Since the gospel first dawned on my heart in 1995, I’ve loved evangelism. Sharing the gospel energizes and excites me still, almost 30 years later. (Wow, I just realized how quickly that time has passed!). During my younger days, I served in student ministries and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Student ministry stoked a fire to reach the lost. A small group of my friends encouraged each other to share our faith daily, striking up conversations with strangers and using gospel tracts wisely.
Fast forward three decades. One of those friends, a pastor today, texted me: Why were we such effective evangelists in college? Or at least so evangelistic?
His questions captured my attention. It was true. We had been unusually evangelistic during those early days of faith and ministry. In some ways, we now feel less zealous. Our memories suggested we might have lost some of the evangelistic fire that once burned in our young hearts.
My friend and I are run-of-the-mill pastors, which tells me this topic resonates with you, my readers. Why do you think our evangelism changes with age? I have my thoughts, and so do you. Let’s see where our notions line up and help us refocus our evangelistic priority.
Here are six reasons we might struggle to maintain our evangelistic focus as the years roll on.
The social and cultural context we live in changes over the years. For example, the prevalence of social media and the internet may have changed the way people communicate and interact with others. This, too, has affected the way we approach evangelism. Or sometimes, our ministry calling moves us to a different community or environment with different attitudes and norms for evangelism. This can give the impression that our evangelism is waning when it’s merely changing. Paul himself knew the challenge of advancing the gospel in a complicated context as he aimed to be all things to all different kinds of people (1 Cor. 9:19-23). That’s not to excuse the times we fail to take the opportunities to evangelize, and we can always be more effective in that way. We can also focus on new and rich opportunities by observing the changing landscape.
Many feel a lack of ability to take advantage of these cultural shifts. Following Paul’s example in Acts 17, we must consider how we can learn to share the gospel effectively in our modern age in light of technology and other factors.
As we go through life, we accumulate experiences that shape our beliefs and attitudes, even of evangelism. Our beliefs about evangelism may have changed because of our experiences, such as encountering different cultures or religions or experiencing personal hardships that have made us question the role of evangelism in our lives.
I think what trade-off we feel in decreased frequency is tempered, at least partly, by increased functional effectiveness (better choice of opportunities, better quality of evangelism). There’s something to be said about that. With a lot of practice, we have gained a little skill at reading the room.
We’re different people today. Life has changed us. At 20, I had a more “puppy-stage” energy, which translated into a motivating energy for evangelism. My young friends and I quoted 1 Peter 3:15 with exuberance and stoked the fires of witnessing by chanting mantras like “Who don’t they know? Jesus!” All those personal or joint motivational campaigns kept the zeal and pressure high. The energy of young pups slowly settles into a calm, measured resolve, which is a necessary part of growing up into the pastors we are today.
As we grow older, our priorities make necessary shifts. At 25, we had more free time to devote to evangelism. At 45, life has introduced other responsibilities and priorities, such as raising a family, counseling church members, and leading the church.
We are forced to make difficult decisions about time and energy. After all, we’re finite creatures with real and meaningful limitations. King David reminds us that we are but dust and limited in strength and span of life (Psalm 103:14-15). Additional priorities (as a husband, father, or even pastor) can push evangelism to the periphery.
As priorities flex, we are still responsible for keeping evangelism on our list. Life change and new demands on our time are not excuses but explanations to help us rightly evaluate our ministry and refocus as needed.
We all know evangelism can be emotionally and spiritually draining, and we may have experienced burnout or fatigue from evangelistic activities.
Looking back over my Christian life, I can see how my evangelism has ebbed and flowed. Like a heart monitor, the fire of sharing my faith spikes up and down, up and down. It’s natural for all of us. But it’s also possible some of us have become discouraged in evangelism. We expected more fruit and less rejection. Many of our evangelism efforts fall flat, and that’s discouraging, leading to decreased motivation to evangelize.
While it’s true that our evangelism rises and falls as a natural effect, we can also pray and work to rekindle the fire we once knew. In my lower moments, reading Spurgeon’s book The Soul Winner has provided the spark I needed, along with many stories of D.L. Moody. You can benefit from these or similar works.
As pastors continue in the Christian life and local church ministry, the Lord works to conform us to the image of Christ. Our theology changes along with our trust in God and many other ways (Eph. 4:13). All these things factor into our evangelism. I was more energetic in my early days of ministry, mainly because I felt a different kind of burden. I thought evangelism was up to me and my ability to persuade. I carry a better burden now that my view of God, myself, and the world has grown. With time, I have matured, leading to a more focused evangelism that relies on God more than before.
We should consider all these changes as we evaluate the rise and fall of our evangelistic practice as pastors. Doing so will shed helpful light on how we need to grow and change even more and how we can be the best evangelistic version of ourselves.
Finally, we must be honest with ourselves. Remaining sin is most to blame, though we are wise to consider a variety of answers to the questions. Our remaining sin certainly holds us back, which has been true since our first day of faith. To hijack a line from a short story by Stephen King, “I believe that there is another man inside of every man, a stranger, a Conniving Man.” We know that the conniving man is the old man of sin who still works in us but on borrowed time (Romans 6:6). Sin’s demise is coming soon, but it still derails us for now (Romans 7:15-20).
Resisting the pull of remaining sin requires continually focusing on our pastoral calling and privilege. We must learn to recognize the remaining sin, refuse its dulling effect, and refocus on our mission to spread the good news.
But remaining sin is just the beginning. I see other reasons my evangelistic life looks different today. Identifying them might help us get back our mojo.
As we age and continue our pastoral calling, we commonly experience a decline in our zeal for evangelism. This decline may be due to sin, changing priorities, burnout, life experiences, and moving into new cultural contexts. To overcome these obstacles, we must recognize the issue and consciously resist the remaining sin, focus on our calling, evaluate our priorities, and be intentional in our evangelistic efforts. Ultimately, we must strive to keep the fire of evangelism burning, seeking God’s help and encouragement from other Christian leaders. How do you, my friend and fellow pastor, need to rekindle your passion for sharing the good news?
Related:
Four Reasons Pastors and Wives Want to Escape Ministry
Overwhelmed by Love to Evangelize
6 Reasons Pastors Should Consider a Sabbatical
The post Staying Strong in Pastoral Evangelism appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...
Fast forward three decades. One of those friends, a pastor today, texted me: Why were we such effective evangelists in college? Or at least so evangelistic?
His questions captured my attention. It was true. We had been unusually evangelistic during those early days of faith and ministry. In some ways, we now feel less zealous. Our memories suggested we might have lost some of the evangelistic fire that once burned in our young hearts.
My friend and I are run-of-the-mill pastors, which tells me this topic resonates with you, my readers. Why do you think our evangelism changes with age? I have my thoughts, and so do you. Let’s see where our notions line up and help us refocus our evangelistic priority.
Here are six reasons we might struggle to maintain our evangelistic focus as the years roll on.
Changing social and cultural contexts
The social and cultural context we live in changes over the years. For example, the prevalence of social media and the internet may have changed the way people communicate and interact with others. This, too, has affected the way we approach evangelism. Or sometimes, our ministry calling moves us to a different community or environment with different attitudes and norms for evangelism. This can give the impression that our evangelism is waning when it’s merely changing. Paul himself knew the challenge of advancing the gospel in a complicated context as he aimed to be all things to all different kinds of people (1 Cor. 9:19-23). That’s not to excuse the times we fail to take the opportunities to evangelize, and we can always be more effective in that way. We can also focus on new and rich opportunities by observing the changing landscape.
Many feel a lack of ability to take advantage of these cultural shifts. Following Paul’s example in Acts 17, we must consider how we can learn to share the gospel effectively in our modern age in light of technology and other factors.
Life experiences change us
As we go through life, we accumulate experiences that shape our beliefs and attitudes, even of evangelism. Our beliefs about evangelism may have changed because of our experiences, such as encountering different cultures or religions or experiencing personal hardships that have made us question the role of evangelism in our lives.
I think what trade-off we feel in decreased frequency is tempered, at least partly, by increased functional effectiveness (better choice of opportunities, better quality of evangelism). There’s something to be said about that. With a lot of practice, we have gained a little skill at reading the room.
We’re different people today. Life has changed us. At 20, I had a more “puppy-stage” energy, which translated into a motivating energy for evangelism. My young friends and I quoted 1 Peter 3:15 with exuberance and stoked the fires of witnessing by chanting mantras like “Who don’t they know? Jesus!” All those personal or joint motivational campaigns kept the zeal and pressure high. The energy of young pups slowly settles into a calm, measured resolve, which is a necessary part of growing up into the pastors we are today.
Priorities flex over time
As we grow older, our priorities make necessary shifts. At 25, we had more free time to devote to evangelism. At 45, life has introduced other responsibilities and priorities, such as raising a family, counseling church members, and leading the church.
We are forced to make difficult decisions about time and energy. After all, we’re finite creatures with real and meaningful limitations. King David reminds us that we are but dust and limited in strength and span of life (Psalm 103:14-15). Additional priorities (as a husband, father, or even pastor) can push evangelism to the periphery.
As priorities flex, we are still responsible for keeping evangelism on our list. Life change and new demands on our time are not excuses but explanations to help us rightly evaluate our ministry and refocus as needed.
Evangelism burnout
We all know evangelism can be emotionally and spiritually draining, and we may have experienced burnout or fatigue from evangelistic activities.
Looking back over my Christian life, I can see how my evangelism has ebbed and flowed. Like a heart monitor, the fire of sharing my faith spikes up and down, up and down. It’s natural for all of us. But it’s also possible some of us have become discouraged in evangelism. We expected more fruit and less rejection. Many of our evangelism efforts fall flat, and that’s discouraging, leading to decreased motivation to evangelize.
While it’s true that our evangelism rises and falls as a natural effect, we can also pray and work to rekindle the fire we once knew. In my lower moments, reading Spurgeon’s book The Soul Winner has provided the spark I needed, along with many stories of D.L. Moody. You can benefit from these or similar works.
Theological growth changes some things too
As pastors continue in the Christian life and local church ministry, the Lord works to conform us to the image of Christ. Our theology changes along with our trust in God and many other ways (Eph. 4:13). All these things factor into our evangelism. I was more energetic in my early days of ministry, mainly because I felt a different kind of burden. I thought evangelism was up to me and my ability to persuade. I carry a better burden now that my view of God, myself, and the world has grown. With time, I have matured, leading to a more focused evangelism that relies on God more than before.
We should consider all these changes as we evaluate the rise and fall of our evangelistic practice as pastors. Doing so will shed helpful light on how we need to grow and change even more and how we can be the best evangelistic version of ourselves.
Sin holds us back
Finally, we must be honest with ourselves. Remaining sin is most to blame, though we are wise to consider a variety of answers to the questions. Our remaining sin certainly holds us back, which has been true since our first day of faith. To hijack a line from a short story by Stephen King, “I believe that there is another man inside of every man, a stranger, a Conniving Man.” We know that the conniving man is the old man of sin who still works in us but on borrowed time (Romans 6:6). Sin’s demise is coming soon, but it still derails us for now (Romans 7:15-20).
Resisting the pull of remaining sin requires continually focusing on our pastoral calling and privilege. We must learn to recognize the remaining sin, refuse its dulling effect, and refocus on our mission to spread the good news.
But remaining sin is just the beginning. I see other reasons my evangelistic life looks different today. Identifying them might help us get back our mojo.
Conclusion
As we age and continue our pastoral calling, we commonly experience a decline in our zeal for evangelism. This decline may be due to sin, changing priorities, burnout, life experiences, and moving into new cultural contexts. To overcome these obstacles, we must recognize the issue and consciously resist the remaining sin, focus on our calling, evaluate our priorities, and be intentional in our evangelistic efforts. Ultimately, we must strive to keep the fire of evangelism burning, seeking God’s help and encouragement from other Christian leaders. How do you, my friend and fellow pastor, need to rekindle your passion for sharing the good news?
Related:
Four Reasons Pastors and Wives Want to Escape Ministry
Overwhelmed by Love to Evangelize
6 Reasons Pastors Should Consider a Sabbatical
The post Staying Strong in Pastoral Evangelism appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...