So the disciples set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere. Luke 9:6
Christian friend, when I say the word Evangelist, what comes to your mind?
Maybe a super-slick, smooth-talking, pulpit-pounding cable access star?
Perhaps a wild-eyed, bullhorn-yielding, street corner preacher?
A wise, grandfatherly, religious elder statesman, like the Reverend Billy Graham?
All would perfectly acceptable answers, but I’m willing to bet that there’s one person, who usually doesn’t make your list, and he or she bears a curiously strong resemblance to the reflection in your bathroom vanity every morning.
The word evangelist, means “one who brings the good news”, and it’s very closely tied to the word Gospel, which itself means, “good news”.
When we talk about the message, the mission, and the purpose of Christ, the word Gospel is usually at the center of our conversation, and it in fact, refers to the very center of it all. The heart of the Christian faith, is the good news of Jesus, and the primary call upon the faithful, is to be living billboards, walking commercials for this goodness.
So the message of Jesus, and those who carry that message, it turns out, are as close as a breath… your breath.
The mistake most church folk make, is thinking that evangelism, is solely the job of a “professional Christian”; someone on paid staff at a church, the guy or gal delivering a sermon from a platform on a Sunday morning, or the religious celebrity with the radio show, book credits, and blog ministry.
Maybe it’s because they simply don’t think that evangelizing is any of their business; that they’re unqualified and ill-equipped for such a lofty, world-altering task.
Maybe they, like most of us, see the work of God, as something done by other, more religious, more virtuous people.
Or maybe, just maybe, in pleading ignorance, they can comfortably avoid the inconvenient, messy, costly part of their job description as Christians.
Whatever the reason, the beautiful truth, is that this “bringing of good news”, is the required response of anyone who has good news to give; the clear calling on all who come to know Christ; to evangelize the world in His name.
And the really “good news” for you? You’re already an evangelist.
I know, because I’ve read your profile page.
Every single day, dozens, maybe hundreds of times a day, you loudly, clearly, and repeatedly bring the world the good news; of your favorite team, the restaurant you love, the gym where you workout, the concert you went to last night, a great cheesecake you made.
You evangelize for the weight loss program that redefined your waistline, the new novel that is blowing your mind, the resort where you spent a peaceful retreat, the political party you proudly patronize, or the latest episode of your favorite zombie romp, (complete with spoilers).
You even sometimes go as far, as bringing the social media world the good news of the church you attend; the services, the message, the music, and the pastor whose wisdom and anointing continually astound you.
(Preach, preacher).
I have no doubt at all, that our churches are jam packed with evangelists; passionate, bold, unwavering heralds to their culture, of what they have seen and experienced as life-giving, joy-inducing, path-adjusting truth.
I’m just not seeing Jesus make the cut all that often.
It’s hard to say why we’re all so free and with so many other Gospels; of entertainment, of politics, of celebrity; how fully invested and quick to share we are with those things, yet when it comes to the “goodest” news we supposedly have, we suddenly clam up.
One of the greatest excuses we Christians give for not sharing our faith, is that we don’t want to offend; we don’t want to push our beliefs on other nonbelievers. That sounds rather kindhearted, until you consider that none of us seem to care about offending anyone with our political endorsements, music choices, spending habits, bathing suit pics, or social activities.
If I’ve had a gloriously delicious calzone, I share the news almost involuntarily with my entire community, because I want that religious gastronomic experience for everyone.
If my new personal trainer has successfully beaten said calzone from my body, I share that too. I care for my friends’ waistlines as well.
If the song streaming on my favorite band’s website, is positively impacting the shaking of my personal booty, I tell people about it, so that they can dance too.
I would never consider sharing any of these things offensive. I would consider them gifts to people I care for.
I think the real reason so many professed believers evangelize almost everything but Jesus, is because we’re not quite sure we really believe. When it comes to God, we haven’t totally experienced the meal, or the workout, or the song yet.
The early church became a radical, explosive, revolutionary, viral community, because people were compelled to speak. Evangelism was the bi-product of a life, changed.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the writers what we know of as The Gospels, the four biographies of Jesus found in the Bible, shared two things relentlessly; the reality of Jesus; the truth about who He was, and their personal experience of Him and what He had done in their lives.
The Apostle Paul, carried the same doubly good news of Jesus, his identity and reality, and Paul’s relationship with that reality.
The greatest mistake a Christian can make, is to undervalue their story; to withhold telling the world what they have seen and heard, and know.
You don’t need a TV show, or a pulpit, or a crusade ministry to evangelize.
You just need God, and the guts to speak.
There is a Gospel according to you; some good news that only you can share, an experience with Christ that is once-in-history.
Tell somebody.
