Evangelism
The Power of Vocation!
Recently, I was surprised when I visited one of my favorite websites dictionary.com. I had been doing some research for my current book project, “Kingdom Dreaming”. My search was to find a clear definition for the word vocation. Dictionary.com provided me with two definitions, one I expected and the other was totally unexpected. The definitions where 1. An occupation, business or profession (this is what I expected); 2. A divine call to God’s service or the Christian Life (totally unexpected)! Wow, was the first thought that hit me. The concept that came to my mind for the first time was maybe God intended for our jobs to be a major part of his calling for our lives.
I have to admit that like most Christians for quite some time I viewed my secular occupation as being competitive to God’s calling on my life. Even though I tried my best to role-model Christian behavior on my job and to my co-workers, I don’t know if I ever fully embraced it as the context for my personal ministry. I am further guilty of bringing this mindset into my role as a Pastor when I came on board full-time at my church. Far to often I have indirectly communicated to genuine people who wanted to sincerely serve the Lord that if they were really serious they need to be striving to become clergy at the church and getting more involved in things like teaching sunday school classes, serving in the christian education department, helping in youth ministry or maybe even considering living their vocation altogether and becoming a full-time missionary. Now, don’t get me wrong I am fully persuaded that for some this is exactly what God desires. But what if God never planned for most of us to hold a clergy title or work on staff for a church? What if God’s desire and plan is that we would see our jobs as our mission fields?
This is an awesome thought that I believe the church and many pastors need to embrace. It will require a change in our paradigm but I believe it will allow us to reach the world in a greater way than we could ever imagine. The truth is that there is an entire generation of people who are so skeptical about those in clergy positions that they would be far more likely to listen to the gospel if it is presented by a co-worker than a Pastor. A great example of this is found in Luke 5:27-29 when Jesus called Levi the tax-collector. The very first thing that Levi does after his conversion is to go and win other tax-collectors to Christ. He was an effective evangelist to tax-collectors because he was a tax-collector. Wow! What if this is what God has called us to do? What if God has placed you at your job to win your co-workers to him, by your lifestyle, love and public witness of the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? I think it is critical that we reconsider how we view our jobs. I want you to prayer about your attitude towards your work. No longer should we see or vocation as being in competition to our divine call, but rather as an intricate part of it. Here are two questions I would love for you to answer, “What can you do to be a better witness for Christ on your job?” and “What can you do to win your co-workers to Christ?”
Pastor Chris
Starting the Conversation!
Recently, I received an email from a sincere and godly woman who had been in some anguish over a friend who was not currently a Christian. Her great concern was motivated by her love for this unsaved friend and her realization of the consequence for those who reject the gospel. She had a deep desire to see her friend come to Christ. However, she seemed to be so paralyzed when it came to sharing her faith. She had never been trained and didn’t feel comfortable bringing up this difficult topic. In desperation she wrote to me asking me to please instruct her on how to share her faith. This email was not atypical. There are many believers who don’t feel they are properly prepared to be an effective witness for Christ. So often we don’t share with others because we fear the “What If’s”. What if they ask me something that I don’t know the answer too? What if they get offended? What if they reject my offer? What if? What if? What if? After pondering these “What if’s” long enough most of us never get going in our evangelistic ministry. I too have struggled with these hindrances throughout my Christian experience, but have been able to oftentimes overcome them by doing 4 simple things. Hopefully these will help you.
1. Pray! Pray!! Pray!!! - Before I open my mouth I ask the Lord to break my heart for the individual who is not saved. Far too often we as Christians come across as used car salesmen, a little bit insincere and very pushy. This is usually because we are evangelizing from a legalistic mind and not a compassion filled heart. People respond more readily to a humble offer from a loving friend then a pushy preacher. It is in prayer that our confidence is built up and our compassion is developed. I encourage some of you to begin to pray daily for at least one unsaved person who you would like Christ to reach through you.
2. Know the Gospel - We as Christians must know what exactly we are offering people. Never forget the average person is well aware of other belief systems out there. So the question on their mind is what is so unique about Christianity. I believe that the answer is found in the nature of the gospel message found in the New Testament. According to Acts 4:12 salvation is found in a person, namely Jesus! Other beliefs emphasise salvation based upon works, but what does a person do if they aren’t able to work at the same pace as others. Some religions offer salvation based upon some secret knowledge, but what does a person do if they aren’t very intelligent or learned. Some religions offer salvation based upon feelings and emotions such as enlightenment, but what happens when you don’t feel saved. The security found in Christianity is that salvation is based upon our relationship with a person, which does not change. You see when someone places their faith in Jesus they are adopted into the family of God. Now, adoption is the act of being added into a family. In other words a Christian is simply a child of God. The beauty of being anyone’s child is that there is nothing you can do to no longer be there child anymore. If you are a child, you don’t lose your relationship simply because you don’t do certain works, or have not attained to certain knowledge or don’t possess certain emotions. So when we are sharing our faith we have to explain to people that men was created to have a relationship with God. Our sin has caused us to be separated from God, because of our separation we have experienced a number of negative consequences such as loneliness, depression and pain. However, God loves us so much that he sent his Son into the world to die for our sins and enable us to have a relationship with Him. Finally, because of Jesus we can now enter into a relationship with God by trusting in Christ with all of our hearts and surrendering our lives to Him.
3. Know Your Testimony - Most people are not argued or debated into the faith. Most individuals don’t come to Christ because of a new understanding of some deep theological or doctrinal truth. The fact is the number one reason why people come to Christ as seen in the New Testament is because of the simple presentation of the gospel coupled with the personal testimony of someone who has become a follower of Christ. Over and over again the Apostle Paul shares his testimony with those he wants to win to Christ. The question that many folks will have is “why are you a Christian?” Before you share your faith with anyone make sure you know how to answer this question.
4. Start the conversation - the tough thing about sharing your faith is that reading a book isn’t enough, nor is taking a class on evangelism, you have to actually start talking to people. The best context to share your faith with someone is when you are in a relationship with them. Don’t be afraid to take your time getting to know their heart and unique challenges. Do your best to discover why they aren’t currently a Christian. And at the right time the door will be opened for you to ask them the all important question “would you like to become a Christian?” This is the most important question a person can be asked.
If we are faithful in doing these simple things we would find God using us to bring many people to Christ. I hope this helps some of you to get started on the wonderful journey of being His witnesses to those we love.
Pastor Chris
Help! Someone I love is Gay! (Part 1)
I remember the tears in my wife’s eyes when we found out that one of our closest friends, a person who had introduced us to each other, was dying from HIV. I also remember how foolish and hard-hearted I had been towards him since the first day he shared with me that he was gay. This was a guy who I grew up with. We meet each other in our church’s youth ministry, hung out together, we even went to Florida during spring break in high school for our senior trip. Now, at only 27 years old he was dying from HIV.
I didn’t have a clue on what to say, how to pray or even how to interact with him. So many times I picked up the phone to dial his number and my pride, or fears, got in the way and prevented me from reaching out. I finally mustered up the courage to go and see him when I got a call from his mom telling me that he was in the hospital. The sad thing is that by the time I arrived, he was so weak and medicated that he couldn’t talk. All I could say was “I’m sorry!” The most difficult and convicting part of the whole experience was being asked by his family to preach the eulogy at my friends funeral. I felt like a hypocrite. Here, for the past 5 years, I had shunned him, and did everything I could to demonize him in my mind and now I must eulogize him. I stood up to speak and I broke. The tears of personal shame over my inability to show Christian love to a brother in Christ who had fallen into homosexuality overwhelmed my heart. Eventually, I found my composure and did the best I could to speak for the word of God to a room of friends, family members and some of his gay companions who were in attendance.
I have learned a lot since that difficult experience 4 years ago. A lot about my own phobias and insecurities and a lot more about God’s love and grace. For me, the topic of homosexuality in the church is more than just a hot button, stimulating and controversial issue. For me homosexuality in the church has a face and a name. He was my friend and I missed the chance to minister to him in the time when he needed it most.
I think there are two great mistakes that we as Christians make when it comes to dealing with homosexuals. First is the mistake of compromise. The Bible is very clear on the fact that homosexuality is a sin. Passages like Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:24-27, 1 Corinthians 1:6:9 and Jude 7 paint a very vivid and clear picture of the Bible’s undeniable condemnation of all sexual perversion, including homosexuality. We must proclaim the truth of God’s word and declare that homosexuality, like all other sexual sin is wrong. But, I believe the other mistake we often make is that fact that we lack compassion. We have failed in our love toward homosexuals by condemning the sinner along with the sin. The Bible is replete with passages that tells us that God loves sinners and backsliders and we all better thank the Lord that he does, because if he didn’t none of us would be saved.
So the question I would like to deal with over the next several weeks is how to we minister to homosexuals in a way that is both uncompromising but yet compassionate. Stay tuned.