It may not be a word that strikes fear into the hearts of Episcopalians, but it sure is not a practice that has caught on among most of us. I mean you couldn’t exactly say that there’s been anything like an evangelism craze in the Episcopal Church. Maybe that’s because most of us don’t know either precisely what it is or who’s supposed to do it.
Of course it might just be that we have some wrong impressions about Evangelism.- Evangelism is not making people think you’re crazy by yelling religious slogans at them as they pass by.
- Evangelism is not alienating people by trapping them in a religious conversation and then trying to convince them that they’re bad.
- Evangelism is not browbeating people to get them to believe in hell and that they’re going there unless they do what you tell them to do.
- Evangelism is not coming across to people in holier-than-thou ways.
- Evangelism is not bullying people to prove that they’re wrong and you’re right.
- Evangelism is not offending people by telling them that you’re praying for their salvation.
- Evangelism is not just for specialists in the field like Billy Graham.
I can say that those approaches are not evangelism because the word itself means sharing good news, and the aforementioned are hardly good news let alone ways of sharing it. So what is evangelism?
- Evangelism is every Christian person’s responsibility and privilege.
- Evangelism is passing on good news.
- Evangelism is privately praying for God to help people draw closer.
- Evangelism is inviting people you know to go to church or fellowship events with you.
- Evangelism is loving others by helping them out when you can.
- Evangelism is letting people in on what you believe – very humbly.
- Evangelism is communicating God’s love for people what you’ve experienced of Christ and the Spirit in ways that are natural and appropriate.
Eastertide – the season nestled between Easter Day and the Feast of Pentecost – is the perfect time to think about evangelism because it’s a good-news season. Christ’s resurrection shows that this life isn’t all there is, and God’s gift of the Spirit shows that God cares enough not to leave us alone in the meantime.
There’s good news to hear and good news to share. Think about it.
Faithfully in Christ,
Phil +