Normal human being evangelism

So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (1 Thessalonians 2:8)

Have you ever found yourself in the dreaded Evangelism Zone? It's a place where you stop being a normal human being. You get tunnel vision and you just have to get it all right and not mess up and you have no idea what the other person is thinking and you don’t care because this is their eternal destiny and what if they ask a question I can’t answer [gasp!].

Ever been there? Maybe permission to be human will help.

For example: you have a friend who seems hostile toward Christ. Some of us might try to figure out how to work around that, or how to sneak up and spring the gospel when they're least expecting it. But wouldn’t it be better to say something like this?

“You know my faith is important to me, and so is our friendship. I like talking with people about God, but it seems like the topic offends you. So I don’t want to offend you, but I wonder if you'd be willing to tell me why the topic bothers you—if I’m right about that—and if I've offended you myself.”

Then, stop talking and listen. For a while. By doing this you stop strategizing, and become a real human being.

Second scenario: a real one. I ran into an elderly neighbor and casually asked her how her day was. Turns out it was pretty bad. She had lost her purse, damaged her car, and her refrigerator had just broken. It was an hour after we had said good-bye that I realized that I could have prayed for her and offered to help (for someone who likes people I'm remarkably slow on the uptake sometimes). I kicked myself for missing the opportunity, but then realized I really hadn't. I still could go back and talk with her.

A lot of times when we think we've missed an opportunity, we can actually go back and start the conversation again. So I did. I took my daughter and knocked on her door. "Have you found your purse yet? I'm really concerned about how your day is going." After talking for a few minutes, I asked if we could pray for her and the problems of her day. She was deeply touched. In fact, when I looked up, she was crying. "I needed that a lot," she said.

If you feel like you've missed an opportunity, maybe you can go back to the person and say, “You know, when we were talking earlier you said…. " Or "That was really interesting, but I didn’t know what to say. But I’ve been thinking about it, and…."

There’s humanness and vulnerability in that. And God uses us as normal people to communicate the gospel to others.

If you find yourself falling into the Evangelism Zone, take a deep breath and ask God to use your humanity as a means of communicating the gospel. It's very Christlike.