For the past 2 weeks I have been doing preliminary study and preparation for our new upcoming Sunday Night series on evangelism. Evangelism is a tricky thing in the church today – it is literally one of the only things we are all called and equipped to do, and yet is the very thing we tend to do the least – both at an individual level and a corporate level. We are afraid of sharing our faith for a number of reasons – we feel that we cannot do it effectively, we aren’t sure if people are ready to hear it, or the most common reason which applies 99.9% of the time – we don’t want people to think we’re nuts.

As I have been studying, there has been a lot of research and development around methods of active evangelism – and this is a good thing. For many Christians, even if we have followed Christ our entire lives, being able to articulate that faith is quite another thing entirely. As a pastor I recognize my responsibility to make sure that our church is educated in sharing their faith – and to do so I try to lay out a simple gospel presentation several times a year as part of the regular sermon. The entire reason we are doing this class on evangelism is because it is not an ability we are simply born with – we must learn how to effectively share.

Today it can be more difficult than ever. We live in a society where truth is no longer viewed as absolute – “my truth” may not resonate with “your truth” and political correctness often is employed as a substitute for reason. Someone may say that to imply that a person is a sinner is to insult them – to be offensive to their process of morality and to injure their truth. And as ridiculous as that may sound to some, it is reality to others. As Christians we have to know how to evangelize in a world with opinions just like this – and it means that there needs to be a change, or at the very least, a major addition to the way we have been evangelizing until this point. It is no longer good enough to be an expert on what used to work – we must progress as the world has, whether we like it or not.

What strikes me is the hesitance to step out of our comfort zones. We look at evangelism as a special event – something that we must plan and set aside time for and mentally steel ourselves – and here is where we lose the point. There is a huge void in our world when it comes to personal evangelism – it can be too easy for us to rely on the church as an organization to pick up the slack by organizing revivals and other outreach opportunities.

But what about you? Don’t you speak with people on a daily basis? Odds are those folks you encounter are not all saved.

Why does this void in personal evangelism exist? It’s actually pretty simple – we as Christians no longer harbor a burden for lost people. Sure you may be bothered that there are lost people out there – but to you carry a burden for them? When you are bothered, you can still sleep at night and function as you were before; when you are burdened, you are kept up, thinking, praying, and interceding for them.

When was the last time your heart was paralyzed over another person’s lost state?

Paul set us an example in Romans 9 where he spoke of being burdened for the lost, experiencing “great sorrow” and “unceasing anguish in his heart.” The fact remains that if we are not burdened, we very likely will never share. We forget the reality of Hell because we are not investing ourselves in the lives of the people who are headed there.

The only thing worse than being lost is being lost when nobody is looking for you.

It is time for us to wake up and do what we were called to do. It is time for us to carry this burden. It is time for us to sacrifice even as Christ sacrificed Himself, and make evangelism our purpose.

Join us on Sunday evenings at 6pm if you are with me in this.