Evangelism, Is it a scary word?

Evangelism is defined as “the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness.”

There are so many words that will strike fear in the human heart. You know the kind, the kind that completely takes your breath away, and stops your heart. For a split second, you don’t know what your next move is. It’s crippling. You yourself might even be plagued with one or two on the list. Let’s dive in and take a look at some fears that people have, some rational, and others not so rational. Then we’ll zero in on the one that many believers are handicapped with that ultimately stunts their growth.

You all remember the film from 1990, Arachnophobia? There I was, a budding teenager, thanking my lucky stars that my parents finally allowed me to watch a PG-13 movie. It was a film about a deadly spider that made it’s way into the U. S. and wreaked havoc on a small California farm. Not only did it wreak havoc on the family that starred in the film, but it dangerously effected the way many people viewed spiders from then on out. Suddenly, a large viewing audience now suffers from arachnophobia when the day before, they were hunky dory. This fear was introduced to them in their minds (let’s put a pin in this, and come back to it later) . (Honestly though, I get it. Spiders are creepy!) 

What about some other fears? Acrophobia, the fear of heights, that’s a good one. What about Claustrophobia, the fear of tight spaces. I think we’ve all dealt with that at some point. Then there’s silly ones like Bananaphobia. You guessed it, the fear of bananas! We can all laugh at that, but what about Glossophobia. Oh, never heard of that one, eh? So strange that no one has heard of it, yet MANY, and I do mean many, people have it unknowingly. Dare I say that even you might suffer from it? So, raise your hand if you like public speaking in front of crowds of people. Anyone? Anyone? I hear nothing but the crickets. This is something that I want to hone in on, because not only do ‘WE’  suffer from this fear, but as followers of Jesus, the lost are the ones who are truly suffering. It is because of our unsubstantiated fear, that they are the ones that are lost, and losing out on hearing the greatest story ever told. 

Earlier, I defined the word evangelism as the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching, or personal witness. I think so many of us don’t even get to the last part of that sentence where it says such a simple phrase, ‘personal witness’. We all get too caught up in the scary part where it tells us that you must spread the good news by publicly preaching. Once most people read that part, they shut down, fear takes over, and the result is paralyzing. Remember when I said that a huge audience was perfectly normal one day, then after the thought of being fearful of something was introduced to them, they all of the sudden took on the symptoms of having arachnophobia, the fear of spiders? Imagine the enemy, using this very same tactic. He has before him, a large audience, and he introduces the thought of something fearful, and just like that, you were manipulated by the enemy. Fear of failure, anxiety, panic attacks, they are birthed from a thought, planted by the enemy to stop the spreading of the gospel. What if I told you, that controlling your fear was as simple as taking those thoughts captive. 

2 Corinthians 10:5 leaves no room for argument. Listen to it from the Message, it’s clear, “The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.” 

Whoa. That’s heavy stuff. If we want a life shaped by Christ, we MUST fit every loose thought, emotion and impulse into the framework of the Word of God. That leaves no room for fear. It says that as believers, we use our God-given tools (our giftings, and abilities) to tear down anything that is not in line with the truth of God. The fact might be that you are terrified of public speaking, but the truth is that God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.
 (2 Timothy 1:7).

I believe it’s long over due, that we take a stand against the enemy, and declare over ourselves that we will not let fear rule us. The enemy has manipulated our thoughts, and used fear to imprison us, to put an end to evangelism. Well, I say, “No more!”. I will not let the enemy imprison me any longer, rather, I choose now to imprison those thoughts, and by faith I will believe that everything the enemy meant for harm, God will cause it to all work together for good  and because of that, I will boldly spread the gospel, not only by living a godly life for others to witness, but I will proclaim the Good News from anywhere He asks me to. Whether it be in front of thousands, or just a handful. For you, this might seem like an impossible task. Let me remind you of what Jesus said to his very own disciples in Matthew 19:26, “You have no chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourselves, but you have every chance in the world if you trust God to do it, with Him, ALL things are possible.”