Gospel.com Blog

Evangelism—sharing our faith in Jesus with people who don’t know the Gospel—is at the core of the Christian faith. There exist countless ministries, organizations, and publications aimed at introducing people to the Gospel, or at encouraging individual Christians to do so. Yet it’s my impression that the idea of witnessing to others is a daunting one for most Christians.

Do you actively and consciously share your faith with others? What part does witnessing play in your everyday spiritual life? And what does your witness usually look like—is it a traditional verbal presentation of the basics points of your faith? Do you try to witness with actions but not words? Something in between?

How often do you share your faith with others, and how do you tend to do so?

Share your thoughts!

I recently heard an interesting statement from a pastor regarding charitable giving. He explained that he only supported explicitly Christian ministries and charities with his charitable giving—no public radio, no Red Cross, and presumably no Girl Scout cookies.

He explained that there wasn’t anything wrong or immoral about those non-Christian organizations and charities. But he felt that the Great Commission obligated him to put his finite funds toward organizations that actively furthered the spread of the Gospel. Other charities might do valuable work, but they were a lower priority than evangelistic organizations. (And since there’s never going to be a shortage of evangelism needs or Christian organizations in need of help, that essentially means never supporting a non-Christian charity at all.)

This was a personal decision for him, and he didn’t try to argue that it was a rule for all Christians. But he clearly felt that this was a natural implication of the Great Commission in the modern world.

What do you think about that? Do you give higher (or sole) priority in your giving to evangelistic ministries?

When some people evangelize, they do so with tracts. Tracts, for those that don’t know, are short Gospel presentations in a little booklet. They usually have some sort of eye-catching cover or are centered around a particular theme. Every single one that I’ve seen includes a “Sinner’s Prayer” that the reader can read aloud in order to become a Christian.

We’ve probably all heard stories of well-meaning Christians leaving tracts as tips at restaurants, or giving children tracts instead of candy during Halloween. And if you’ve spent any time in a major city, you’ve probably seen a tract or two “left” in a bathroom. I’d have to imagine that most of these tract distribution methods are ineffective (I’m willing to be proven wrong). However, a tract in the hands of someone who can explain what it means seems like it has potential to me.

What about you, do you think that Tracts are an effective evangelism tools?

Share your thoughts!

At the Youth Specialties blog, Adam McClane discusses the tension between evangelism and discipleship in churches and youth ministry.

He writes that youth pastors are often caught between the stated and unstated goals of the church. The written vision of a church is often focused on evangelism. However, individual church members typically understand the vision to be one of discipleship.

While both excellent visions for a church, these two points of focus can create tension in everyday youth ministry. Youth workers need to stress both evangelism and discipleship equally, but sometimes the two appear to be mutually exclusive. As Adam puts it:

Maybe this is jaded, but it’s been my experience. As much as we’d like to be an equal, complimentary balance between evangelism and discipleship, it always plays out that one wins….

Think about the youth programs you’ve been involved with, either as student or worker. Have any of them handled that tension well?

What about in your personal life? How do you make sure you’re making enough time for both nurturing your personal faith and actively inviting others into God’s kingdom? Do you ever feel a tension between discipleship and evangelism?

Today, a couple of quick updates from the COMIX35 ministry! COMIX35 is a Christian comics ministry that publishes and distributes evangelistic comics around the world. They also do a lot to identify and recruit promising comic artists from within the Christian community.

They’ve got updates on two comics contests that they’re running:

• They’ve launched the Christian Comics Competition for U.S. Prison Inmates as a way of identifying talented Christian artists in the US prison system. The first phase of the competition asks prison chaplains to recommend inmates who “exhibit exceptional talent in the areas of drawing and storytelling.” The three candidates who make it to the end of the contest will help produce a short comic for inmates and at-risk youth.
• The deadline for the Manga Messiah video competition has been extended to March 4 to give all “amateur and professional video producers, YouTubers, and GodTubers around the world” a chance to get their entries in. The competition webpage has full details on the contest, as well as free music tracks you can use with your video.

Take a look at these contests, and while you’re there, get to know COMIX35’s unique comics evangelism ministry!

What comes first—evangelism or discipleship? It’s commonly thought that discipleship is a one-time process that Christians must go through after they’ve accepted Christ but before they start sharing the Gospel with others. Is discipleship like taking a class in school—you do your homework, graduate, and are then free to move on to the “real” Christian life?

In an article at Lausanne World Pulse, Kumar Abraham argues that this approach isn’t necessarily the best (or most Biblical) way to understand discipleship. Rather than seeing evangelism and discipleship as two separate activities, we should consider them two closely integrated facets of the Christian life:

But which comes first—evangelism or discipleship? Some argue that without doing evangelism, discipleship is impossible. Some say it is only a disciple of Christ who can evangelise. Others may ask why we should even separate the two. [...]

The Bible teaches the integration of evangelism and discipleship. “We proclaim (announcing the gospel publicly) him, admonishing (warn believers) and teaching (the word) everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ” (Colossians 1:28). While evangelizing, we disciple; while discipling new believers, we encourage them to share the gospel.

There are many more articles about discipleship and evangelism in the World Pulse archives.

Yesterday we pointed out a number of resources to help Christians learn more about Islam. Today we’ve got a few more, starting with a series of short Introduction to Islam videos from People of the Book. Here’s the first video:

Be sure to watch part 2 and part 3 if you found that useful.

The above videos, and the resources we noted yesterday, focus primarily on introducing the basic teachings and tenets of Islam. But if you’re looking for a more thorough analysis comparing Islam’s teachings to those of Christianity, Faith Facts has an exhaustive comparison of the two faiths. If you’ve ever wondered exactly how Christianity and Islam differ, or if those differences are theologically important, that’s a good place to start.

And last but not least, Into Thy Word has an excellent summary of Muslims beliefs, as well as some concrete ideas for effectively sharing the Gospel and showing Christlike love to Muslims. This essay, by Patrick Cate, also addresses many of the more cultural questions about Islam and the Arab world that have cropped up since September 11, 2001—questions about Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, and Western biases against and misconceptions about Muslims.

For Christians, summer and autumn make up a long gap between the major holidays that dot the church’s calendar. But for Muslims, this is an important time of year: we’re right in the middle of Ramadan, a month-long period of fasting and prayer. Arab World Ministries describes Ramadan more specifically:

The fourth pillar [of the Islamic faith] is the fasting, or the “Saum”, during the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, the month of Ramadan. Muslims go by the lunar calendar, and so Ramadan moves every year. From sunrise to sunset, Muslims do not eat or drink. Smoking, sexual contact, swearing and anger are forbidden. The faithful are encouraged to use the month of fasting to draw closer to God, and to renew their spiritual strength.

Why should Christians take the time to learn about Muslim holidays or other elements of the Muslim faith? Because understanding what Muslims do (and don’t) believe is critical if we want to introduce them to the Gospel message. The Ramadan period is as good a time as any to learn a bit more about Islam and its tenets, and to that end a number of resources from the Gospel.com community can help:

• Questions About Islam: an incredible repository of information about Islam; answers dozens of commonly-asked questions Christians ask about Islam.
• What Muslims Believe: a quick rundown of the basic teachings of Islam.
• Respecting Muslims While Sharing Christ: on the challenge of respecting and loving our Muslim neighbors rather than just trying to “convert” them.
• What should our attitude as Christians be toward Ramadan? Should Christians emulate Ramadan within their own faith?
• What struggles do Christians of Muslim background face during Ramadan? Should converts from Islam to Christianity observe Ramadan—and what types of pressure do they face to do so?

Ministries like Arab World Ministries, Lausanne World Pulse, and People of the Book all have excellent information about Islam and the importance of understanding and reaching out to Muslims. Take advantage of the Ramadan period to educate yourself about Islam, and consider ways you can pray for or minister to Muslims!

[The accompanying image is an old map of the city of Mecca.]

What’s going on with XXX Church? Now you can keep up with the people and personalities behind their ministry by watching their weekly video podcast at xxxchurch.tv. The first episode is online, and follows the XXX Church team as they head out to set up a ministry presence in—where else?—Sin City:

You can subscribe to xxxchurch.tv though iTunes or RSS, and you can become a fan on Facebook.

Is student ministry worth the immense amount of time, energy, and money that churches and dedicated ministries put into it? Aren’t many young people apathetic toward spiritual issues, or inclined to abandon the faith once they leave their family and church community?

While there’s a grain of truth to these conceptions, student ministry nevertheless remains a crucial part of the church’s call to evangelism. Making the case for student ministries are five articles over at the Lausanne World Pulse’s recently redesigned website:

• Why Bother with Student Ministry? Five reasons why Christian ministry among students is so important.
• The Strategic Importance of Student Ministry: What Are You Living For? There are things common to university students that make ministry among them a valuable use of time.
• Is Student Ministry Important? Student ministry is most strategic for the mission of God. It has always been so.
• Claiming Back Our Campuses for Christ: An Example from South Africa: In order to turn the tide of moral decay South Africa is rapidly heading toward, the Church should invest in children, youth, and young adults.
• Reaching Future Leaders through Word and Deed: One international church is reaching out to graduate students who are highly intellectual and skeptical of faith issues.

The LWP site is full of other excellent articles about church and ministry topics, and they’re regularly adding new content. If the above articles are useful to you, look through their online archives and stop back periodically to see what’s new!