5 Misunderstandings People Encounter when Sharing the Gospel
Billion.Global ("5 Misunderstandings People Encounter when Sharing the Gospel")
Billion.Global is a network of more than 160 global ministry partners with a passion to reach one billion people with the Gospel by 2026.
I grew up in a Christian home filled with the love of Jesus. During my hard times, I ran to Jesus for comfort and rest. He is the only person I trust to keep me anchored while I go through life and even saying that, I had not shared the Gospel with a single person until I entered college, even though I knew how life-changing it would be. When I entered college, I was mentored and shown how wrong I was when I thought about evangelizing.
Five main things were holding me back:
I must be perfect.
It is often understood that if you don’t share the Gospel perfectly, you have somehow failed, but that is not the case. The Christ message is still the same whether you slip up a little or not. So long as you were speaking the truth out of love it doesn’t matter if you messed up a little. Part of the beauty of sharing the Gospel is that it is relational. People will understand and possibly empathize with you.
Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
I must convert people right then and there.
The Great Commission stated in Matthew 28:16-20 does not say that every single person you encounter will convert just upon hearing the good news. Everyone’s spiritual journey is different. Your job is to plant seeds. If you plant a seed in someone’s heart, you have done your job. It is God’s job to turn someone from their sin. It could be much later in that person’s life that the seed you plant could be watered and sprouted. Seeing someone come to Christ is a blessing but sometimes you may not see your fruit. Pray for that person and continue with life in Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
I must have all the answers.
One of the things keeping so many Christians from sharing the Gospel is fearing that the person you are sharing with will ask a question to which you don’t have the answer. It is perfectly okay to say that you don’t know and you can get back to them with the answer later. If you have shared the Gospel with love then everything else is like earning bonus points. Once again, it could also be someone else who may come around and water the seed that you had planted.
Proverbs 16:1 The plans of the heart belong to man but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
"When I entered college, I was mentored and shown how wrong I was when I thought about evangelizing."
I must have an “amazing” testimony to evangelize.
There are those of us in the faith who have been blessed with having faith all our lives. It is these same people, as well as many others, who can feel less equipped to share the Gospel because they compare themselves to other people in the faith. Your experience is just as important as any other person. Any testimony is about Jesus’ ministry and what he has done in your life. A testimony is not a competition.
John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
I don’t have to share… someone else will do it.
How many times have you not shared the Gospel with your friend or family member, because you believed someone else would do it? You may let feelings of inadequacy keep you back. The problem is, that the other person may be thinking you will do it. You are equipped to share, just the same as they are. Don’t be a mere bystander in a person’s eternity, you have the power, through Jesus, to change lives.
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
Now, you know the truth. Go out in prayer and bring forth new brothers and sisters in Christ.
This article originally appeared in the Billion.Global blog and is reposted here by permission.