When is the last time you were in a special class or
training session designed to help you with personal evangelism? My general observation in different
congregations has been that there is a focused effort at a certain point—perhaps
around the time of a gospel meeting—but that there may not be enough ongoing
effort by Christians to reach the lost in their communities.
A common misperception among some is that it’s “the
preacher’s job” to make the congregation grow. No, it’s every member’s responsibility to share the message of salvation
with his or her own unique, personal contacts—people whom the preacher might
never meet or get a chance to talk to! Paul advised the young preacher Timothy to teach faithful Christians in
such a way so they could, in turn, lead others to Christ (2 Timothy 2:2). We should all share the spirit of Andrew and
Philip, who were so excited about finding the Messiah that they brought their
brothers to Jesus (John 1:41, 45).
I’d like to mention here some strategies that we as women in
the church can use to reach out to others every day, wherever we are. When I think about sharing my faith with
people I meet, my mind takes me back to an evening in December of 1994, when I
was on a train returning to my home in Dimitrovgrad,
Bulgaria, where I had been working for several months as an English
teacher. Earlier on that Sunday, I had
been in the capital city of Sofia
to meet with the Christians for worship, and I was making the
four-and-a-half-hour journey back to my small city in the southern part of that
country.
A young woman was sharing my compartment, and we struck up a
“conversation”—a very limited one, considering the few words of Bulgarian I
knew at the time. As I recall, she did
not speak English at all. But she offered
me some of her cookies, and I showed her my family photos. I learned that she was a volleyball player on
some kind of national Bulgarian team, and that her name was Jenetta. We used sign language and drew pictures to
share information with each other. She
left the train at some point, and I traveled on, not suspecting that I would ever
bump into her again.
Not only did I see her on a Sofia-bound train some weeks
later, but I believe we met another time after that! We would always smile and exchange the
pleasantries that I had learned how to say in Bulgarian. One evening, after the train had pulled up in
the central Sofia station, we
disembarked together. We stood in an
underground passageway to the bus terminal—I remember how cold it was that
winter. We must have said good-bye the
traditional way that Bulgarian friends do, with a peck on the cheek, and then I
remember that Jenetta grasped my hand, looking into
my face for a long moment. After she had
turned and walked briskly away, I realized that she had left in my hand a tiny
figurine of Christ on the cross. That
was the last time I ever saw her.
“They spoke the word of God with
boldness.”
Acts 4:31
Jenetta was old enough to have
learned firsthand what normal Bulgarian behavior was during the communist era,
which had ended only about four years prior to our meeting. When I was living there, many people still
acted just as they had under the iron rule of the communists, who had made it
illegal to speak to foreigners, possess foreign currency, or enter a hotel
where foreigners were staying. I learned
that in my city of Dimitrovgrad,
where there was a small, very plain Eastern Orthodox Church building, police were
stationed at the doors on Sundays, intimidating those who dared to attend
services. Some lost jobs or privileges
for being religious. I read that the
Bulgarian government purposely appointed disreputable scoundrels as priests, I
assume in order to undermine any moral authority the Orthodox Church would have
had in people’s lives.
But Jenetta turned her back on
those years of conditioning that caused some to hide their faith, choosing
instead to share hers with a foreigner whom she had decided to trust. With the simple act of giving me her little depiction
of the crucified Christ, she was acting “boldly,” just as the apostles did in
the face of the menacing Sanhedrin (Acts 4). This “stranger on a train” and I didn’t even speak the same language,
but she found a way to profess her faith to me. She will never know how deeply that one act touched me, and how much it
has given me to think about over the years.
By contrast, we live in a country that has for centuries embraced religious freedom. We are allowed unprecedented liberties in
practicing and promoting our spiritual beliefs. Yet, we often shy away from explaining those beliefs to others and
asking them to consider accepting New Testament Christianity. It’s true that Americans are inundated with
information about various religions to the point that many have become
skeptical and will tune out so much of what we try to say. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to
try. Even in the face of indifference,
rejection, or mockery, we should be “bold” in living our faith and trying to teach
others (Matthew 5:16).
“Always be ready to give a
defense to everyone who asks you a reason for
the hope that is in you . . .”
I Peter 3:15
Another lesson I learned from Jenetta
is that I need to be ready to take advantage of teaching opportunities that
come my way. I’ve noticed that some
congregations have produced little cards or brochures that have information
about the church of Christ,
what we stand for, the plan of salvation, where that particular congregation
meets, and at what times. Those cards
and brochures can be particularly useful to women, who can distribute them
wherever we go and to whomever we meet.
I believe that the Sofia
church had such a brochure, written in Bulgarian. If I had been carrying some of those around
during the time I had been meeting Jenetta, perhaps
she would have read and profited spiritually from that information. Do the words of the song, “You Never Mentioned
Him to Me” haunt you, as they do me?
“What man of you, having a
hundred sheep,
if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the
wilderness,
and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?”
Luke 15:4
Harold Comer is a gospel preacher who has researched methods
that help a congregation find and convert those who are seeking the truth. He reports that some people may need to be
invited many, many times before they will actually visit during a worship
service or attend a Bible study in someone’s home. The key to reaching those people is
persistence, as is illustrated by the parables of the lost sheep and coin (Luke
15:1-10).
Do we halfheartedly refer to the church and our beliefs,
almost making light of them to others? Or are we enthusiastic in inviting our contacts to join us for a Bible
study or a worship service? Do we try
again and again to impress others with the importance of spiritual issues, or
do we blend in with the crowd and act as though our beliefs don’t really matter
in our lives? We lead children in the
song, “This Little Light of Mine”—is that just a cute little ditty to pass
the time in Bible class, or are we practicing ourselves what we are teaching
our children?
At the time that my husband and I lived in Budapest,
Hungary, there was a
young Christian by the name of Vanda, a university
student. She has since married and moved
away. During the two years we lived
there, working with the church, Vanda brought several
of her friends to study the Bible with my husband. She had obviously worked hard at cultivating
those contacts in a spiritual direction, and at least two young women obeyed
the gospel in part because of her initial conversations with them (1
Corinthians 3:6-7).
Sisters in Christ, this is a highly effective way to
reach the lost: through personal contact
with them. Vanda
could not preach on street corners, but she could have private conversations
with her friends. She persisted in
trying to influence others for good, and her efforts bore fruit. The Budapest
church is stronger for her having been there.
Paul admonished the Christians in Galatia
that they “not grow weary while doing good, for in due
season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9; cf. 2
Thessalonians 3:13). Let’s try to emulate the spiritually strong
women of the Bible who served Christ and helped lead others to Him. If we act boldly in His name, if we are
prepared to help spread the life-giving word, and if we do not give up the
fight in disgust or despair, we like Paul will gain “the crown of
righteousness” that symbolizes a job well done (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
