There are a few things I can guarantee you that will happen as you evangelize:

1. You’re not going to naturally feel like doing it
2. There will be times where you will feel and look foolish
3. You will walk away with an amazing story to tell
4. You will run in to 5 types of people who don't believe what you do
   

You’re Not Going to Naturally Feel Like Doing it

so don't expect that feeling to change OR wait until you feel different to go out

This is to be expected for a few reasons. The first is because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. The flesh is never going to want to do this; that’s just its nature.

Don’t condemn yourself if you rarely feel motivated to share about Jesus with others.

You will likely feel a sensation of fear and anxiety come over you the first many times you venture out. Check out the blog  "Your Mind and Evangelism"

This is normal. This fear sensation is simply the re-wiring process your mind is going through as you step out of your comfort zone.

Eventually this feeling will begin to diminish and render itself to nothing. Evangelism will become something second nature to you and you won’t have to think twice about it.

Until you get there however, you are always going to have to wrestle with yourself to take that first step to do it.

I am not saying to force yourself upon the person, I am saying for you to force yourself out of your comfort zone and approach them.

“But that just doesn't feel natural.”

Exactly. That's the point. It's not natural. Do something beyond natural and you might just step into the supernatural.

“But if I force myself to do it then it's not authentic.”

There is a difference between forcing yourself to be something you’re not and forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to do but know you should.

There was a point in your life where you had to force yourself to do something productive; like getting out of bed and going to school or work.

Productive, healthy members of society do things they don't want to do for the sake of their health and future.

Most laws are inconvenient and we don't want to follow them, but we do anyways. Why should Kingdom citizens (believers) be any different?

Doing something you don't feel like doing is not new to you. You’ve been doing it your whole life.

Evangelism should be no different. The more excuses you make for yourself the less Kingdom work you're going to get done.

You can be well studied in the scriptures, confident in who you are in Christ, and even have a list of testimonies from all the times you’ve stepped out and seen God do miracles.

But even having all this you are still going to feel nervous the first few times you step out. The principles in this blog are simply to help you get started.

They’re something for you to latch onto until you get to the point where you don’t need them anymore.

2 A Day

Our suggestion is to make a daily goal of sharing with at least two people a day, every day, for three months regardless of how you feel or what you see.

Whether you feel confident and see miracles or not; it doesn’t matter; force yourself to step out and share with others.

By the end of these three months approaching people won’t be as big a struggle. At that point evangelism can become your lifestyle and not an event.

You won’t have to set daily goals because you will simply share as you live. Sometimes you will share more than two and sometimes you will share less.

This three-month challenge is to break you out of the Conflict Zone into the Conquered Zone.

You Will Feel and Look Foolish at Times

AND that's okay...you're not going to die

You cannot be afraid to make mistakes. This fear is rooted in your desire to look good in front of others and since when was that a prerequisite for evangelism?

I would go so far to say that if you’re willing to look foolish for God, He’s willing to redeem you in front of others. God is not out to embarrass you.

I remember when I was first learning about all this I was becoming discouraged because I knew I was to pray for people and share with them, but I let opportunities slip by because of how nervous I was to talk to strangers about God.

Then during a moment of frustration I said, “Fine! I’ll do it. The next person I see that needs prayer I’m going to pray for them.”

Just then an elderly lady came around the corner with not just one cane but two. “Great…” I grunted with irony.

I went up to her and asked if I could pray for her. She allowed me so I prayed quickly and got out of there fast.

She didn’t throw her canes down and start dancing around so I just wrote it off as practice.

The next day while walking the same street I passed by her house and she was cleaning her patio without use of the canes.

She was standing upright and moving quickly. “Glory to God” I thought. I ran to my fiancé’s house (now my wife) and told her the news.

She said, “Oh her… yeah she’s crazy. She doesn’t actually need those canes she just uses them for attention.”

Again…There will be times where you will look and feel foolish. Don’t worry about it; if you can laugh at yourself you’re going to have a great story to tell.

You Will Walk Away With Amazing Memories

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Maybe you will see something come about like a miracle or a salvation or maybe you won’t.

But either way you will have a story to tell others. Memories of blunders are just as important as those of success because when you make a blunder, it makes you more relatable with others.

It’s difficult to relate with “perfect people” who never make a mistake. I heard John Maxwell say if you want to impress someone tell them of your successes, but if you want to impact someone tell them of your failures.

I am not hinting to you that you are going to go out and make hundreds of mistakes.

What I am saying is that if you reach out knowing that you are going to have a great story to tell, then whether things go well or not isn’t going to matter to you.

Besides, God doesn’t promise you success in evangelism. Success is His business. But He did tell you to go out.

This mindset is going to reduce your anxiety levels in approaching people and evangelism will become a lifestyle quicker than you realize. It is also through our mistakes that we learn quicker.

If we attempt something and it works, we learn nothing.  But if we make a mistake we can calculate, correct, and improve for next time.

Without failures it is impossible to grow.

I don’t want you to fear failure. I want you to grow. And by the time that you are laying on your bed waiting to go home with Jesus you will either have a list of memories of all the adventures you had in sharing of Him or you won’t. I encourage you to get that list.

What You Don't See

When you reach out towards someone and don't see anything come about from it whether you're praying or sharing your faith, you're going to be tempted to say these words: “Well that didn't work.”

Let me encourage you to NOT do that.

Remember you are like a farmer. Every action you do is like planting a seed. Don't be discouraged if the seeds you plant don't immediately grow up to smack you in the face.

Sometimes it takes time.

Just keep your mouth closed and your attitude high. Don't “dig up” your seed by speaking in unbelief. You'll hear of countless stories where miracles take place after the prayer encounter.

Yours will be a part of that mix if you keep quiet by refusing to say, “Well that didn’t work!”

Pre-Evangelism – Know What You’re Talking About

A lot of people you will run into will easily hear the Gospel because they naturally have spiritual interests.

Many others however have no such spiritual interests and so evangelism in these cases is going to need more than just magic tricks, stories about Jesus, and even miracles performed in front of their eyes.

Do keep in mind that miracles can be a part of evangelism but miracles in and of themselves are subjective, meaning just because miracles accomplish in Christianity doesn’t necessarily mean Christianity is true.

#Christianity is true because Jesus resurrected from the dead.

But you will talk with people where miracles won't be enough. With these types of people, you are going to need a different approach.

1 Peter 3:15 says to be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you for a reason for the hope that is within you.

In other words, there will be people who will need some questions answered before they will be ready to hear your message.

“Why should I accept what you believe?” is what is going on in their mind.

This is a question that goes beyond your testimony and experience. They want to know if your beliefs are in something credible.

You’ll most likely find these people in areas that value education and you’ll hear them say things like “I believe in science and reason.”

It’s not that education and God are enemies. It’s not that science and reason have replaced God, proven that He doesn’t exist, or that spirituality is only superstition.

Science is the realm of “How” while Theology (study of God) and Spirituality (experiencing God) operate in the realm of “Why.”

When you try to answer a “why” question with “how”, of course you are going to run into difficulties.

The reason there is such a battle between science and religion is because these people have lumped the two together into the same category thinking that how and why are the same questions.

They are not the same, but they are complimentary. Theology is the study of why God did something, and science is how God did it.

Until you can show them that God exists outside of religion, and by that, I mean that there is evidence for His existence in science and philosophy, they won’t be able to hear what you are saying.

This is called pre-evangelism. You’ll be excited to find that it’s not that difficult and you have a ton of material you can work with.

It’s called Apologetics, but more on that in a moment.

These people simply aren’t ready to hear the Gospel yet because they have questions or doubts that are stopping them from believing.

For example, if someone doesn’t believe that miracles can happen then telling them about the resurrection of Jesus is only going to make you look silly in their eyes.

Others might ask you that since God is not able to destroy evil (stated by the fact of the presence of evil in the world), then is God worth worshiping?

These people have wonderful questions and if possible, they must be answered before they are able to receive the Gospel. This is the realm of Apologetics.

The word comes from the Greek word Apologia which means to give an answer or a defense.

This is the exact word you find in 1 Peter 3:15. We do not have the space here to get into this deeply, though recognize that pre-evangelism is as important as evangelism itself.

An easy book to start with is On Guard by William Lane Craig or When Skeptics Ask by Norman Geisler and Ronald Brooks.

If you want to get really basic you can start with Philosophy for Dummies. The arguments below can be found in most books on #Apologetics or even online.

The next couple of blogs are going to address five of the strongest arguments for the existence of God, the types of people you will meet on the streets, how to respond if one of them gets upset at you for sharing your faith, Pascal’s Wager, and a five-point argument for the case of the resurrection of Jesus.

If you’re going into a battle, let’s make sure you have ammunition. I’ve listed the 5 types that you’ll run into, but let’s go over only two of them for now.

5 Types of People You'll Meet

Everyone is different in some aspect but they all tend to fall under one or a combination of these categories:

• The indifferent
• The intellectual atheist
• The emotional atheist
• The other religion

These are the people you will likely meet on the streets. Each one needs a different approach and each one will have a different reaction.

If you follow the principles I have already shared with you your chances of successful conversations are going to be extremely high.

By successful conversations I mean being able to approach and talk with someone. I do not mean that they will all want to give their lives to Jesus.

Many will not. For those who won’t, it is not our position to attack, judge, manipulate, or do anything other than bless them.

That sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many Christians get irrational when someone else refuses to agree with them.

Heads up: if they don’t want Jesus that’s their problem not yours. You keep loving them and reaching for the lost.

It isn’t over until it’s over and your kindness will do more than your fury. I am going to give a quick description of each category and some advice on working with them.

The Indifferent

Not much needs to be said about this person because there is not much you can do. They are simply disinterested no matter what you say so persisting with the conversation is likely only going to irritate them.

I had a conversation with a clerk at a gas station and tried to get into conversation with him about history. When I asked him about how he thinks we can verify history he said, “It’s impossible.”

“So, you’re saying we can’t really know if Caesar Augustus or Napoleon Bonaparte were around?!”

“That’s right…”

Well the conversation pretty much ended right there because there’s not much you can convince someone of who doesn’t believe in reality.

If he was closed off to historicity, archaeology, and forensic science then it was apparent I was dealing with someone that had no standard of objectivity.

It was either that or he was trying to shut down the discussion. If someone isn’t participating in the conversation just wish them well and continue on your path.

The Intellectual Atheist

This is the person that has studied somewhat and has decided not to believe in any god especially Jesus.

There are various versions of this person that will range from indifferent to aggressive. Some people will simply write you off as superstitious and will be uninterested in discussing anything.

Others will want to attack you and try to make you look like a fool.

Don’t take it personally if someone doesn’t want to talk spirituality with you and don’t feel tempted to get into debates with the aggressive person either.

Your best mode of defense is to be confident in what you know and loving towards them as their peer.

For the person that is always wanting to debate, you don’t need to study too much to hold your own and win the argument.

Taking advantage of the Three Most Dangerous Questions as well as understanding the arguments listed in the next couple blogs, you will be able to demonstrate that Christianity is indeed more reasonable than atheism, and you will disarm them from trying to make you look like the fool.

And of course, there is the secret weapon of how to win all debates: understand your opponent’s side better than them.

In the case that you do get into a dialogue with someone that is being aggressive with you – someone that insists that God has no place in philosophy, science, or reality, then you can refer one of the following: ontological argument (argument from logic), cosmological argument (argument of causation), teleological argument (argument from design), moral argument (argument from morality), or the argument of all arguments: reason.

If none of those work, then you can really annoy them with Pascal’s Wager.

The Emotional Atheist

You will likely run into this person this most often. These are not bad people, they often have the position they do because of a painful experience.

Either they had a bad experience with a church/religious person, or they went through something traumatic in life, or they had an expectation/hope that God would do something and He didn't and they were let down, or a combination of all the above.

Your job in this situation is not really to answer their questions but really just to listen to them.

If they really want the question answered, by all means do your best but  usually people that claim they don't believe and they're angry about it, do so because of pain.

They don't want an answer. They want relief. They want to feel loved. At some levels they want understanding but I think that might be so they can be freed from their pain.

More than answers these people need your love. They need to know that you are weeping with them. Or you are angry at the injustice with them.

And if they are truly wanting answers, though none will be easy for them, the above arguments presented are enough.

For example

• How could a loving God allow my child to die?!
• Why did God stand by and watch me get raped?
• Where was God when that tornado ripped up our house?
• If God exists, WHY DOES EVIL?

This is usually their biggest obstacle: evil. Because the idea goes that if God is all loving, all knowing, and all powerful then evil wouldn't exist.

Because if God is

• all loving then He would care that evil is happening
• all knowing then He knows that it evil is happening
• all powerful then He can do something about it

"But He doesn't, evil exists, therefore God doesn't."

Sounds like a heavy hitter for an argument. But that is only until we start asking some questions.

Remember the Three Dangerous Questions?

1. What do you mean by that?
2. How did you come to that conclusion?
3. If Christianity were true, would you believe it?

When we ask the first question, "What do you mean by evil?" They're going to give you all the examples of evil things like the tragedies they've gone through or witnessed.

But you simply ask it again. "But what IS evil?"

And they'll likely sum it up with something like "bad things happening to good people."

Now you simply have to refer to the Moral Argument. If there is no Good, ultimately moral law-giver, then where do we get our standards for right and wrong?

The fact is, if there is no God, then right/wrong don't really have a place to come from. It would simply be nature, chemicals, materials changing.

We would have no basis to be able to judge what is good/evil. Without God there would be no evil because there would be no good. It would just be matter.

You'd have to get a good grasp of the presentation before I recommend using it with someone.

But the idea is, just because there is evil in the world, that doesn't mean God doesn't exist.

In fact, we wouldn't know what evil was unless a God outside of our realm had instilled such a thing as morality within us.

This of course doesn't ease the person's pain, but it does answer their doubt if they really are hung up on that.

The good news is that though God didn't promise that evil wouldn't happen to us, He did promise that He would be with us in it.

The Other Religion

The easiest people in other religions to talk to are the ones seeking after truth. The most difficult ones are those who are in it because it makes them comfortable.

Maybe they were raised in it or maybe they enjoy the practices. These people are hardest to reason with because they're not really in it for the truth of it in the first place.

Nor should this be your excuse for being a Christian! You should know WHY you are a Christian beyond the fact you were raised in it or that it makes you feel good.

The fact that we are Christians should be because Jesus raised from the dead. I talk about that more in the blog Jesus is ALIVE.

If someone of another religion is looking for truth, they will be open to dialogue with you. IF they are not open to the truth, you're simply going to have to love them into the kingdom.

Which at the end of the day usually is the strongest apologetic: your love. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. If they can feel loved by you, they will witness the type of God you serve.

People of other religions don't always see their god as loving, because Jesus is the only one that offered us salvation by GRACE ALONE. Every other "god" offers salvation through works and payment and sacrifice.

So What Are Your Thoughts?

Comment below if you've ever had an experience with any of the above mentioned. How did it go? What tips could you share?

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