by Evan Mackey

Evangelism, at times, can have a mystique or an aura that can intimidate us and keep us from sharing the good news with the lost. Evangelism, at its simplest, is the act of sharing what God has done in your life (testimony) and sharing what God has done in history (the Gospel). This year Evangelism for Bethany Place is broken into two parts—Strategic and Intentionally Relational.

The first part is strategic because we want to follow and be obedient to Ephesians 4:12. In that passage the leaders of the church are commanded to “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” We will strive to obey this fully by equipping the church to have tools, and the confidence to share their faith with those God puts in their lives. There have been many different methods and ways espoused in recent history on how to share the Gospel. Your deacons and elders have found the “3-circles” tool to be the most compelling and most understandable, and we will continue to encourage and train in the utilization of this tool. The great news is that although having a tool helps share the Gospel, it is not necessary for the actual act of sharing the Gospel. All you need in order to share the Gospel is to love Christ because of what he has done in your life, love the lost, and desire to have them have the same relationship with Christ as you. If you are worried or lack the confidence to share with unbelievers, let me encourage you to pray and seek God while reading and meditating through 1 John 4 and see how you can grow in your love for Christ so that your love for Him drives out your fear of “them.” We will also be strategic by providing opportunities to go with your church leaders and share the Gospel in the church’s surrounding neighborhoods so that you can see it modeled and have opportunities to practice with the church family around you.

This leads to the next part of how we view Evangelism this year. We want to encourage everyone to be intentionally relational in their Evangelism. The lessons you learn and experience you gain by sharing around Bethany Place, we want you to take with you to your local neighborhood, restaurants, gyms, clubs, and anywhere else you spend time. See, Evangelism is not only core to our beliefs as Baptists and essential to our work at Bethany Place, but also, it is central to our identity as Disciples of Jesus. Anywhere we go, the Gospel goes too, and we need to make sure that we are sharing the Gospel that lives in us with those that live around us. So let me encourage everyone at Bethany Place to be intentionally relational everywhere they go and in everything they do. Start offering to pray for your waiters and waitresses at restaurants, front-desk workers at gyms, and hospital nurses. Let your children and grandchildren know you prayed for them during your devotional time. Take walks in the evening when others are taking walks and start conversations with them. I encourage you to start somewhere, with something, with someone. It boils down to “Love God, Love People,” in that order. We must let the Love of God and the Love for God propel us in our Loving of People.  

I’m looking forward to our bright future at Bethany Place. We need to remember that, more likely than not, the lost will need to be in our homes and see Christ in our hearts before they consider taking one step in the church building. People will need to see Christ in us before seeing their need for Christ in themselves.