Evangelism, 2 key components

Evangelism, a word of tremendous hope and yet one of fear for many people. It is something most Christian churches know they should do. It is the lifeblood of the church, yet so many churches are not doing much to deliberately impact the lives of people around them for Christ.

I have had a number of conversations with pastors and key church leaders over the last couple of weeks. Many want to reach the lost but don't know or even where to start. I want to share two key things both people and churches need. Here they are:


1. Compelling compassion that leads to action: You will never reach the unsaved for Christ if you do not have a deep compassion for people. Our hearts need to break for the things that break His heart. When you see an individual or a group of people that are hurt, broken, confused and in despair, does your heart go out to them? When you see people that are bound in sin and continually make unwise decisions, do you tend to blame them or see them through the lens of how Christ sees them? Do their situations or challenges compel you to action? If you see a brother in sister in need do you do something about it or just talk. Brothers and sisters words are cheap. 

I am reminded of the scripture in James 1:26, in the Message it reads like this: "Anyone who sets himself up as "religious", by talking a good game is self deceived. This type of religion is hot air and hot air only." This is powerful truth. If we just talk and do nothing, or talk about what we are going to do but do nothing, we are full of nothing but hot air. Compassion is action, not the action of simply moving our lips.


2. Fight injustice. What are we willing to fight for? Sometimes we spend more time fighting about the color of the carpet, the place of the pulpit, the need to have an organ in our church and the attire of our pastors when there are much more important battles to fight. How much effort do we put in to fighting injustice in the world?

Do you and I care about poverty and children starving to death? Do we care about whether or not a child has the right to have an education? Do we ever consider and do something about people that are abused and trafficked? Are our hearts moved to the point where we are willing to go to our neighbour with three kids and no husband and offer to mow their lawn or help them do up a resume? Are we willing to give up some of our vacation time to build a home for someone that could never repay us?

James 1:27 tells us "Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world."


Are you passing the muster test? Who are you reaching out to? Have you become corrupted by the world to thinking you don't have to do anything? Remember, our faith without deeds is unacceptable. We are called to be both hearers and doers of the Word we hear.