Monday, February 09, 2009

A Love Hate Relationship with Evangelism

Living and Discipling among the Lost


"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
(Luke 19:10)

And He *said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
(Matthew 4:19)


Why do Navigators train laborer’s to live and disciple among the lost? Quite simply, to bring the lost to Christ. Whether it’s a neighbor, co-worker, or an acquaintance on an airplane, living and discipling among the lost should ultimately produce the fruit of more followers of Jesus Christ. And unless you are a monk, you probably are associating with those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ on a daily basis. The objective is not to learn how to get around lost people. The objective is to learn how to win them to Christ.

So why would you listen to me? You are probably like me and want to witness to others but have experienced much fear and pain in the process. And like me, you probably have a love hate relationship with evangelism. I’ve done cold turkey evangelism, door to door, church visitation, crusades, friendship evangelism. You name it, I’ve tried it. You and I don’t need to be convinced that we should share our faith. The guilt that we live with after the “Holy Spirit Promptings” provides ample proof of that. We want to be fishers of men but when we try, it comes off all wrong and our would be converts look at us like we’re some kind of religious nut job. Been there, done that, got the bloody t-shirt.

But, quite frankly, in the past few years, I’ve been more fruitful than ever and I’d like to pass some the things I’ve learned on to you. I hope this series brings a little relief but more importantly much more effectiveness to your evangelistic efforts. I’m not sure sharing Christ will ever be easy but it would be more encouraging to see a little more yield for our labor. So let’s get started with this new series on “Living and Discipling among the Lost.”

By the way, my editors are out of town. So if this is painful, you really need to thank my wife, Deb and mother-in-law, Bonnie and pray for their safe and speedy return!

A Love Hate Relationship with Evangelism
LOST - They are not on an Island!
Evangelism: Methods or Majesty
Reaching the Far Lost, How would Jesus do it?
The Near Lost - Low Hanging Fruit
A Strategy for the Near Lost
Inside Out Witnessing
The Shocking Reality - Cold Contacts
Do Not Feed the Lost?
Leaders: Do the Math
A Summary of the Living and Discipling Among the Lost


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