guinness – Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion, 19.