Is Evangelism a Spiritual Gift?
If you could change anything about yourself to make you more effective in evangelism, what would you change? I’ve asked this question to many people, over many years, in many different places. Typically people will say: “I wish I were bolder.”, “I wish I knew how to answer questions better.”, “I wish I was more outgoing.” It’s pretty easy to come up with a list of things about ourselves that make us unqualified to do evangelism. But imagine the early disciples reasoning in the same manner: “Listen guys, Phillip really seems like a people-person. Let’s have him do the reaching out.” or “Bartholomew seems to be smart and pretty persuasive. Let’s get him to do the evangelism.” That would be preposterous. Why? Because all the disciples were busy proclaiming the gospel (Acts 8:1-4)! From the very beginning, becoming a follower of Christ always included becoming a “fisher of men” (Mark 1:17). It was a job not just for the outgoing, not just for the socially gifted, but for everybody.
Here’s another way of looking at it. Have you ever heard a Christian say, “I’m not gifted in prayer - I’ll leave it to those who are really spiritual.” or “I’m not gifted in reading the Bible - I’ll leave that to the intellectuals.”? You’ve probably never heard this because these statements would sound ridiculous coming from a true Christian. But here is a statement that I have heard many true Christians make: “I’m not gifted in evangelism - I’ll just leave it to those who are more outgoing.” Although I understand the feeling, I think that statement is as off base as the others.
Many Christians think they don’t have the “gift of evangelism” so they regularly opt out of it. Sadly, the mindset of “it’s-not-my-gift” has kept innumerable laborers from entering the harvest field. But the Bible never mentions the gift of evangelism. Rather, it mentions the gift of the “evangelist,” a church leader given “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:11-12), in this case, the work of evangelism.
Christians don’t need to be uniquely gifted to evangelize; rather, we need to be equipped! Evangelism is not a gift given to some, it’s a command given to all. One of our main callings as followers of Christ is to help others become followers of Christ. Many of us have misfiled evangelism in the spiritual gift drawer when it needs to be filed in the spiritual discipline drawer. It’s not reserved for those who are outgoing, any more than Bible study is reserved for those who are studious.
When we make this correction in our minds, we see that we should seek to grow and be accountable in evangelism just as we are in other spiritual disciplines. Accountability is one of the key tools that God uses to help us grow. We are accountable in areas that are important to us - areas like quiet times, purity, scripture memory, etc. But we are rarely accountable in the area of evangelism. My community group has tried to make this adjustment by talking about reaching out. We will periodically go around the room and talk about who we are reaching out to or if we have had an opportunity to connect with someone who doesn’t know the Lord. It’s always motivating to hear the stories, and it’s also a reminder that God wants to use us. It’s not that we don’t desire to reach people for Christ - that isn’t the issue (at least not in my community group). It’s just that it can be hard to make it a priority and fit it into our busy schedules. Accountability is what makes the difference. We recognize that evangelism is something we’re all called to participate in and we need each other to help us get there.
I have often thought about my church and how it is filled with wonderful, fun-loving, hospitable, enjoyable people. What has stumped me over the years is how to get this fun-loving bunch connected with unbelieving men and women. I believe that encouraging each other in the context of small groups can help. We won’t all have the same passion or effectiveness when it comes to reaching unbelievers. But we can all grow. And by God’s grace, He will use each of us, with our personal strengths and weaknesses and our specific personalities, to tell people about the glorious gospel of Christ.