I gave up on evangelism.
I don’t remember exactly when, but it was a long, long time ago. I can’t put my finger on the exact date, but somewhere alone the line, my passion for souls took a detour.
It wasn’t always that way. I actually remember a time when I looked for opportunities to witness. “You’re a Christian,” people said. “You’ll automatically want to lead people to Christ.” I knew it was important. I knew the value of it. I even took classes, looked for chances to share, and prayed for opportunities.
Occasionally, I would find a stranger to share with. Those were the best opportunities – the ones that felt like “real” evangelism. I would start the conversation, move quickly into presenting the gospel, and end as quickly as I had started. They usually didn’t make a commitment to Christ, but I had done my part.
For the weeks and months that followed, I would bask in the afterglow of my encounter for Christ. The pressure was off; I had witnessed. I had fulfilled my Christian responsibility, and God was pleased. Of course, I also didn’t feel much of a need to share again for a while. Like a smoker craving a cigarette, the encounter had temporarily satisfied. But over time, the need to share began to grow.
The pattern repeated itself year after year. Share with someone, feel satisfied, let time pass, feel the need to share again.
I heard at least a hundred sermons on the Great Commission and our responsibility to carry it out. I even considered foreign missions at one point, after hearing missionaries share stories about people coming to Christ like overripe fruit falling from a tree.
I knew the verses about the fields being “white unto harvest,” and heard guest speakers telling us to pray for laborers – then to be willing to go ourselves. I also had heard the passages about what would happen if I didn’t share with someone: “Their blood would be on my head,” meaning that I would be responsible for those who died in their sins if I didn’t share with them. I wasn’t sure what that meant; I just knew that I would be in trouble.
I attended a small evangelical Bible college. Once each semester, classes were cancelled and we attended a mandatory “Day of Visitation.” We would be paired with a partner, and then assigned to an evangelistic team for the morning – the mall team, the door-to-door team, the skid row team, etc. I dreaded those days, and even managed to find myself ill a few times – too sick to participate. On the days I did participate, I tried to get on the skid row team. Somehow, sharing my faith felt less threatening when I could do it with a homeless person who was obviously needy. After a couple of hours, we would return to campus and share stories about what had happened. Occasionally someone would actually report praying with someone to receive Christ. I wondered why those stories never happened to me.
One year in the ’70’s our church took part in the “I Found It” campaign. It was a nationwide effort to reach every household in America with the gospel. The premise was simple. Christians around the country put bumper stickers on their cars that read “I Found It” with no explanation – presumably to attract interest from non-believers. Similar billboards followed. Then, during a two-week period, a coordinated telephone effort took place in churches around the country. Each church secured phone directories that listed people by address. A church would be responsible for several blocks in their neighborhood. A phone bank would be established in each church, and members would assemble to make scripted calls. It was a high-tech (at the time) effort to do door-to-door evangelism without knocking. Every home in the nation would receive a call within a two-week period, surveying them about their spiritual interests and trying to get an opportunity to share the gospel.
I felt like it was a noble effort – but I hated it personally. I remember sitting at the phone, working my way around the block I had been assigned, feeling like a sanctified telemarketer. I was relieved when each person told me he or she wasn’t interested. I knew it must be doing some good, and some people around the country would come to faith through the effort. Philippians 1:18 says, “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice . . .” I knew that God was going to use the effort – but I wasn’t so sure He was going to use me. I followed the script, asking people questions about their lives. But inside, I felt like asking, “I’m really bothering you, aren’t I? You really find this irritating and intrusive, don’t you? You probably feel worse about Christianity now than you did before I called, right?” Because that’s how I would feel if someone had called me.
The nagging questions continued: If God wanted me to evangelize, why was it so hard? Why was it so foreign to my introvert personality? I felt like it wasn’t fair. God made some people to be noisier than others, and it seemed easy for them. But I wasn’t noisy, and I felt inferior, even displeasing to God.
One night, in high school, some friends and I attended an evangelism training seminar. On Friday night, we learned the basics of sharing our faith, practicing on each other during the session. But our assignment was to share our testimony with someone before we came back the next day.
Two of us left the meeting, praying for an opportunity to share with someone that night. We cruised Central Avenue in Phoenix, looking for a likely candidate. We found him at McDonalds – a young employee on his break. He was sitting on one of the outdoor tables, smoking a cigarette. (Since he was smoking, we figured he was probably an unbeliever.)
We parked the car, approached him from behind and sat on either side of him. After asking the appropriate questions, it was time to move into our presentation. I remember rushing to begin so my friend wouldn’t do it first, leaving me with the necessity of finding still another person. I didn’t stop until I was done. Finally, I asked if he would like to pray to receive Christ. He responded, “Well, I gotta get back to work. Thanks for preaching.”
I felt great. I had witnessed. I could tell people that I had witnessed. If someone asked me, “When was the last time you talked to someone about Christ?” I had an answer. In fact, I could use that answer for months now. I could even drop it into casual conversations with friends: “Well, last week when I was witnessing to a guy from McDonalds . . .”
But something didn’t make sense. I knew God wanted me to witness – but I always dreaded it. I knew that God was supposed to give us power and boldness if we asked for it, but it never seemed to help.
Then one day, I discovered that I wasn’t sharing my faith. In fact, I wasn’t even thinking about sharing it. I could go for weeks without feeling the need to share.
So, what happened? Where did I lose my passion?
I think maybe it was never there.
I realized that all my reasons for sharing centered on guilt. I shared so God would be happy, so others would see that I was a good Christian, so I would do what I was supposed to do as a child of God.
But I really didn’t care about the people I was witnessing to. I just didn’t want to feel guilty. I think I quit witnessing because, subconsciously, it was easier than dealing with the constant guilt.
But that’s what I had always been taught. There were different kinds of evangelism, and some were regarded more highly than others. Though it was important to live a holy life in front of our neighbors, it didn’t count as much as talking out loud to them about Christ. If we went door-to-door to share with strangers – now, that was REAL evangelism. The harder it seemed, the better it was viewed.
Occasionally, someone would try to witness to me. I’d be sitting at the mall when two people would approach – and I would cringe. As an introvert, I didn’t relish the idea of an impending conversation with complete strangers. Plus, I could tell by the way they approached what their agenda was. I would usually tell them than I was a Christian, and then watch the look of relief on their face that they hadn’t encountered a hostile subject. I tried to end the conversation as quickly as possible, but was often embarrassed by their public display of excitement. Once, after discovering that I was a “brother,” two young men grabbed my hands and prayed loudly, thanking God for our time together. Even though I kept my eyes closed, I could feel the stares of the crowd passing by.
They praised God for the fellowship. I prayed that I would never cause someone that kind of embarrassment. I silently wondered if God was embarrassed, too.
It’s hard to argue with success. Those evangelistic efforts I took part in did result in a few decisions for Christ. The percentage seemed pretty low, but it was worth the effort. After all, our pastor said, “If one person comes to Christ, the effort was worthwhile.”
But it reminded me of a research project carried out by a college classmate. He decided to walk down Central Avenue in Phoenix at lunchtime, and ask women to kiss him. He wanted to find out how many he would have to ask before someone took him up on it. After being repeatedly cursed, ignored, and slapped a couple of times, the 98th woman gave him a kiss.
I’m not sure what thesis he was trying to prove. But if he were to follow the Christian logic about evangelism, he would have said, “It was worth the effort, because I actually got one person to kiss me.” But I wonder about the other 97 women, who might be more hardened than ever, more suspicious, and more wary of men approaching them on the street.
Yes, the popular methods of witnessing produced some results. But I know how I felt when people used those methods with me. I wondered how many other people put up thicker emotional walls against Christians because of the evangelistic encounters they’ve endured.
I felt guilty for even thinking that way. But I knew something wasn’t right. I had been told what God expected my whole life, but it seemed so foreign to my personality. I believed that God had created me with a unique design. But it seemed so incompatible with what He expected of me.
If God wanted me to witness in a certain way, why wouldn’t He have given me what I needed to do it?
My conclusion: I was disobedient, and just needed to try harder. Or rely on His strength more. Or pray more. Or something. Whatever it was, I wasn’t doing it, and really didn’t know how.
But one day, a tiny seed of an idea planted itself in my mind, and never left. It lay dormant for awhile, though I always knew it was there. Over time, it took root and began to grow.
The seed was a simple thought: “What if the problem isn’t obedience? What if the things I’ve always been told about evangelism aren’t the full picture? What if there’s more to it than what I’ve been told? What if God has a variety of ways we can share our faith – ways that are different from the traditional methods we’ve been taught?
And that’s where the journey began.
Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert or somewhere in between, I invite you to join me on this journey. If the usual approaches to evangelism make you break out into a cold sweat or make you feel guilty, we’ll explore these questions:
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Why is witnessing so hard for me?
•Am I at a disadvantage because of my personality type?
•Are extroverts better evangelists?
•Is what I’ve been told about evangelism accurate?
•How do I carry out the Great Commission?
•How do I discover my “wiring?”
•Is it OK to be afraid?
•Am I feeling guilty about evangelism when I shouldn’t?
•What, exactly, is evangelism?
You know which approaches you respond to and which ones you don’t. But the same approach that works for you won’t work for everyone, because we’re all unique. 75% of the population is made up of extroverts, while 25% are introverts. Either way, our purpose is the same – to bring people to Christ. This book won’t discredit any method currently in use. The purpose is to provide a new way of thinking that could put at least one-fourth of people who don’t witness back on the front lines. They’ll just be using methods that are uniquely effective as they encounter the people God brings into their path.
