Dear BA Family,
Life’s Big Questions, Guest Sundays and Just Looking are right round the corner. As with our Good Friday and Christmas gatherings, these are great seasonal platforms to be doing evangelism as a church family.
But I need to be really upfront here. I’ve always found evangelism challenging. No two conversations are the same. No amount of preparation ever suffices. And then there’s the point of utter helplessness as we introduce who Jesus is and what he came to do, completely dependent on God for another to be interested, understand, and believe.
So I’m thankful for our 1 Timothy bible studies that helped us see that God’s church is to hold out and live out the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I’m also grateful for our John sermon series. In John 5:24, Jesus says:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Evangelism is hard because we are trying to reach corpses. We all start in death and condemnation. But God has made evangelism possible, hasn’t he? For it is those who hear the Creator’s words and believe him, who cross over to eternal life. And those of us who evangelise are really armed with God’s life-giving words, words so desperately needed in a dark and dying world.
Knowing these things is a tremendous encouragement for me to pray and persevere in evangelism, in seasonal events and in my relationships. And I pray that this will be the same for you.
Your brother-in-Christ,
Randy