In our last post, we talked about some guardrails to keep us on track with creative discipleship in 2017. In this blog, we will cover more of what it means to be intentional with evangelism in the new year.

In fall 2016, I took an evangelism class with Dr. Alvin Reid at SEBTS. He is a tough professor only in that he challenged us to evangelize nearly every week we had class. At first, I was scared to talk with others because of fear of rejection, but I still went. As I went, I learned 5 things:

1. Starting a lifestyle on mission starts by starting.

Literally, please laugh out loud! We can talk about evangelism all day, but such is for loss if we never do it (see Alvin Reid. Evangelism Handbook: Biblical, Spiritual, Intentional, Missional. (Tennessee: B&H Publishing Group, 2009), 18-20.).

2. Evangelism is like dribbling a basketball.

Handling a basketball can be tricky, but practicing your dribble often can make it become a natural rhythm. Evangelism is like dribbling in that you get better at it as you do it more; it becomes natural!

3. You likely won’t evangelize if you don’t plan to evangelize.

Remember from our previous blog that a lifestyle on mission requires being intentional. By scheduling 1-2 hours on specific days to reach specific people, evangelism became an integral part of my week and blossomed into a lifestyle.

4. Evangelism is a great way to show others you care about them and the Gospel.

Two reasons. For one, it is simply cruel not to share the way to heaven if you believe in a real hell and a real heaven. In this way you show you care for others by sharing heavenward directions. Secondly, you show care about your faith – and thereby prove you believe in God – when you are bold enough to tell others.

5. Evangelism is more fun with friend but no impossible without.

I will admit, I had more courage to share my faith with others when I went to evangelize with a friend. However, I still was able to evangelize when alone and used my times traveling as opportunities to talk with the Lord.

Do you live a lifestyle on mission as well? Share your thoughts below with our community today!