“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Matthew 9:37
Most of us are aware that we don’t tell the old, old story as much and as enticingly as we would like. If we are honest we probably are a bit uncomfortable with the whole idea of evangelism.
Most people associate evangelism with hard-sell methods and fire scares. There are many approaches to this tactic.
- The scalp hunter – This person tries to save souls to add to his collection of trophies.
- The shoehorn approach – This person uses any opening to slip in the gospel.
- The con-man approach – The gospel is introduced under false pretenses.
- The 2×4 approach – Pressure it put on the lost as he seeks to blast him with a blessing and clobber him into the kingdom.
Scripture gives three approaches to reaching the lost:
- Proclamation – Peter used this in Acts 2 and 3,000 people were baptized.
- The confrontational approach – Philip used this method when he met the Ethiopian in Acts 8. “Do you understand what you are reading?”
- The relational approach – Paul’s approach to the people in Thessalonica (I Thessalonians 2:8) We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
It is this last approach that can make a difference for us. Daily we make relationships at work and play. Every day we can use these relationships to influence others for good. Our example and our love for Jesus should be the armor we wear and others can take note. In our families and among our friends there are many who could be influenced to come to Jesus. Let’s do what we can to help people to come to know Christ.
afraid of technology. It’s an interesting label for a person, since the word technology actually just means “a study of an art, craft, or technique.” Technologies are simply tools.