Life is short, and you're surrounded by people who need to discover Jesus before it's too late. God wants you to help rescue them from spiritual death.
Here are some ways you can throw people a spiritual lifeline:
- Ask God to motivate you. Pray for God to give you a sense of urgency for evangelism and genuine compassion for your friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, and others with whom you interact on a regular basis.
- Don't worry about feeling inadequate to reach people effectively. Trust that God will help you. Rely on God's power rather than your own.
- Be willing to make sacrifices. Decide that your rescue mission is worth whatever it costs. Prepare to give time and energy and endure suffering if necessary to help people find Jesus. Remember that God will reward you in heaven for your service on earth.
- Be proactive about building meaningful relationships with people. Look for needs people have that you can meet through acts of kindness, take time to support them during bad times and celebrate with them during good times, show genuine interest in their lives by asking them questions and listening to them, and pray with them.
- Pray for natural opportunities to share the Gospel message with people. Then be on the alert for them as you go through each day. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you courage and the right words to say, and to prepare people's hearts to positively receive what you say.
- Prepare your testimony of how you began a relationship with Jesus and how He has worked in your life. Share parts of your testimony at appropriate times when it relates to what people you know are currently experiencing in their own lives.
- Invite people to attend church events with you. But before doing that, meet them where they are so you're already a part of their world before you ask them to enter yours.
- Pray against evil in people's lives that is confusing them and holding them in bondage.
- Avoid religious jargon when talking to people about faith. Remember that some people today have never read the Bible or stepped inside a church; never assume that people know what Christian terms mean. Use language anyone can relate to when describing the Gospel message (for example, rather than saying "sin," you could say "running your own life").
- Keep your focus on Jesus. Emphasize that the Gospel about Jesus seeking a love relationship with people, not Christianity as a religious system recruiting adherents. Remember that Christianity is unique in that it focuses on what God does for people out of love rather than people trying to earn merit with God through laws and rituals.
Adapted from Called to Greatness: Becoming a Lifeline for Those Who Need Hope, copyright 2001 by Ron Hutchcraft. Published by Moody Press, Chicago, Ill., www.moody.edu, 1-800-678-6928.
Ron Hutchcraft is a thirty-year veteran of student and family work, and is president of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries. His present ministries include conducting city wide evangelistic outreaches; hosting radio programs; and speaking to adults, young people, and various organizations around the world. He is the author of several books.
Do you feel a sense of urgency to reach people with the Gospel? Why or why not? If not, how do you think you could break out of complacency? Have you helped rescue a spiritually dying person before? If so, how did God help you, and how has that person's life been transformed? Visit Crosswalk's forums to discuss this topic by clicking on the link below.