Evangelism: Activity or Lifestyle?

“Let’s be friends,” says the Creator, “and let’s go out together and make some more friends!”

Now, doesn’t that sound a little more appealing than: “Let’s go evangelize Africa!” or “We’re going out witnessing on Friday night. Everybody come!”?

For one thing, “Go evangelize” sounds more like an activity than a lifestyle. Not to mention it gives the impression that it’s something we do to people rather than for them. If we don’t like it done to us you can take it to the bank that they won’t appreciate it being done to them.

At the same time that God befriends us he invites us into his quest for more friends. He bids us to love people for Jesus. We’re his welcoming committee not so much recruiters for the Church. The similarity between inviting people into friendship and recruiting them for membership is paper-thin.

– Originally published in Reaching Rahab:…