The Great Commission calls us to “go and make disciples of all men, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)
I used to find this the most intimidating thing and would panic for fear of not knowing what to say or how to do it. You might look at people and think ‘woah, they are so good at evangelising!’ That was always me. My Dad used to talk to everyone about faith. If you left him for longer than 5 minutes unattended in a public place, then you could guarantee he would have found someone to talk to and he would bring Jesus into their conversation. I was envious, I would just freeze and couldn’t bring myself to bring it up.
I’m still not great at it, but in this past year I worked with a very different group of people than I have ever worked with or even met. Each had a different story, different lifestyle and different idea about Christianity. In the beginning I couldn’t even contemplate how I would bring Jesus to this place, but God knew and through prayer and time I brought Jesus into my everyday conversation and these people are one of my favourite groups of people, ones that I love being in the company of and pray for constantly. And most recently I got the joy of buying one of them a bible and watching to see how Jesus might work in him.
Maybe you are going to uni, starting a new job, moving schools or just have a friendship group that has unbelievers in it. So for this I want to share a few tips of how you can bring Jesus to those people without being pushy or annoying.
- Move to the immoral...in Luke 5, Jesus calls Levi (Matthew) to follow him and then he went and feasted with tax collectors and sinners of all sorts. He didn’t call Levi and then move as far away from the unbelievers as possible.
- Don’t focus on what’s wrong with others...we can so easily want to point out the sin in people’s lives and show them where they need Jesus to change them but that’s unlikely to work. Form relationships, make friends, be different, show them a different way of life, don’t criticise them.
- Go where the people go...you might not want to go to a bar, a club, the local bingo hall, but if it’s where they are comfortable then GO. Jesus said that the well did not need a doctor, it was the sick that needed one, so he went to the sick.
- Don’t always be intense...chill out with people, have a party, go for coffee, go hiking, chat about life. You don’t always have to be quoting scripture.
- Most importantly, display grace and truth in the everyday...be light, be Jesus to those people. Live your life to glorify God and allow people to see Jesus in you.tell your story, share your struggles and you’re hopes, that’s the Jesus we want to see. It’s not easy, but thankfully we have a great God on our side... “and surely I a, with you always, to the very end of the age,” (Matt 28:20).
So friends, go be Jesus in a world that desperately needs him and ENJOY those friendships.
By Bethany McDowell
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