He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”.
(Mark 16:15)
Background
Jesus had risen. And had reappeared to the Eleven. His message before being taken up to heaven would be his last direct conversation with them. It was important. Surely the disciples would ponder these last words. These words included the instruction to go into the world and preach the gospel. They obeyed.
Reflections
Sharing our faith is a critical activity of discipleship. It extends the good news. It expands the kingdom both in this life and the next. Sharing the hope of the good news offers freedom to the enslaved. Peace for the stressed. Joy to the depressed. Healing for the hurt. And eternal life. And yet…it may also be less practiced than any other spiritual activity in the western church today. Why?
The George Barna research group commissioned a study in 2017 entitled “Survey: Christians are not spreading the gospel”. The study found that only two out of every five Christ followers even believe they should share Christ with others.
Given the expansive power of this discipline, it would only be natural that the enemy would spend some of his best creative energies to subtly deceive us:
- Evangelism is really best communicated by our pastor or by speakers in large Christian conference settings…”pastors and high profile speakers are so much more eloquent in sharing faith than you”
- Evangelism should be the principle responsibility of those gifted in that area…”that isn’t your gift – let others focus here”
- We may not have sufficient theological training to answer tough questions…“It is likely that you will be asked a faith question you won’t have the answer to”
- It is sufficient for us to exclusively model our faith by our actions…”modeling a faith based life silently is more than enough”
- Our personal relationships could be strained and perceived to “be pushy” if we more actively shared our faith…”your relationship could be fractured if faith talks are introduced”
The benefits of accepting the good news is enormous. And yet the whispers are powerful. Many of us have come to believe the lie.
Each one of us have a unique faith story. How this Jesus relationship has reshaped our life. It is this unique voice that personalizes the message for our friend or family member. It is possible that our experiences and story were uniquely shaped to convey this message more clearly than any other means to the person God placed in our lives.
It is time to ignore the lie.
Lord, many of us have delegated evangelism and sharing the good news to others in authority, including our pastors. You know this was never your vision. Break the lies and the whispers. Let us live lives that move beyond just being a good example …silently. Let us catch a vision for the stakes here. Please move in all of our hearts. Amen.
What if each of us prayerfully shared our story and faith journey at least once on a monthly basis?
What if our individual life experiences and hurts were crafted to better connect and share the good news with that person You placed in our life than any other possible means?
What if... 