Great post.

Here’s someone not mucking around when it comes to sharing Jesus -
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/31/2861385.htm
Nice one Glenn Stevens.

<i>The hard bit is introducing yourself to your neighbour and opening your mouth…</i>

Not to put to fine a point on it, but you usually need…a point of contact. A reason to be talking to that person in the first place.

For a few years, our church would go out every year for door-knocking. The brief in the early years was “just try and have a gospel conversation”. But we found very few people willing to talk.

Having a reason to be on the doorstep (“We’d like to give you this book”, or “Here’s our business card” or “Here’s a sheet with the activities we run”) led to many more conversations - and some of those turned into something deeper.

Is ‘love’ presented in the Bible as necessary for effective evangelism?

If so, that has implications for how we relate to people we seek to present the claims of Christ to…

I guess I need to be a little clearer on the ‘point of contact’. Often this is discussed as if there is some kind of connection between ‘gospel’ and ‘receptor culture’ to be found that will unlock what we might call ‘gospel success’. If we miss the connection, we will be doomed to what we might call ‘gospel failure’. If I can grab the energy behind Craig and Peter and Mikey’s comments, hopefully without distorting their point, what they have put their finger on is that the real ‘point of contact’ is one person encountering another (in love) and offering them the good news. that is, it is not some theoretical cultural connection, but the real-world connection of one human being engaging with another as the proclamation gets going in that just-begun relationship. In this human encounter, the gospel word can then be set loose and its power begins.

Helpful clarification Peter -

I agree that the pressure to ‘connect’ and be ‘relevant’ makes many of us feel unable to simply witness to those around us.

There are other factors which contribute to the problem - in the UK there is the very real fear of legal prosecution for causing offence - but it is undoubtedly true that our attempts to train people in evangelism have sometimes actually disempowered them.

I’ve read this article a couple of times now and thankful for the comments of others and Peter your clarification. I do agree that we are timid in declaring the truth of Jesus, and we wimp out of many amazing opportunities got gives us.

Neverthelss, I really think ‘point of contact’ / pre evangelism has its place. 

We got to also remember that the gospel be getting preached week in week out in our weekend services… evangelism is happening more than we think

If we make sure the gospel preaching remains core business, then much of the pre-evangelism acts to compliment not compete.

I think many like the concept of ‘pre-evangelism’ very attractive (and I speak from self-condemning personal experience) because it means less risk for me that the person won’t like me, will contradict me and ask a question I won’t be able to answer, will mock me or persecute me, or will win me over to their point of view.

In other words, pre-evangelism is much more fun and doesn’t really require that I lose my life for the sake of Jesus and his gospel. It means that in reporting back, I can talk more about what I did than what God did. I can make it all about me, me and me. Preaching the cross can only be about Jesus, because the cross revels preacher and listener alike to be sinners.

I think if there is such a thing as authentic ‘Pre-evangelism’, it really is everything else that we do & say that isn’t explicitly talking about Jesus. Most of it is unconscious, and is our lifestyle and attitude as salt and light that cause people, when they see our ‘good works’ in the context of hearing the Gospel, to praise our Father in heaven instead of praising us.

A cup of cold water on its own will make them praise me for being a good, kind person (and may even inspire them to be nice to someone else). A cup of cold water in Jesus’ name (ie. in the context of a proclamation of the Gospel) will make them praise the Father because only His grace could transform a sinner like me to want to give someone else a cup of water while telling them the greatest news the world has ever heard.