How to Evangelize the Unchurched

In this episode, I talk about how to evangelize the unchurched in a simple and effective way. I also encourage listeners that they can begin right away in participating in the mission of God to reach the unchurched. 

Transcript

In today's episode, we are going to talk about How to evangelize.

This is one of those issues that people can often make so complicated; either because they don’t really know what evangelism is or because of the evangelism methods we have previously heard of and think that it has to be done a certain way.   

In my generation we grew up watching the Billy Graham crusades so some of us think that is how it is supposed to be done. Or, one of the most popular methods of evangelism was to take out tracks, pass them out to people and explain the gospel in the step-by-step process. There are so many ways, but one example is the Romans road method. Basically it’s a step by step process using scripture that explains how to be saved. 

I’ve tried all of those things but first I want to make very clear; that whatever way God wants you to use, then use it! There doesn’t have to be just one way, but there CAN be a more simple way. 

A lot of things have changed over the years in our culture. What worked 20 years ago, might not work today.  Ways that worked back in Bible times might not work today. I think that’s one of the mistakes we sometimes make….we read about Peter or Paul preaching in front of crowds in the Bible and think that is what we have to do. I have tried that and I’ve seen people try. You might think, it’s in the Bible, so I am just going to get on a microphone and spread the gospel message that way and hope that people respond. But when I tried it or saw others try it, I rarely ever saw fruit from it. 

We have to realize that most people in America are not necessarily spiritual people. There are two things that you don’t talk about in America and that is religion and politics. Back in Bible times, preaching and teaching on the street was common practice because most people were religious. Back then it wasn’t a matter of, Is there a God? It was a matter of, what god? Today the questions is most definitely, “is there a God?”

Today, I’m going to share how I do it. It works for me but something else might be a better fit for you. 

So let’s just say I’m out on the streets, at a grocery store, or even a baseball game…I’m not going over to every person trying to share the gospel. The goal in my mind and my prayer is for God to connect me with hungry people, people who are ready and wanting to connect with God.

Throughout the New Testament, there are stories where people are obviously ready to hear and they’re hungry for God. It is clear that Jesus has prepared these people to hear His message. 

For example; Lydia's Conversion (Acts 16:11-15): Lydia, a wealthy merchant, hears Paul's message by the riverside in Philippi. “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. “, and she and her household are baptized.

In John 6:44, Jesus says, “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them. If we take this approach, then we don’t have to feel the pressure that we need to talk people into something.  My job is to simply ask God to connect me with the people the Father is drawing. To connect me with the hungry people. I just need to love them, build a relationship with them, and start up spiritual conversations. When I do this, sometimes I can quickly see if they are hungry or not and if they are not then I can move on and that’s ok. Of course sometimes, I cannot tell right away and it takes time and relationship. But the point is, God is doing the work, it is God who changes someone’s heart. Your job is to simply listen to Jesus, go out and spread his message, make disciples, and God will do the rest. This really takes the pressure off of you and that should be a great feeling.  

When I talk about having a spiritual conversation, it is just showing that you’re a spiritual person or that you love God. It doesn’t have to be presenting a gospel message. For example, someone may ask me what I do for a living. I might say, I run a nonprofit and I love to teach people about God.  Or for you it might be; “I am a lawyer, and I love to teach people about God.” That might sound awkward but right there you’re showing that you are a spiritual person. That person knows that you are someone who takes their relationship with God very seriously and can teach them about God. Often times right there you can immediately tell by their response if they are open. Again it might sound awkward, but if we believe God is putting prepared people in front of us everyday, then they will respond. But if we are fearful or worried about what people think about us, then we lose that opportunity to share. We have to remember it’s the most important message in the world. 

Another great way to find out if people are hungry, is by asking questions about their life. I have gotten to the point that I can get into a conversation with anyone and just by asking questions about their life, get into a spiritual conversation. By listening to their answers to my questions, I know when to jump in and share about my life or my testimony. When you start asking questions, they will start sharing with you personal things or things they struggle with and that gives you an opportunity to share.  

If that open door comes, I’m not going to start by sharing the whole gospel message or trying to explain the Bible in two minutes because they are most likely not going to fully understand. I’m just looking for a hungry person to build a relationship with and give them an opportunity to learn about God. 

What that means for me is, I am looking for the opportunity to start a Bible study with them, with their family or their friends. We will get more into this in another episode, but it’s really important to not just try to have a one on one Bible study. Always attempt to include family members or friends. For one, you will have the opportunity to reach more people, and two this will lesson the chance that that person will be rejected by their family, especially if they are from another culture or religion. This is a real reality in other cultures.

You can ask people to start a bible study by saying something like, “Would you be interested in learning about God through the Bible with me?” If they say yes, then you could say “would you know anyone in your life who would like to join us?” Again if they are from another culture or religion, I would straight up ask them if any of their family members would like to join. 

All in all, it is kind of a skill set to learn and I promise if you practice this, over time it will become easier. God will connect you with people and you will have the great joy of getting to help people learn about God. 

So why I am trying to start a bible study with people? For me, it has been by far the most effective way to evangelize. For one, I don’t have to do the evangelizing, I let the Bible and the Holy Spirit do it in a way they can learn and at their pace. 

I get this concept out of John 6. This time in verse 45. Jesus says,  “Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.” 

So basically, Jesus is telling us right there, that those who learn from Him, come to Him. How do they learn from Him? Through the Word of God and through His Holy Spirit. I am confident, when I get someone into a bible study, that they are going to come to Christ. It doesn’t happen every time, but most times it does. 

The issue is, most of us don’t even think about asking people to start a Bible study. It doesn’t even cross our mind. 

First because we are just not sharing with people at all, or because we haven’t been taught to ask people to start a bible study. You’d be surprised, that if you found an open person; just by asking the question “would you be open to learning about God in the Bible?”..how many people are going to say Yes. But we don’t think to ask that question. Think about how many people we are passing through the day that would be open to studying the Bible and learning about Jesus, but we don’t ever ask. 

I do want to say this, I definitely pass up opportunities when I’m not in the mood and I am always trying to do better. If I don’t start out the day with the mindset that Jesus wants to use me and spread his message then I’m not going to do it, so it is important to start off the day like that and be looking for opportunities.

Occasionally  after meeting people one time, we have started bible studies, but often times you need to build a relationship with that person first. This is the easiest way to start a bible study. You hear a lot of people say it’s all about relationship and relationship is indeed very powerful. Because when you build a relationship, they see that you’re loving them and that builds trust. When you establish a true friendship and when you eventually ask if they want to study the Bible, why would they say no? They are more likely to say no if you don’t have a relationship and you are pushing too fast. 

This is something that many of us don’t think about; but if we share too fast or get into Gospel presentation, you actually might be hurting your opportunity to share about Jesus because you’ve offended them or annoyed them.  Sometimes we can get so passionate about sharing Jesus and get so aggressive, that we are actually turning people off. 

When you’re sharing… be normal. Be relatable. Try not to freak them out. That doesn’t mean I don’t pray for people or don’t share the gospel, but just try to share in a normal and relatable way if that makes sense.  

Here is an example if you are someone who does street outreach or your church does street outreach.

We were working in a lower income community, walking around just saying hi to people; loving people; and telling people that we’re here to pray for people. I remember one day we met a guy. We just talked with him and encouraged him. We Told him what we were doing and the next minute we were in his apartment and it turns out he was former gang member. We ended up getting to start a bible study with him and his wife which led to a long term discipleship process. God had clearly prepared him.

At that same apartment complex, we started a Bible study with a drug addict who ended up inviting his friends to the Bible study. Again, simply by loving people, befriending them, and asking them if they wanted to start a bible study.

Here is an example of doing this in my normal everyday life. This just happened to me recently at a baseball game. It wasn’t at an outreach. It is just an example of letting God use me in normal everyday situations. I got into a conversation with someone and we talked for most of the game. I sensed God might be doing something, so I just asked questions about his life and jumped in when I felt it was the right time. I shared about what I did for a living, and that immediately got his attention and the next thing out of his mouth was that he had just started reading the Bible for the first time in a really long time. Again I showed him I was a spiritual person and that opened up the door to have a spiritual conversation. It’s early, but we are just starting this relationship and we are talking about reading the gospels. We will see where it goes, but I am really excited about it. Im excited about every open door!

So let me challenge you to try this in your everyday life. It could be at a game, the store, your workplace, or wherever. 

Let’s say you’re in your workplace.  You already have relationships with those people. Show them you are a spiritual person and just ask if they would be interested in studying the Bible with you. I promise that this will open the doors and you will just be amazed at how easy it can be. You will be so excited because you are reaching people, helping others learn about Jesus, and discipling them..And all you did was ask them a simple question, “do you want to study the Bible with me?” 

This process can happen anywhere. We just need to believe that God wants to use us and He wants to reach all people more than we know. Believe it and look for those who God has prepared. 

Think about what would happen if we all started one bible study. That would be a lot of bible studies! Above all else, it is getting to participate in the great joy of spreading the message of the gospel that He calls and invites us all into. 

If you have any questions, you can contact us through our website at lovingallpeoples.com. Thanks for the listen everyone. This is the Loving All Peoples Podcast.