Do you want to share the gospel with others easily? Do you want to know what to say when someone asks you a question about your faith?  Do you want to feel confident doing one-to-one evangelism?

Have you ever thought about how God originally designed evangelism and how he intended us to experience it? Seeing evangelism from God’s perspective is key to developing an evangelistic lifestyle.

God wants us to reimagine evangelism without the common hindrances and struggles that we may have when sharing our faith. Only then can we experience evangelism as he intended us to.

So how can we reimagine evangelism?

Let your imagination run wild!

Imagine there is no difference between the life of God that flows in your church and the life that flows outside your church. Imagine unbelievers around you encountering Jesus and being saved regularly. Imagine Christians you know praying for miracles among their neighbours, family, friends, and work colleagues.

Imagine every one of your Christian friends freely engaging in evangelistic moments. Imagine unbelievers you know wanting to find out about Jesus. Imagine Jesus having a good reputation among unbelievers around you. Imagine your church doesn’t need to organise any evangelism because the life of God flows out of Christians in your church wherever they are, whatever they are doing.

If you can reimagine evangelism in this way, then you are starting to see evangelism from God’s perspective. You are starting to see evangelism as the early church experienced it. You are starting to see evangelism as churches have during historic revivals and awakenings. You are starting to see how evangelism could be for every Christian.

God's original design for evangelism

In the first century church, evangelism was a lifestyle. The early Christians “preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:4 NIV). Profound miracles happened regularly, that demonstrated the nearness and kindness of God (Acts 5:15 and Acts 19:11-12).

When the evangelist Philip travelled to the city of Samaria there was great joy in that city because of the many lame and paralysed people that were healed (Acts 8:4-8). God often spoke directly to Christians like Ananias to invite them into evangelistic moments: “ The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.‘” (Acts 9:11 NIV).

So, why was their experience of evangelism so often different to ours?

Doing evangelism like Jesus did

The early Christians did evangelism as Jesus did. They copied what they saw him do. They imitated his evangelistic lifestyle. Their method was Jesus’ method. They didn’t do anything differently to how he did it.

Just as Jesus did, they proclaimed the good news of the kingdom (Acts 8:12). They did not preach a message that solely focused on conversion, but rather invited people to enter God’s kingdom that transforms people and communities. Their goal was to make disciples, not converts.

The early Christians understood that the Baptism of the Spirit (Acts 2:1-4) was given to enable them to achieve the Great Commission. They experienced a baptism that empowered them to see people saved. Their message was not just words; they demonstrated the reality of Jesus’ kingdom by miraculously healing the sick (Matthew 10).

Jesus modelled to them how to do evangelism effectively. He showed them how to share the gospel with others. They could share Jesus without fear. Sharing this kingdom was his evangelism method. This was Jesus' Evangelism 101.

Ask Jesus to empower you so you can experience evangelism as the early Christians did. This is how he designed it to be in your life.