#25 - Evangelism in My Experience 2 – Invite, But Be Ready to Personally Share

I grew up in a nominal Buddhist home, by which I mean my parents observed Buddhist traditions as their families had for generations but they didn’t know nor teach (Praise God!) my brother and I anything about Buddhism. (This is just as many Christians church-goers observe Christmas and Easter but have never clearly heard the gospel.) And so, throughout my life, I was never exposed to what it means to be a Christian nor did I have any Christian friends who could be an example of someone living for Christ

Then, during my semester of student-teaching in college, a student colleague began stuffing Four Spiritual Law tracts in my pocket every time he saw me. He would simply say, “You gotta read that” before dashing away. I remember going home and simply tossing the tracts in my desk drawer. Well, on my last day student- teaching, the guy pulls up to me on his motorcycle and says, “You’ve gotta come to the university this Friday night to hear my cousin give the message at a student meeting.” Well, that Friday night, I was driving to a high school football game when I suddenly found myself turning the wheel of the car and headed instead towards the university and ended up at the Christian student meeting. (Since I had no intention of going to that meeting, I’ve always believed that God somehow took control of that car and had me drive to that meeting. I have no other way to explain it.)

At that meeting, I enjoyed the music and the message was okay but it was all a bit over-the-top for me with my background. Fortunately, as I was enjoying refreshments afterwards, a student approached me and took the time to read through with me that same booklet that I had multiple copies of at home. When he asked me after a few minutes whether I would like to have Christ in my life or outside my life (the choice presented in the booklet), I saw my choice clearly and said, “Yes, I would like to have Him in my life.”

Lessons to Remember:
1)Unlike the guy who merely kept sticking tracts in my pocket, don’t just give a tract to someone. Do everything you can to sit down and go through it with him/her. Assure them at the start that it will take no more than 10 minutes and you’ll be likely to get an affirmative answer.
2)Of course, you should invite people to Christian outreach events. But as with the tracts (above), offer to personally escort the person you are inviting to the event. In that way, you are most likely to be sure the person attends the meeting BUT ALSO it assures that the person will not feel alone at the meeting and will have someone they can easily ask questions of afterwards.
3) Be sure not to rely on the person giving the message at the Christian event to have clearly communicated the gospel. Many people – such as myself – respond more often to someone PERSONALLY sharing the gospel with them than to a speaker’s invitation. Even if they do say they prayed with the speaker, going through the gospel personally with the individual will confirm that they truly understood what they prayed. (Too often, people who SAY they prayed to receive Christ do not truly understand what they have done.)

IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T YET DONE SO, YOU MIGHT CONSIDER:
1) Gathering with friends and parents and have a PRAYERWALK at your school. See my Post #10:
http://stan4youth.blogspot.com/2009/08/10-inviting-god-to-your-school.html
2) PRAYING FOR THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN YOUR CLASSES. See my Post #12:
http://stan4youth.blogspot.com/2009/08/12-back-to-school-challenges.html