Personal Evangelism
INTRODUCTION
All Christians are called to make disciples. Jesus very clearly told His followers that, as they were going about their lives, they were called to make disciples (Matt. 28:18–20). An important part of the disciple-making process is evangelism, where Christians take part in sharing the good news of Jesus with unbelievers. But before you can become a faithful disciple-maker, you have to know who you are in Christ. Most Christians think their contribution to the advance of the gospel is to attend a church service, give, volunteer once a month, and occasionally invite their friends to church to hear the gospel from “professional Christians” like preachers and worship pastors. The reason most Christians believe this is because that’s basically what church leaders have told them their whole lives. However, the Bible says something much different.
Our problem is that we have often understood the church as an event that we attend rather than a living organism or body of which we are members. According to Scripture, the local church is not something that people attend. Rather, the local church is a local group of believers joined together for the glory and mission of Jesus. Sometimes those believers are gathered in the same place, but usually they are scattered throughout the city or local area in a variety of roles and responsibilities. It’s important to realize that even when the church is scattered, it is no more or less the church. If this is true, we have to ask the following questions: 1) What is the primary purpose of the church gathering? and 2) What is the primary purpose of the church scattering?
First, the primary purpose of gathering for corporate worship is that the followers of Jesus would worship together and, in doing so, remind one another of who God is and what He has done for us in Christ. Pastors, elders, and other church leaders carry the responsibility of leading the church to understand the beauty and the mystery of the gospel more deeply. This is not to say that evangelism does not happen when the church gathers for corporate worship. Proclaiming truth to the lost certainly happens during the worship service; however, the primary target audience is the group of believers who make up the church.
Second, the primary purpose of the church scattered is that the glory of God, the power of the gospel, and the kingdom of God would go out to a world that has been separated from God by sin. This is done so that God might restore all things to Himself through the proclaimed gospel of Christ. This means that the primary purpose of pastors, elders, and other church leaders is to equip the church to that end—that the church would be mature and ready to make an impact in the world for Christ (see Eph. 4:11–16).
The Bible calls all believers to be bold ambassadors for Christ as God Himself makes His appeal through them (see 2 Cor. 5:20). Therefore, it’s important that when Christians gather for corporate worship, the church is strengthened and equipped to scatter well. As we scatter as kingdom ambassadors, we are charged by Jesus to have disciple-making relationships that begin with personal evangelism. The Christians who are most active in personal evangelism are the ones who are most intentional. But true evangelistic living does not depend on special evangelistic programs; rather, it’s the fruit of ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality. To that end, we are equipping you with a tool called Table Talk to help you grow in gospel intentionality and impact in disciple-making relationships.
A Table Talk is an intentional relationship-building meeting (a coffee, a lunch, a dinner, a walk, etc.) where you talk, build a friendship, and hopefully share the greatest news ever—the gospel of Jesus Christ. We call it Table Talk as a nod to the time in church history when Martin Luther would gather people in his home to talk about spiritual things, and because a table is a great setting for these conversations. Sitting at a table for a meal or coffee is conducive to great conversation, though it’s certainly not necessary. The following are some guidelines for how to make Table Talk a useful, intentional, and regular part of your life.
HOW TO DO TABLE TALK
1. Pray
Write down the names of three people you will regularly pray for. Pray specifically that they would come to know and treasure Jesus. Don’t underestimate the power and importance of regular and consistent prayer. Put the list in a place where you will see it every day as a reminder to pray.
2. Create a rhythm
The goal of Table Talk is that you would create an intentional rhythm in your life when you connect with people that don’t know Jesus. For example, you could take an unbeliever out for lunch every other Monday or one Monday per month. You could invite someone who isn’t a Christian to coffee every Thursday afternoon. You could invite one of your unbelieving neighbors over for dinner every other Tuesday. You may also approach something that is already a rhythm in your life (like a workout group or a book club) with particular evangelistic intentionality. Don’t just go work out or attend the book club; engage as an ambassador for the Lord, seeking to give an answer for the hope you have in Christ (1 Pet. 3:15).
3. Build the relationship
As these relationships begin, make every effort to develop them. The goal with Table Talk is not necessarily that you would share the gospel with someone at the first meeting but rather that you would build genuine relationships with people who don’t know Jesus with the hope of sharing the gospel with them patiently and gently. These relationships will take time and intentionality to build. Though we hope that these relationships will give you the opportunity to invite people into the kingdom of God, the authentic love you show for your neighbors is also an opportunity to demonstrate (and experience) the beauty of that kingdom.
4. Share the gospel
If you are intentional about building relationships and useful in your areas of influence, the Lord will likely give you favor with people. Don’t get lost in this favor and forget about who you are as an ambassador for Christ. Remember that the kindest thing you can do for someone is to share the good news of the gospel so that by God’s grace, they might believe and be restored to fellowship with God through Christ. The simple gospel is that Jesus came to restore broken sinners like us into fellowship with God by His righteous life, atoning death, and life-giving resurrection. As we look to Jesus in a posture of repentance and faith, His righteous record is accredited to us, our sin is accredited to Him and to His cross, and the power of His resurrection gives us hope in Him for eternal life with God.
For more guidance on clearly explaining the gospel, see the appendix for the God, Man, Jesus, Response framework.
5. Follow up
Remember: our goal is not to just share the gospel. Rather, we are put here on this earth as Christ’s body to make disciples. Inviting someone to church is likely not the first step in evangelism, but at some point, we do want people coming into the community of faith where their relationship with God can grow and flourish. Repentance and faith are the what of the Christian life, but the where of the Christian life is the fellowship of believers in the local church. Inviting someone to church is not the final step in evangelism either, as if we have handed the person off to the “professional Christians” and our work is now done. Disciple-making is relational (see the Relational Discipleship Field Guide). There is great joy in walking alongside someone as they encounter Jesus and then grow in their faith (see 1 Thess. 3:6–9).
