Introduction

We recently wrapped up a series led by Dr. Murray titled “Worship as a Lifestyle.” This series taught us how to continuously maintain a heart of worship outside of the few hours we spend at church each week. With the same mentality, we should faithfully share Christ. Where a lifestyle of worship connects us to God, a lifestyle of evangelism connects others to Him.

A Look Ahead

We are about to begin a series which introduces a new concept in personal evangelism. Some might call it revolutionary. Really, it’s pretty simple. For four weeks, we will dive in to “Just Walk Across the Room.” This study by Bill Hybels, founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, provides a foundation on which we can embrace a lifestyle of evangelism. Through it, we see a picture of stepping out of our comfort zones and building lasting relationships with a life-changing impact. To help put it in perspective, Author Mary Sheely wrote: “Growth requires a temporary surrender of our security.”

How Do You Feel About Evangelism?

What do you think of when you hear the word Evangelism? Here are some typical responses:

• I run the other way
• I feel like a failure
• Evangelism is not my spiritual gift
• I don’t have all the answers
• I’m not qualified

Many believers are frightened of a fairly simple task. At some point in our lives, evangelism became an assignment, a check-list, a list of steps to follow. We’ve reduced evangelism to a set of programs, tools and strategies. We’re not advocating abandoning a simple plan you have memorized to share your faith. Programs, tools and strategies are valuable items we must keep honed in our toolbox to use throughout the bigger picture of evangelism. However, by compartmentalizing evangelism into these different programs or strategies, we’ve often made it something at which we can easily fail.

The fact is that when people say no to us when we share our faith, they are not actually saying no to us, but no to God. You cannot force someone to repentance and salvation, but you can faithfully share Christ, both with your life and your words.

Unfortunately, throughout the process of a “pre-packaged” evangelism strategy, we’ve made unbelievers feel pressured, judged, or even reduced to a “project.” Nevertheless, If you fear evangelism, remember your peers, who desperately need Christ.

Keep in mind that evangelism isn’t only about sharing the Gospel. What we’ll learn over the next few weeks is that it goes much deeper than the spoken word. Evangelism starts with relationships. Through building relationships, through faithful service, and with a heart in tune with the Holy Spirit, the Gospel becomes evident before we ever say a word.

St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach always, use words when necessary.”

Although evangelism can be a scary thing, it is centered on inviting others to join the Kingdom of God. Our role in evangelism is one of utmost importance and one that we should grasp with confidence and enthusiasm. We can better understand this by examining the source of this confidence and enthusiasm.

Okay, So Where Should We Begin?

The simplest answer is shifting from “program-led evangelism” to “Spirit-led living.” By living in-tune with the Holy Spirit, everything else becomes secondary, including evangelism. We begin to see doors open where there were none before. Just the same, we may see doors close where we’ve tried on our own to force them open in the past.

How do we Live a Spirit-Led Life?

Romans 8:2 states: “Through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free…from sin and death.”

The Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit’s power is greater than sin. Through the Holy Spirit’s power we are victorious over sin, and are no longer slaves to it.

According to Romans 8:5-6, some people live their lives obsessed with sinful desires, which lead to death. However, a person who lives a Spirit-led life, desires what the Holy Spirit desires, and the Holy Spirit provides them peace.

By living a Spirit-led life, we build intentional, authentic, and natural friendships with those around us. Allow The Holy Spirit to prompt you when to speak, when not to speak, what to say, and even what not to say.

It is equally as important to know when to be silent as when to speak.

Don’t think of “Just Walk Across the Room” as another study or strategy, but as a lifestyle worth living. If you make room for the Holy Spirit and what He wants to do in your life during these next four weeks, your life will never be the same.

Some Cautions to a Spirit-led Life

In understanding how to live a Spirit-led life, we must be aware of a few cautions. Until we truly surrender every single moment to the Holy Spirit, we live in a state of flux, one which can easily provide a truly human excuse: “The Spirit didn’t lead.” This can quickly become the response to why we didn’t just walk across the room.

When we accept Christ, we are baptized with the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17). Additionally, according to Romans 8:13-17: The Holy Spirit lives in us to intercede on our behalf and guide us through our daily lives. That’s the whole point of this study. However, sometimes we think that because the Holy Spirit lives in us, we’re automatically given the knowledge and wisdom we need to share Christ with our peer.

We can only build intentional and successful relationships with our peers, for the purpose of sharing Christ, when we are daily engaged in the necessary spiritual disciplines such as: prayer, Bible study, and fasting, etc.

However, we can lose our conduit with the Holy Spirit if we don’t actively live our lives for Him, listen for Him and His prompting us to follow Him through obedience.

Balance is crucial. Our goal is not to manufacture opportunities, but wait on the Holy Spirit to prompt us when to act. We need God’s timing and power to be truly effective.

Enter the Holy Spirit

John 14:15-17, 26

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you

²⁶ But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

In John 14, Jesus introduces the disciples to the Holy Spirit. Jesus explained that He would soon leave them, but in truth, He would remain with them through the Holy Spirit. It is in this same way, the Holy Spirit lives with, and in us today.

He Gives Us the Words to Say

Luke 12:11-12

¹¹ “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

God will never leave us unprepared. God’s Word promises us that the Holy Spirit will supply the necessary words when we give an account of what we believe. We need to pray for opportunities, and then trust that the Holy Spirit will prompt us in speaking the proper words.

This promise, however, does not exempt us from preparation (2 Tim 4:2). If we study God’s Word and keep it close to our hearts, by memorizing it, the Holy Spirit will bring those truths to mind when we need them most. He will also help us to present them in the most effective way.

He Opens Doors

It was tradition for Paul to go to the Synagogue in the city when he would first arrive, and preach the Gospel of Christ to the Jewish leaders. This often put Paul in precarious positions.

Acts 22:30

The next day, since the commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.

Even in a time of persecution, Paul’s own enemies were giving him a platform to speak. When the Holy Spirit is involved, we will find opportunities even when and where it seems least likely.

By living a Spirit-led life, our physical and spiritual senses become heightened to a point where we are more aware of his voice and the circumstances in which he has placed us. Through this, we cannot help but join God in the work for which He has called us.

Our Response

Acts 4:20

“For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Peter and John were threatened to keep quiet about Jesus. Their lives were literally at stake; however, their belief was so strong that they could not remain silent.

KEY QUESTIONS – If we are truly living a Spirit-led life, should our boldness equal that of Peter and John? Why or why not?

Why is it that we are so afraid of confrontation and rejection? Why do we freeze up at the thought of sharing our faith, both in our words and with our lifestyle?

Galatians 5:25

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

As we live Spirit-led lives, we should voluntarily submit every aspect of our lives to God. This action isn’t isolated only to our hearts and His calling for us to be salt and light to a lost and dying world. No! It involves every aspect of our lives. This includes the emotional, physical, social, intellectual and vocational aspects of our lives. Each of these will become a byproduct of us living Spirit-led lives.

Study Questions

1. Let’s play a word game. Without thinking, and avoiding any Sunday school answers, what are the first words that come to your mind when you hear the words “evangelism,” and the “Holy Spirit?”
2. Why do you think we are so afraid of sharing the Gospel?
3. What are some ways that we sometimes bypass the Holy Spirit in relation to evangelism? Can the Holy Spirit still work through these situations?
4. Think about the last time you felt the Holy Spirit prompting you to get out of your comfort zone. How did you respond? Think about a time that the Holy Spirit led you to remain silent, when you wanted to speak. Again, how did you respond? Did these events change yours or someone else’s life? If so how?
5. How can we develop the discernment required to faithfully serve Him in the circumstances in which we are placed, if that is not our spiritual gift? (Read I Kings 3:3-9)
6. What are we to do if evangelism isn’t our spiritual gift? Does that give us a legitimate excuse not to share our faith? Why?

Just take a look at the society around us. Everything is supposed to be free in our culture of entitlement. Another day, I’ll write about how we’ve done away with terms such as privilege, right, etc, but for now, let’s focus on entitlement.

From birth to death, the common theme people are learning these days is one of entitlement. There is a push to penalize the rich for their wealth. So what if they earned it? There are days I wish I wasn’t a white male, just so I could score a few extra points in whatever game I’m trying to win, be it a lucrative job, financial aid for education, politics, you name it. But this isn’t about affirmative action. It’s about life and death.

You see, there used to be a great argument that we could work our way into Heaven. I still hear it, but what does it even mean? If we don’t have to earn our own living and can subsist on our parents’ generosity, our minority-ness, welfare or whatever. then where does the principal of work even come from?

So if there is no concept of work, no concept of earning anything, much less a surefire way to Heaven, then how can a free gift be of any value? It isn’t to those that need it.

Not more than 24 hours after this post, I happened upon a link to Issue 4, 2006 of the WCA News. The particular issue happens to be focused heavily on evangelism and affirmed everything that has been floating in my head lately. I’ll pull out some highlights, but please take some time to read the issue in your spare time.

The first article, titled “Evangelism in 3-D” highlights Willow’s 3-D philosophy: Develop Friendships, Discover Stories and Discern Next Steps. Here’s a quip about the root problem of evangelism today:

People hate evangelism. Christians shy away from it. They’re afraid of it, discouraged by it and feel guilty when they fail to drag a seeker across the line of faith. If Christians dread evangelism, non-Christians despise it. They feel pressured, preached at, cornered, judged, condemned and reduced to spiritual projects. “Somewhere along the line, we’ve forgotten what evangelism is really about and we’ve reduced the process to simply inviting people to a weekend service” says Willow Creek’s Director of Neighborhood Evangelism, Garry Poole. This is a problem.

This is a serious problem, folks. The statement “…they fail to drag a seeker across the line of faith” sums it up too plainly. This isn’t a task at which we can fail.

The same article also offers some responses to the question “what is your knee-jerk reaction to the word evangelism?” You can read for yourself to see some pretty scary responses. Poole also had this to say:

“We needed to shift from ‘doing community in the church’ to ‘doing church in the community,’”

And this:

Developing friendships is showing an authentic interest in their interests. “Don’t try to be interesting, just be interested”

And this:

And whatever you do, don’t view your neighbor as a project. No one wants to be reduced to a spiritual project just so you can check them off your list.

How many times do we write a name down on a card and… yeah. Poole said this, too:

Christians often view evangelism as getting the seeker to listen to us while we share a verbal witness – give our testimony in the hopes they will better understand the gospel… We’re omitting a critical part of the process – the other person’s story. Non-Christians are eager to tell their stories.

Amen, brother. I am in the midst of another amazing book titled The Revolutionary Communicator. The first principle in that book is that communication is about listening. People just want someone to listen and be authentic.

There is a great deal more to learn from that article, but let’s move on to one by Bill Hybels, the Senior Pastor at Willow. In Just Walk Across the Room (also the title of his new book), Bill describes a relationship he had with his son’s childhood soccer coach, Brian. It is a relationship that was Spirit-led and took years to yield a new believer, surprising no one more than Bill himself. He nurtured the relationship on Brian’s terms, serving him, listening to him and just being a friend. Relationships and serving others goes a very long way to expanding the Kingdom.

And finally, an article titled Connections: The Bridge to Grace, also highlights the importance of relationships with an interesting story. The author’s wife was in the middle of an evangelism course and had an assignment to have evanglistic conversations each week (what is an “evangelistic” conversation, anyway?). He describes a conversation where her close friend opened up and shared some things that completely redefined their relationship…

A soul connection was made. For the first time in many years, this friend saw Jesus and the church in a different light – a very positive light!

Interestingly, though…

…she flunked with an “F”… because she failed to present the plan of salvation… and that was the assignment.

Granted, this was an assignment for a graded class, but sadly, I feel like this is exactly how we view our role in evangelism — an assignment that gets graded.

While tracts, strategies and events are brilliant tools perfect for certain situations, evangelism is about “walking across the room” and building relationships. The Bible tells us to be prepared to answer questions, but not to shout those answers to those who are not listening.

I didn’t plan on writing this, but I felt the need. Who knows if there will be more. Stay tuned.

Movements have been labeled Missional, Emerging, Reformission, etc. We’re not dealing with movements. We don’t need a name. We’re dealing with people. By labeling these movements, we’re boxing ourselves in. We must be very careful to not build cookie-cutter approaches of how to “do church” into these movements. Challenge all you want, but understand your audience before you just plain make things worse.

There is a book by George Barna titled Revolution. I won’t write a book report or even review it here (maybe later). However, he labels this group of people rethinking church as “revolutionaries.” I love the term. My mom thinks it conjures images of war. Webster defines “revolution” as:

a sudden, complete or marked change in something

Culture has changed since Jesus’ time. Culture has changed since your church was founded. Culture has changed since you were born. We need to embrace change or we’re going to be seriously irrelevant if we aren’t already.

Where we have to be extremely careful is the fine line between revolution and rebellion. I’ve spoken to too many people involved in planting a new church that say something along the lines of “We’re going to be a church for people burned by the church.” Right away you’re founding your body on rebellion, a dangerous ideal. You’re saying that church is bad (it probably is), and we’re going to do it better (you probably will). What you’re also saying is that “church pissed us off, so we’re going to show you how church really should be done.” Stop now.

I’ve actually heard the statement “church should be done like this.” Church should be “done” however best addresses the needs of the culture in your community.

God can’t bless a bitter attitude. What God can bless is meeting people’s needs. Take that exact same group of people who have been “burned” by the church and find out what else they have in common. Just take out the “we’re frustrated” piece and focus on building honest, positive relationships. So what if they’ve been burned by the church. The point is building a relationship with the one true God, not a group of people called a church.

Yes, church needs to change. We need to get up out of the pews and make a difference in whatever culture is around us (there are probably several vastly different cultures within a five-mile radius of your church building or your home – pick one).

We need to be smart about how we spark change. Saying “church sucks” may work to inspire some folks (it did me), but it would anger others, backfiring completely. We could spend weeks talking about who’s problem that is. Sure, the people who get angry when challenged shouldn’t be angered by the idea of change, but I have a feeling we can make much more progress with more effective communication.

Understand your culture. Build relationships. Change what needs to be changed. Just please, please, please communicate effectively. Your message may be right on, but if you don’t understand your audience, or you communicate that message poorly, you’re going to have bigger problems than you started with.

NBS, the fictional network that airs the fictional SNL clone, Studio 60, heavily controls what sketches make it to air. If small-market Terra Haute is threatening to not air the show, NBS balks. That was then. In the pilot, the current producer freaks mid-show (it airs live, as does SNL) and walks on camera to slam the censorship that is a result of ridiculous political correctness for the sake of art. This, my friend, is real life.

The show continues and we find that the newly hired president of NBS actually stands up for art, by refusing to continue the micro-managing, hiring back the ex-writer and producer that were on the show in its hey-day, and brute-forcing her way through protests, small markets refusing to air the show, etc. All of this leads to newfound success on the fictional network and show.

So, what’s the point? Several articles and conversations have recommended a boycott because of the token sketch causing the ruckus at the fictional Studio 60, titled “Crazy Christians”. Though it airs, we never get to see the sketch, so we have nothing to go by but the fictional show’s frenzy. Also at the forefront of the criticism of the show is how the female lead is portrayed as a hardline Christian and somewhat “nutty”. Because the show paints Christians in a negative light, and makes fun of this seemingly “nutty” group of people, we, as Christians, should not watch the show, regardless of its entertainment value.

Some people fail to see the humor in this real world fight against Studio 60. The show ignores the protests and boycotts of Bible-belt markets and airs the sketch anyway. They poke fun at the protests. Yet, here is the same group of people, in real life, boycotting a show that is poking fun at the group boycotting the subject of the show. Seems kind of counterproductive, no?

Besides the fact that I enjoy the entertainment value and humor of the show, I see something that we as Christians can take away from it. Lose the bubble mentality. Look at the show from the perspective of the “other side.” They’re writing the material into the show because that’s how they see us. Why give them more ammunition by taking the defensive and boycotting the show that is making fun of us boycotting?

Rather than fight against the show, use it as research. Find out what they’re really trying to say. Is it simply humor for humor’s sake? Satire? Probably, but let’s assume for a moment these people really do hate Christians and are using Studio 60 as their platform. Find out why, and embrace it. What a concept, huh?

We as Christians too often take the defensive approach. Sure, there is reverse discrimination happening all over the place these days for the sake of political correctness. By taking the defensive approach, we build this little bubble around us and prolong the idea that “Christians are crazy.” When people think of Christians, they think of protests, annoying “ram-it-down-your-throat” evangelism, boycotts, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Joel Osteen. Why prolong the insanity? We don’t want to listen to what they have to say about us, but we’ll talk all day and night about what’s wrong with them. People, believe me, we have our flaws too.

Remember, Studio 60 is an entertainment program. You may not think it’s entertaining, but don’t make it your platform for saying “Christians aren’t crazy.” We may not be crazy, but the rest of the world sure thinks we are. By doing exactly what they say we do by being crazy, we don’t help our cause any. It’s time we actually do something to change the world’s opinion of us and speak their language.

We don’t have to change the message, but we definitely have to change they way we present it.

We challenged ourselves to leave the “churchy stuff” behind and hopefully shake up the view some may have of our church. This is where we’re headed. Hop on and enjoy the ride.

Remember, when I talk about relevance or creating an environment comfortable to those not familiar with church, I don’t mean that we sugar coat anything. We don’t change the fundamental message. That HAS to remain the same. What we’re doing is presenting that exact same message (fire, brimstone and all that) in a way that people understand, can relate to, and are willing to get up at 8am on a Sunday to come hear.

This brings up a few questions for you:

If you don’t attend church and you did yesterday, why? If you didn’t, why not? Is your “expectation” of church what keeps you away? If a church in your area blew that expectation out of the water and met you right in your comfort zone, would it make a difference? Is it the environment or the message that is given? Does the environment affect the message?

If you’re a church staff member or even just a regular attender, what was different about your Easter Sunday? Was it just another regular service? Was it just another Easter Sunday where you present some drama, give the Gospel presentation and sing the standard hymns? Did you build it with the visitors in mind?

I realize some of those questions are loaded, but I’m really curious. This is something I’m building my life around and I really want to know what people are doing, and what people expect from Church.

There have been very few times in my life that I’ve felt a very strong calling from God to do something. The most recent (besides starting The Company), was marrying The Wife. Here’s what I’ve learned about myself during those times – I’m an idiot. I say “okay, God, cool. Now you’ve called me, I’ll take it from here.” See the problem?

Here’s what else I’ve learned. If I get out of the way, step out of the boat, and let God do His thing with me, success is inevitable. I can’t fail.

How does this relate to my lunch? Part of what he wanted to do was simply encourage me (something I desperately needed). He knows the struggles we’re facing there financially, gaining acceptance, and finding passionate servants to help us lead. My response to him went something like this, “I know God is leading every thing that I do as part of our ministry. The criticism is one of two things – constructive or Satan – and I turn it over to God to help me discern. If we are going to truly make a difference in our community, we must step out our comfort zone as a church and follow His lead.” This is the only way I can stay in my current position, put in the hours I do, and take the criticism I do – because He is calling me to do so.

I can’t say that I’ve ever been more confident of what it is I’m supposed to be doing with my life.

The same holds true in ministry as well. Too many times churches set lofty goals to reach their entire community for Christ, and they attempt to do so in only one or two ways. A block party here, a Christmas pageant there, etc. While these are great in Theory (I’ve always wanted to live there), there is no possible way to succeed with these goals in mind. While you may say “wait, dude, anything is possible with God, right?” I’ll respond with yes, but God also does things differently for different groups of people. The Corinthians, the Thessalonians, the Romans, all received very different messages that were relevant to their specific needs.

What we as A Church – a single group of God-fearing Christians – must do is to break the masses up into smaller groups of people and reach them in ways that are relevant to them. Church A then ministers to one group while Church B ministers to another. Why work against each other and expect Church A to be everything to everyone. It won’t work. If you encounter someone at Church A not being reached, let them know about Church B, or even better, Church C that just started around the corner.

We do this so well with international missions, breaking people groups up and providing materials in their language, storyboards, and dramatic presentations, how come we forget that there are multiple groups of people right outside our doors? Just because we all live in the same community doesn’t mean we all worship the same way.

If Church A happens to have two services, and is still missing their target(s – there could be more than one), maybe a third service, or modifying one of the existing two is in order. It isn’t about a single style of worship or about the music, it is how best to relate the message in away that is relevant to their target audience.

There has been an uprising of community churches with multiple campuses or satellites. This is not only to cover a larger geographic area (churches are all about numbers, you know), but is also to be more relevant to different groups of people in the community.

In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to be relevant in our presentation, because the distractions wouldn’t exist. Our vision of God would be clear and the desire to know Him would be inherent in all of us (it truly is, but we don’t realize it) from the start. Therefore we would already be at the point of “What can I do for Him” rather than the selfish, human “what can He do for me?”

The problem here is that the people we’re trying to bring into the church and minister to are not able to grasp a concept of “what can I do for Him.” That takes time. We must first be patient and understand that before they can get there, they need to understand “What can He do for me?”

Speak their language. Be relevant. Be passionate. Don’t be afraid to point someone in a different direction (not the same as turning them away) that speaks to them. Work together. If you want to be more things to more people, realize that it’s going to take time & effort and can’t be accomplished in one or two ways.