Becoming a Contagious Christian by Bill Hybels; Mark Mittelberg

Author:Bill Hybels; Mark Mittelberg
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Evangelism, Christian Ministry, Christian Life, Evangelistic Work, Religion, Inspirational, Discipleship
ISBN: 9780310210085
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 1994-11-20T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

FINDING THE APPROACH THAT FITS YOU

This was the end. He’d written off personal evangelism and was ready to invest his time and energy elsewhere. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in it anymore. He knew it was important, biblical, and the only hope for helping people find Christ. Clearly, it was something somebody ought to be doing. But not him. Not anymore.

What had soured my friend’s attitude toward spreading the faith? He’d had a heavy dose of reaching out in ways that didn’t fit him.

You see, he’d signed up for a summer-long tour of duty helping a church with evangelism. He loved that church, enjoyed the people he was partnering with, and became enthralled with some of the conversations he had with spiritual seekers along the way. The problem, however, had to do with the approach that their group employed.

The primary way they tried to spread the message was through a direct, cold-contact, knock-at-the-door-and-talk-fast-before-they-close-it methodology. They also handed out church invitations and gospel pamphlets to individuals on the street—people who often made it clear they weren’t interested.

At the end of their eight-week effort, the only person who had received Christ was the brother of a woman from the church. His name was Tony, and they’d met at a dinner at Tony’s sister’s home. He and my friend hit it off naturally, and through the friendship that developed, the gospel was communicated and a commitment was made.

When summer ended and my friend returned home, he was thankful he had signed up but was glad it was over. Evangelism, he concluded, is for people with a certain kind of personality and temperament, a kind he clearly didn’t have.

Ironically, a year later we hired him at Willow Creek Community Church to direct our evangelism ministries, a role he filled for many years. I’m talking about Mark Mittelberg, the coauthor of this book. His life’s passion is leading people to Christ and teaching others how to do the same.

What happened during that year? What did Mark discover that caused such a change in his attitude? He learned at one of our church services that he could be effective in spreading the message of Jesus Christ without trying to fit into someone else’s mold. He found out he could be himself.

MENACING MISCONCEPTIONS

After spending many years helping seekers come to faith, I’ve been fascinated to find that one of the biggest barriers to effective outreach is the problem of misconceptions. And that’s true on both sides of the evangelism equation.

On the seeker side, the misguided ideas people have about God’s character and His church preclude them from making an open and honest spiritual search. Their inaccurate image of God and what serving Him would be like pushes them away from Him.

But when people’s mistaken notions of God’s nature are replaced by an accurate understanding of His grace-filled and compassionate heart, they become much more open to trusting Christ. And when they discover the acceptance, joy, and purpose that come from being part of a biblically functioning body of believers, they’ll be drawn in even further.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.