Evangelism was the topic at the Kanakuk Institute this week.
If you are anything like me, then your first thought when you hear the word "evangelism" is a old video clip of a guy spewing the gospel message in a Huey P. Long campaign speech type technique.
Those video clips are much more fun to watch than they are to listen to.
For the generation of which I am a part of, these types of speeches are not as relevant as they were in years past.
There are tons of different types of evangelism these days. Some methods that we looked at in class are the 4 Spiritual Laws, the Roman Road, passing out tracts, open-air preaching, the Bridge method, Soularium, and relational evangelism.
I don't think it's necessary for me to talk about what each one of these things is. You can Google them if you're interested.
We also talked about the "gift of evangelism" this week. The speaker asked who had the gift, and me and about 3 other people raised our hands. The Bible talks about evangelism specifically in a few different spots. The word "evangelism" means to proclaim good news.
I don't think that I just naturally have a gifting that lends itself to me proclaiming good news. I'm not going to be the first guy on anyone's list to speak to a large group of people. I'm not a smiler or a joke teller and all that. I am so glad that there are other people who have that skill set.
So why would I raise my hand?
From what I've read in the Bible and my experiences so far in life, I think that everyone in the room should have said their hands.
Some people do have gifts that allow them to have a platform for proclaiming good news, but I think everyone who has experienced salvation through Jesus Christ has the gift of evangelism.
The gift of eternal life, the gift of being in right relationship with God, the gift of salvation. Those are things that every child of God has the privilege to share with other people whether those other people are also believers or non-believers.
Proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ is a choice. With that said, there is a right choice and a wrong choice.
