Category — Servant Evangelism

Have you ever been dogged by someone that was excited about their faith? I was in the New York City area a while back when I got off a subway overpass in Queens to the sound of some Spanish preaching Pentecostals who were taking turns preaching (yelling loudly more accurately) into a bullhorn. As one finished his turn he turned the mic over to the next with a high five and a chuckle. Those guys were having a good time at what they were doing, but clearly they were not connecting with the crowd. My ears were nearly bleeding! The crowd was trying to ignore them and everyone wished they would unplug themselves and go home. They were overly aggressive and not connecting with the passing crowds. I believe God will use any approach to sharing the Gospel we make available to him, but some approaches are awfully difficult for him to use!

Just below there another church was doing an outreach based on serving. They were washing cars, trucks – even a huge metro garbage truck pulled up to test the sincerity of the team’s faith! (Yes, they passed the test and made it spick and span!) This was a study in contrasts. The group below the overpass was attracting a crowd, bit by bit, little by little, and making an impact one person at a time with no sound reinforcement other than to say, “We are showing Jesus’ love in a practical way…” (There were plenty of conversations that followed those introductory words.)

Before I became a Believer I met an occasional person who was downright excited about Christ – not many of them, but a few along the way. Those people got me thinking about the possibility of following Jesus. It began to occur to me that there was something out there that was worth giving my life for. Positive zeal is powerful and beautiful. Our zeal needs to be a lot like the oath doctors take upon graduation before they treat their first patient: “First, do no harm…!”

It doesn’t take much of an investment to reach out. Something pretty amazing can happen with a small investment. In fact, some of my favorite outreach projects cost virtually nothing. For example, windshield washing is a blast. Do a quality job (don’t leave a streak or you won’t be helping anyone!) and a windshield can be cleaned in less than a minute. I leave a special windshield outreach card on the driver’s side window next to the door handle. A team of 5-6 people can clean a couple of hundred windshields in an hour. Not only does this cost virtually nothing, it noticeably improves the lives of those you serve. By the way, pray for the owners of those cars as go about cleaning. You will be surprised at the specific insights you receive with each car you clean. God will show you how to pray specifically as you move from car to car. That insight is a gift to make you to help you move in both the physical and the spiritual realm.

Don’t do just one project as you launch out. Try several in quick succession. Servant Evangelism is a lot like fishing but the name of the game isn’t just the culture of fishing. We want to do a lot of catching!
Stir things up. Don’t worry about a bit of chaos. Sometimes the Kingdom of God causes a bit of chaos – or what can appear to some to be that way. When one is used to nothing much happening, authentic momentum can seem to be chaos!
Try for several kinds of fish with several approaches to catching. That is, try several approaches to serving. You will discover a few projects that are golden. Try a number of projects in your hunt to find what works best you’re your people and in your part of the community.

All good things happen in God’s timing. When God’s people try to speed up the process of salvation—or slow things down—we get in the way of what the Holy Spirit is doing. Perhaps this is the point of Paul’s comment when he wrote this:
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Gal. 5:25, NIV
We are able to keep in step with the Spirit as we keep a couple of things in mind.
A. God is at work in the life of every single person. He is actively drawing everyone to himself. So why aren’t more coming into relationship with him? There are lots of reasons and maybe that could be the topic of a great series of blogs. Regardless of any reasons, all you need to know is that he is actively drawing everyone to himself. That is a valid assumption that affects the way we do evangelism and outreach. When connecting with not-yet Believers it is good to assume God wants to bring each one to himself.
B. God wants to use you as a bridge to bring others around you into the Kingdom.
C. In light of the above, relax. Allow him to use you. Don’t stress. Pray in faith. He is at work. Your job isn’t to make something happen by your own efforts. Join with what God is already up to. He is already at work. Catch up with him and have some fun.

Making a difference in this life–that’s a topic that is often discussed in literature, the news, or over drinks and dinner. It’s something that many of us aspire to in moments of altruism. It seems like everyone wants to step out of make a difference one way or another, even those people who are far from a relationship with Christ. There is something built into the human psyche that desires to make a difference in this world. Perhaps it’s part of what God has placed in us. Perhaps it’s part of the glowing ember that remains in each of us from our fall in the Garden.
Do you want make a difference? Does your church want to make a difference in your community? Here’s a simple idea that I can guarantee will connect in your city no matter what the unique circumstances you have going on are: provide lots of opportunities to care for the poor.
Jesus promised us that the poor we will always have with us. His statement may seem like a passing comment in the Gospels with little meaning but I see it as much more. He gave us an everlasting promise of employment. No matter where we live the poor are not far away.
The people of your church have an inbuilt, God-given desire to give their lives away to others who will appreciate their gift–to people whose lives will be changed by their gift. That’s the poor we’re talking about. It’s not that difficult folks. Let’s get to it.