Easy Evangelism
Personal Bible study with prayer is the evangelism of the internal mission field within ourselves. Readying us for Christ’s return and readying us to be able to reach out to the external mission field.
Where does our external mission field begin? It begins at the furtherest part of our nose.
Where does our external mission field end? It ends at the furtherest parts of the earth.
So this creates a challenge. How can we reach such a vast mission field that extends from the tip of my nose to the ends of the earth?
I would like to be able to tell you, “Don’t worry, you don’t have to”.
Well, like the comment made by the person who called me a wit, that’s only half right.
Yes, ‘don’t worry’; no, ‘we do have a responsibility to do our part in the mission field allotted to us’. So why did I title today’s blog entry ‘Easy Evangelism’?
Because there are some easy things that we can all do to fulfil our mission calling.
Think for a moment the extent of our mission territory. Picture, if you will, a pebble dropped into the centre of a lake, creating concentric ripples in an ever widening circle. Think of ourselves as placed by God in the centre of our mission field. Each of those circles around us represent a part of our ring of influence. Those ripples closest to us represent our immediate family. As we touch them for God and for good, their influence will multiply ours. Beyond that are our neighbours, acquaintances, friends, fellow students, work colleagues, and strangers, etc. These nearby rings can be touched by our hands and voices, and I’m sure that most of us do this already.
Between the first few rings and the outer-reaches of the pond are those we can touch by other means.
The most important, by far, is touching them through prayer. Of course we pray for those in the first and second circles, and we can not only pray for those in this wider circle, but also for those personally ministering for the Lord to them. Remember, that they are not only doing mission on the Lord’s behalf, they are doing mission on our behalf as well, because we cannot personally and physically go to every part of the globe. Space precludes the opportunity to share how prayer can instantly change a circumstance – who knows how different it may have been had we not prayed? And in another instance, who knows how much better a circumstance may have been if we had only prayed for someone when their name came into our thoughts?
We can touch those living and working in our wider circle though the power of the pen (or computer). Letters and emails can be used to touch hearts where feet cannot go. Receiving a personal letter sent with a postage stamp and a prayer can enable someone to see your smile without seeing your face. A thoughtfully chosen seasonal card or gift can make something special of those occasions. Emails, (not just forwarding gushy spam), written personally to encourage and inspire can do something that just thinking about them cannot do. It can reassure them that someone cares and that they are in your prayers. Isolated missionaries need that contact, and something as simple as an email can make all the difference. Remember too their children in your prayers and correspondence. Whenever you write to missionaries abroad, invite them to supply you with topics for special mention in prayer or specific needs that you can lobby for in your own community.
And finally we can touch the outer reaches of our wider circle though the power of giving. Weekly offerings to help prepare a people for mission and at the end of each quarter of the year we can give a special offering to focus our giving to missions.
