On April 5, the Presbytery of the James hosted a conference on evangelism. I found it a thought-provoking experience.

Evangelism is a word that makes a lot of Presbyterians squirm. We have a big need for evangelism, however, whether we like the word or not. As a denomination, we are losing members. So we must think how we can reclaim evangelism. It is our lifeblood as well as the core mission of the church.

Conference attendees offered many definitions of evangelism. One struck me by its simplicity and clarity. Evangelism, this person said, is “telling good news joyfully.” Only four words. Yet each conveys an essential ingredient in authentic evangelism.

First, the word “telling.”

In Romans 10:14 (NRSV),  Paul asks: But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?

Telling the message of Christianity is an essential ingredient in inviting others to join us in Christian discipleship. But public preaching is not the only way to tell. Christians need to reclaim an understanding of evangelism as personal sharing between two people in conversation, friends talking with friends, co-workers over lunch, parents with children.

In these situations, effective evangelism does not begin with Christians asserting the initiative, but with Christians responding to a question another person asks.

The conversation may start with a friend asking, “Why do you make it habit to attend church every Sunday when there are so many other things to do on a Sunday morning?” Or it may start with a child asking, “Daddy, why do we say prayer before we eat?”

These “why” questions open the door to share the gospel. That’s the pattern in Acts 2. On Pentecost Day, the Lord pours out the Holy Spirit on his disciples. They begin to tell the mighty deeds of God. By-standers ask, “What does this mean?” Peter responds by preaching his Pentecost sermon.

Telling is an important part of evangelism, but we need to be sensitive to our audience. Have we been invited to tell our story or are we forcing ourselves on others against their wishes?

The second essential ingredient is those two words, “good news.” At the heart of the gospel is the idea that it is a message that makes people excited and hopeful. We can’t help sharing the news because it’s so good.

The Christian gospel tells of something exciting and good that has happened in our world and in our own lives as a result of what God has done on our behalf through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

D.T. Niles described evangelism vividly as one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. In evangelism, we share what we’ve experienced in the Christian life that has made a difference in how we think of God, how we feel about ourselves, and how we live our lives.

No one, however, will be able to share the good news of the Christian gospel if they do not experience it as good news for themselves. For too many Christians, the Christian life is all about grim duty, guilt feelings, and a deadening of the spirit. Who is excited about sharing something as negative as that? This is why I believe a lot of Christians today need to discover the gospel as good news for themselves before they can evangelize others.

The third essential ingredient in the definition is the word “joyfully.” This word says the spirit in which we tell the good news equals in importance what we say.

Think of how a spouse or a child may hear something we say as criticism even though we did not mean it that way. “But it’s what the tone of your voice communicated,” they say.

There may be times when it is appropriate to evangelize by preaching hellfire and brimstone, but I have come to feel that ought to be the exception rather than the rule. The spirit of fear works against the spirit of good news that the gospel conveys.

The word “joyfully” also indicates the absolute necessity that our behavior backs up our preaching. In advertising, it’s a principle that a good ad can get a shopper to walk into a store and buy the product. But if the product does not live up to its billing, the customer will not buy again.

The same is true in evangelism. Our evangelistic efforts may draw visitors into our church, but if what they experience is something negative and unappealing, they will not be back.

The Barna Group last year issued a report that the reputation of Christianity among young people in America, ages 16 to 29, has taken a sharp turn downwards. When asked to describe Christians, American youth used terms like judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, and too involved in politics. One frequent complaint was that “Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus.”1

When I hear comments like that, I feel we are paying the price for the contentious way Christians have participated in politics over the last 30 years. Too often we have communicated to the public that Christianity is all about opposition to sex, abortion, and homosexuality. When we narrow down Christianity to an obsession with only these things, we communicate that Christianity is all about negativity, not about living life abundantly.

When Christians fail to live out a lifestyle that reflects the spirit of Jesus, we show the gospel has — after all — made no difference in the way we live, unless we are humble enough to admit openly that we fall short.

So, how can Presbyterians do evangelism in an authentic way? By telling good news joyfully, keeping in mind that before we can share the good news, we must be good news. To paraphrase a line from the TV show “Mission Impossible,” that is our mission as a church, if we choose to accept it.

Gordon Lindsey is pastor of Scottsville Church in Scottsville, Va., and a part-time staff associate with the Presbytery of the James.

1“A New Generation Expresses its Skepticism and Frustration with Christianity,” an update on a report issued by The Barna Group. Published on September 24, 2007 on the group’s website (www.barna.org).

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