The Truth About Evangelism…

I remember being a fifth grader in Sunday school when, one Sunday, they taught us a “great way to evangelize” to our friends. I don’t remember all of the details, but we were given a piece of twine and showed how to manipulate it and hold it to look like two separate pieces of string. The whole premise was to walk through this little script while holding these “two pieces” of string, then to quickly pull the ends to make it appear as though the two pieces of string combined into one. It was sure to get our friends to church, we were told…

And I remember having that string in my pocket at school the next day and feeling conflicted about pulling it out and sharing my little trick with my friends. I knew something was off about this “evangelistic tool,” yet I also felt so much pressure from “Jesus” (read: our Sunday school teachers) to lead my friends to him. Needless to say, the string never left my pocket.

This is just one of many examples of how evangelism is explained in the church, and I know I’m not the only one who sees a problem with this. Evangelism was painted as a sales pitch with all the tricks up its sleeve.

I recently told the Lord that evangelism “really isn’t my thing,” and we had a conversation that caught me off guard.

“Ashleigh, what is evangelism?”

“It’s sharing about you.”

“And you don’t want to share about me?”

And in that moment, it was like a switch was flipped and I understood. The way evangelism had been portrayed for years left me believing that I had to gather a bunch of strangers on the street, convince them to sit down for a “presentation,” and listen to me as I stood on a stage and shared the traditional gospel story and led them collectively in a prayer of “inviting Jesus into their hearts.” And there is nothing about that example that is aligned with who I am…

But sharing Jesus? That’s not limited to microphones and stages. It’s not even limited to using words.

Sharing Jesus can be a gesture.

Sharing Jesus can be an action.

Sharing Jesus can be a friendship.

The church has created so many “evangelistic tools,” from the little 5-color bracelets to the 5-finger gospel. Those are cute and all, but sharing Jesus isn’t a formula. Sharing Jesus isn’t a checklist of talking points. Sharing Jesus isn’t even reliant on using words.

Sharing Jesus is simply being his love in the unique ways he created us to be.

So let me break off the lies and misconceptions around evangelism:

You don’t have to be super outgoing.

You don’t have to speak to large crowds.

You don’t have to be super convincing.

You don’t have to have all the right words.

You don’t need a microphone or a stage.

You don’t have to approach strangers.

You don’t need to have some magic evangelistic tool in your pocket.

You just share Jesus by being who he uniquely created you to be. Nothing more, nothing less.

— Ashleigh, The Hometown Missionary