Personal evangelism – Sharing the message of Jesus Christ with others

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Evangelism is a topic that is just as relevant and urgent today as it was in its origins. The "Good News" is the message of salvation that Jesus Christ brought into this world. He himself initiated the greatest salvation operation in human history, which is described in God's Word with the well-known words: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Jesus leads the way – will you follow?

The dynamic of this rescue operation lies in the willingness to take the first steps. Jesus took the first step by leaving the glory of the Father and becoming human. His subsequent steps were to prove and make this message a reality through his life, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. What all this cost him, we read in the Bible.

The dynamism of the first steps taken by His followers, all their ingenuity, and the efforts they were willing to make, keeps evangelism going to this day. Over time, it has expanded ever further, reaching every continent. Today, there is probably hardly a country where the "Good News" has not yet penetrated by various means and where the divine work of salvation is not underway. But God always remains the one who takes the first step. Through His Holy Spirit, He makes a person willing to be saved.

However, He entrusted the explanation of the path to salvation to His children, that is, to us, dear reader of this Stephanus magazine. It is also God who places love for humanity in our hearts, so that we may share this brilliant message with those who have not yet heard of it. Now it is up to us to respond .

To make this step easier for us, and to provide us with concrete ideas and resources, this section on "Evangelism" was created. It is intended to encourage us to support evangelism and to practice it in our daily lives.

God is always the one who takes the first step. Through His Holy Spirit, He makes a person willing to be saved.

A burning heart for lost souls

The passion to win souls for Christ is very weak among Christians today. The majority of Christendom feels no responsibility whatsoever for the salvation of their fellow human beings. They are not yet aware that they are their brother's keeper.

The ultimate goal of all their efforts is the salvation of their own souls. What if we firmly believed that there is a heaven and a hell , that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is the only one who can save us from the coming judgment?

I once read a book in which a well-known atheist made the following statement: “If I were religious, I would truly and wholeheartedly, with complete conviction and consistency, believe that the understanding and practice of my faith in this life influences the fate of another life; faith in Jesus would mean everything to me—absolutely everything. I would dismiss earthly pleasures as worthless junk. Earthly ambition would be, in my eyes, foolishness, earthly thoughts and feelings nothing but trivialities.”

My first thoughts in the morning would be for the Lord, and likewise in the evening when sleep overtakes me. I would no longer work for food that spoils, nor for all the treasures of the earth, but only for a crown of victory in heaven, whose treasures and joy would lie far beyond the realm of time and chance in this world.

I would think only of the dawn of eternity. To win a single soul for heaven, that would be worth a lifetime of suffering to me. Neither worldly pride nor calculation would change my mind.

I would talk to the invisible God, rekindle my feelings, and begin to rave about Him! The earth, with its joys and sorrows, would not occupy my thoughts for a single moment.

All of this is then only a tiny piece of eternity – so small that no words could describe its insignificance.

I would only look towards eternity and the lost souls around me, those who would soon, very soon, be lost forever, or forever happy. Then I would go and preach to the world, in season or out of season, the following text: 'What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?'

The unbelieving author has unknowingly presented Jesus Christ's philosophy of life. Read it again and discover how accurately these words reflect Jesus's attitude toward the world and eternity. His life was perfectly aligned with his belief in the eternal damnation of lost souls. Do we share this understanding of Christ? Is our attitude toward this life and eternity as the unbeliever described it?

But we have the mind of Christ

John Harper, a preacher from London who went down with the Titanic, is a fitting example of how the urge to win souls can triumph even in the face of imminent death, and how the spirit of Christ can dwell bodily within a person.

At a conference, a man once stood up and gave the following testimony: “Four years ago, when I left England aboard the Titanic, I was a reckless, godless sinner. In this state of mind, I was caught off guard by the terrible disaster that night. Soon after, I found myself, along with hundreds of others, desperately thrashing about in the cold, dark waters of the Atlantic. I managed to grab hold of something and clung to it in mortal fear. The cries of the drowning and the commotion all around were still ringing in my ears when a wave carried a man close to me who also seemed to be clinging to something. He called out to me, ‘Is your soul saved?’ I answered, ‘No!’ He shouted across, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved!’”

For a few minutes, we were swept apart again. Then he cried out again, “Is your soul saved?” My answer: “I’m afraid not!” His next cry was a heartfelt plea: “If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, your soul will be saved!” And once more, we were separated by the rolling waves. I heard him shouting his message to others before they sank into the water and slipped into eternity. At that moment, there, with nearly 4,000 meters of water beneath me, I cried out to Christ for salvation in my despair. I trusted Him and was saved. A few minutes later, I heard the man of God cry out, “I’m going under! I’m going under! No, I’m going up!” That man was John Harper.

Such a testimony does not leave us unmoved. He was a man of God who, as a conqueror of souls, went to his death for Jesus and, in his last breath, called sinners to repentance. This conqueror of souls found joy in leading people to Jesus; it was his life's work, and he experienced a special sense of happiness when he succeeded.

Charles H. Spurgeon once said: “Even if I were extremely selfish and cared about nothing but my own happiness, if it were God’s will, I would choose the ministry of soul-winner; for never have I experienced a more perfect, overflowing, inexpressible happiness than the day I first learned that a person had sought and found the Savior with my assistance. No young mother rejoices more over her firstborn child! No soldier shouts louder at a hard-won victory.”

And I can only agree. I experienced this myself when I personally shared the message of Jesus with people and they converted and began a new life in God's grace. I saw them, like little children, discovering the new world through faith and taking their first steps in faith. It is a true joy that surpasses anything this world can offer us. And that is precisely my topic: "Personal Evangelism" in everyday life.

For a soul can only come to faith in the Lord when it hears the gospel of salvation.

Personal evangelism

Personal evangelism means joyfully sharing the message of Jesus Christ with others. It involves demonstrating and proclaiming, in word and deed, who Jesus is and how to build a relationship with Him. For only when a soul hears the gospel of salvation can it come to faith in the Lord. Many everyday encounters offer opportunities to share something about Jesus with others or to recount our own experiences with Him. “But it is true that one can call on the Lord by believing in Him, and one can believe in Him by hearing about Him, and one can hear about Him by hearing about Him” (Romans 10:14).

Our greatest example is Jesus himself , who preached in the synagogues and the temple. He proclaimed the gospel to large crowds from hills or from a boat, and they marveled at the authority with which he taught. Jesus, the apostles, and the first Christians also had numerous personal conversations about the gospel with other people. We want to learn from their examples for our ministry.

When Jesus intended to travel to Galilee, He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me!” (John 1:43). Jesus didn't waste time looking for a suitable way to start the conversation, He didn't look for a way to package His message in an interesting way, but He got straight to the heart of His matter. The result of the conversation was that Philip not only decided to follow Jesus, but also shortly afterward brought Nathanael to Jesus.

Jesus took a completely different approach in his conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Here, he chose an indirect way to begin the conversation. He started by asking her for a favor: "Give me a drink!" (John 4:7). The woman was pleasantly surprised by this request, because Jews did not normally associate with Samaritans. Jesus gained even more attention when he shifted the focus to the "living water" (cf. John 4:10).

The topic of water was closely connected to the Samaritan woman's everyday life. Therefore, she was immediately interested in the subject Jesus was speaking about. With Nicodemus, Jesus engaged in a conversation on a more theological level (cf. John 3:1-21). As a Pharisee and teacher in Israel, he was well-versed in Scripture. Therefore, Jesus spoke with him at length about the theme of "being born again." He pointed to His crucifixion, which He compared to Moses raising up the serpent in the desert, and to the purpose of His coming into this world: "That whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Have you ever noticed that most of the harvest our Lord brought in during His earthly ministry consisted of fruits he had gathered himself? Seven of the apostles, and perhaps the other four as well, were won over by Him because He personally sought each one of them. The Gospels of Matthew and John mention several personal conversations about this.

There is surely a reason why the Master considers personal evangelism so important. And in this, as in all other things, He is our example. Christ was a master at winning souls . Because He knew what was in the human being He had created (cf. John 2:25), and because He understood the workings of the human spirit, His methods of reaching people from all walks of life are highly insightful and important for His followers. Let us now learn some of His lessons!

In the School of Jesus

Jesus was not class-conscious , for He spoke with the ruling class, for example with the rich young man and with Nicodemus. He spoke with people of the middle class, such as Zacchaeus, and he did not refuse to speak with those outcasts of society, such as the woman from Samaria. Thus, He was willing to give His best to everyone.

He showed no respect for the person.

I once learned an important lesson from the Lord when the Holy Spirit urged me to tell one of my colleagues about Jesus. I resisted and refused because her bad behavior was very noticeable. She had many tattoos, was very outspoken, and could embarrass anyone in front of other colleagues. Like Jonah, I wanted to shirk this difficult task.

My prayer went something like this: “Lord, this soul is really difficult and isn’t ready to hear the Gospel at all. I’ll pray for her, now please give me another soul to whom I can proclaim the Good News.” But the Lord wouldn’t allow me to shirk this task and kept speaking to me. My prayer changed, and I said, “Okay, I’ll do it, but please give me the opportunity to speak with her alone.”

And the Lord gave me the opportunity to speak with this local woman. I met her in a break room at our company and asked her if she had a Bible. To my surprise, she replied, “I have a Bible at home, but I haven’t read it in a long time. Many years ago, when I went to Sunday school and youth group, I used to read it. But when I drifted away from the faith and grew fonder of this world, I stopped reading the Bible.”

I was amazed when she told me how a neighbor girl had invited her to Sunday school, and she stayed even though none of her close friends or family attended church. In that blessed conversation, I was able to encourage her to return to church and tell her that God loves her especially because He had sent me to tell her all of this. You can imagine the joy I felt at that moment, knowing I had done God's will.

Jesus approached people tactfully . He often began with a topic that captured general attention and only then moved on to spiritual matters. His question to the leper was, "Do you want to be healed?" Naturally, the man was ardently interested. He met Nicodemus where he was in his questions when he spoke to him about the Kingdom of God. He first led the conversation with the Samaritan woman about the well water, and then spoke about the living water. He only told the fisherman Peter that he wanted him to be a fisher of men after he had shown interest in his profession.

Jesus preferred to offer praise rather than condemnation. Honest praise is one of the quickest paths to a person's heart. Our Lord surely discovered many flaws in Nathanael's character, yet He praised him at the beginning of their conversation for being without guile. Presumably, such an opening is the best way to break down prejudices. Harsh condemnation always repels and closes hearts to further engagement.

Jesus illustrated His teachings with simple parables from the everyday lives of His listeners . Jesus refused to get drawn into fruitless discussions. A contentious scribe expected an answer from Him to the pointed question, "Who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29). But Jesus disarmed him with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The questioner then ran out of counterarguments (cf. Luke 10:30-37). In this way, the Lord avoided straying from the main point into trivialities.

Jesus wept and prayed for the salvation of mankind and was convinced that He would reap with joy if He sowed with tears.

The Importance of Prayer

We observe, therefore, that Jesus spoke with all kinds of people. Regardless of their culture, gender, or social standing, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated—He found the right way to connect with everyone. Why was this? Because Jesus always lived in intimate communion with the Father in heaven, as we saw in the previous text. If our Lord wept over lost souls and prayed for them, then His servants are also called to do the same. Prayer must be a central concern for Christians, because the salvation of a soul is not a human work—it is God's work. Only through prayer can the power of God be "released." The prayer of the soul-winner should first encompass himself and then be directed toward those he wishes to win for Christ.

First, pray for fearless resolve to speak of Christ whenever the opportunity arises. In a world that has crucified Christ, speaking of Christ will never be easy. For some, the fear of man is an almost insurmountable barrier.

Do we lack courage? Then let us act as the disciples did – they prayed! “Listen now, Lord, to their threats against us, and help us, your servants, to proclaim your word without fear or hesitation. [...] They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to proclaim the word of God boldly and without hesitation” (Acts 4:29-31). After prayer, we will be able to do what we never could have done before.

Then pray for God to guide you to the right people you should approach and that God will give you an opportunity to preach. Approaching everyone indiscriminately and without inspiration and guidance from the Holy Spirit can lead to painful experiences for both parties. Without a doubt, God doesn't expect us to approach everyone we meet, although He does expect us to be willing to do so.

The case of the evangelist Philip is a typical example of this (cf. Acts 8:26). In our daily lives, we encounter various souls who are not yet ready to hear the Gospel. If we make it a habit to constantly look for guidance from the Lord, He will guide us with His eyes, knowing when to speak and when to remain silent. He will give us the right word at the right time. God has given us the Holy Spirit, who will remind us of the right Scripture passage. Let us trust that He will do so, for “He will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26).

Of course, we also pray for the people to whom we proclaim the gospel. We pray that all indifference and hostility may disappear and that their hearts may fully surrender to the message of salvation, that the soil of their hearts may be prepared for the seed, and that their souls may be freed from the power of Satan. And this is precisely where the real battle of prayer begins! When we are united with our Lord in prayer, it is important to keep our eyes and ears open so as not to miss the opportunity to proclaim the gospel to someone. “Be wise in your dealings with outsiders. Whenever you have an opportunity to share your faith, make the most of it” (Colossians 4:5).

Our path is often strewn with opportunities, yet most of them go unrecognized and unused: opportunities in the church community or among colleagues, while traveling, whether by bus, train, plane, or streetcar. D.L. Moody, a 19th-century American revivalist preacher, made it his life's mission to approach people on streetcars. It is recounted that when he once again asked a fellow passenger, "Are you a Christian?", the man replied, "No, sir, but I wish I were." During the ride, Moody led this man to Christ.

Your personal sphere of influence

But opportunities can also be found close to home—right here in our own backyard. My wife once admired the missionaries who traveled to Africa to preach the gospel through humanitarian aid and wished she could join them, until the Holy Spirit made it clear to her that Africa was right there with her. She took on the task of sharing the gospel with our children. And God showed her other callings, souls who were seeking God to be saved from their loneliness and inner turmoil.

Don't you also have such opportunities? Do you take advantage of the countless opportunities to be together? Even on all these occasions, we shouldn't forget that the first task of a doctor in every case of illness is to make a correct diagnosis in order to then prescribe the right medicine. It's the same with a physician of the soul. He first examines the inner state of the patient.

Initially, the conversations may be general in nature, delving into details later. Who am I dealing with—a steadfast or weary Christian, someone far from the gospel, a deceiver, a misguided person, a hardened person, a doubter, a person in need? This can only be discerned through careful questioning in conversation, and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can ultimately proclaim the gospel. 2 Kings 5:1-5 recounts how a servant girl brought salvation to the house of a Syrian general. She confidently proclaimed to her enemies that there was a prophet in Israel who had a special relationship with the living God and was able to heal the general of an incurable illness.

The result was that this sick man was not only healed, but also allowed God into his life. And an indescribable joy entered that house because a girl had made it her mission to tell lost souls about a God who has the power to forgive sins. How glorious are God's ways for every soul that is led from darkness to the wondrous light of grace.

In personal evangelism, it is important to understand that our task is to sow the seed and water it with prayer. The Holy Spirit's role is to convict and convert. And all of this happens in love for lost people. When we, as messengers, are gripped by the passion of Christ and have recognized the value of the soul, we will personally go forth to proclaim the gospel with authority, just as our Master did.

The value of a soul

“I believe that if an angel flew back from Earth to Heaven and told them that down below there was a poor boy dressed in rags who had no father or mother, no one to care for him and show him the way to eternal life – and if God then asked who among them would be willing to fly down to this Earth for fifty years to lead this one to Jesus – every angel in Heaven would go voluntarily.”

Even Gabriel, standing in the presence of the Almighty, would say: “Allow me to leave my high and exalted position so that I may share in the exceedingly great happiness of leading a soul to Christ. There is no greater honor than to be an instrument in God’s hand, leading a soul from the realm of Satan into the glorious light of heaven.” – DL Moody

Vitali Müller,

Municipality of Friesoythe

Unless otherwise stated, Bible passages are taken from the NGÜ translation.