Evangelism in the New Testament is organic — natural and irregular. Evangelism should occur naturally from all believers and will occur at irregular times. Evangelism was not programmed. Instead, evangelism arose from personal preparation.
The evangelist was prepared because evangelism could happen at anytime with anyone, as the Holy Spirit guided. The heart of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) is that we are to be prepared to share our faith “while we are going, journeying, traveling and dying.”
The Greek word for ‘go’ is poreuomai. This word is not the main verb of the text, but it shows us when we should be sharing our faith. New Testament evangelism cannot be relegated to a certain time, in the confines of a certain activity, because for the Christian, witness is supposed to occur at any moment, with any person.
I am sure you are thinking this is an idealistic view. How would we execute such a movement in our church?
I call such people Climate Changers. As a pastor for 14 years, I realized not everyone was going to naturally share their faith to their family and friends, so I created Climate Changers to encourage such a movement.
Climate Changers are evangelistic exercises that cost little or nothing, are easy to execute and are fun. When church members experience evangelism that can be so easily accomplished, they get excited and replicate the exercises in their daily lives with little to no pastoral prompting.
Climate Changers are little movements that change the climate of the church and community to be more evangelistic. Over the next few installments, I will be sharing Climate Changers ideas. My heart is to equip our pastors and laypeople with ideas that are simple, inexpensive and a lot of fun to exercise.
David Evans is the Evangelism Specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Convention. If you would like to connect with your local community and young families, feel free to contact David via email at devans@tnbaptist.org.
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