What it takes to tell the Good News

I've been reading several books on spiritual disciplines. In one of them, I came across a chapter on evangelism as a spiritual discipline.   In it, the author was arguing that evangelism was everyone's duty, and that everyone was expected to be sharing their faith with all their friends. 

I agree essentially, but it seems like an exercise in futility.  No  matter how much we encourage people to evangelize they will not evangelize.

The author put his finger on the reason why in a quote form Donald Barna.  Nine times out of ten, when we share our faith with a non-believer, the answer is going to be "no."  Most people are not used to an exercise where nine times out of ten,  they will fail.  His answer seemed to be that either we weren't trained to do it right, or that we were not doing it "in the Spirit."  

Seems like we have a problem.  We are being asked to accept the idea that doing something that will fail nine times out of ten regularly, as a spiritual exercise, but if it doesn't work, it's our fault. 

There's something self serving in the church's call for evangelism at times. The organized church seems to get more excited about spiritual disciplines that produce results of growing numbers or bringing in finances than about the ones that merely grow the individual--like quiet times and individual Bible study, for example. 

Is evangelism for everyone?  Yes and no.  Evangelism is part of the Great Commission, the marching orders of the church.  But it is also listed in Ephesians 4 as a particular gift for particular people.    We are all part of the evangelism process, but we are not evangelists, per se. 

Lets try breaking down evangelism just a little bit into three elements. 

First, there is compassion.  God wants us to think less of ourselves and more of others.  One problem I've noticed with most of our talk about evangelism is that it vague and general.  It doesn't seem to talk about real people, but people in abstract.  We need to remember that these people who were are set to "evangelize" are people with broken homes,  addiction problems,  and lonely, lonely lives. If we've got something better, we ought to have enough caring for others to share what we have. 

Empathy, not compassion is the discipline we lack.  We ought to practice meditating more on the lives of others if we are going to talk with them.  We should actually care about them.

Second,  there is testimony.  We need to put into words our own stories, for our own sake, as well as for Christians and  non-Christians.  Most of us never actually tell anyone our testimonies.  In fact, many of us have been taught not to talk about religion at all.  But if we do not express our faith to someone,  it does not seem real to us. 

Knowing our own personal history and how God relates to it is a basic function of faith in our lives.  When we do not put into words the things God does for us,  they do not become a vital part of our story.  That is one of the reasons Journaling is such a powerful spiritual discipline. 

The third aspect is the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Learning to meditate in prayer, and listen to His voice is also a basic skill of being spiritual.  We are not effective in evangelism because we  do not listen to his voice.

If we seek these three disciplines, then we will be evangelists.   But if we just talk about evangelism without compassion,  learning to open up about our testimony, and being led by the Spirit, it seems to me that it will always be frustrating and ineffective.