What great opportunities God gives us to tell our stories to other people.

In these short articles it will be my desire to pass on to you, effective means of evangelism.  In doing this I will use scripture, and I will share stories that hopefully you find useful.

I believe that every Christian is called to evangelise in some way.

Willis McDowell

But there are others, maybe like you, who are anointed by the Lord to evangelise, to be an evangelist. The word evangelise means to convert or to seek to convert. As Christians this is our aim, to let others know about the amazing love of a wonderful God who can change and transform lives.  This is what Jesus does, he changes people from the inside out, and the amazing thing is that you and I can play a very small part in this. 

So how do we do this and where do we start?

NO PRAYER NO POWER:

The starting point for any form of ministry has to be the place of prayer.

Should you be at the door in Church, making tea or coffee, a Sunday school teacher, on the worship team or the pastor, we all need to back our ministries up with prayer.

When we pray we will be filled with His power, this is what will make the difference to your ministry.

If there is no prayer, there will be no power.

Willis McDowell

Evangelism is front line ministry, so prayer is of the utmost importance.  Many of us have the natural ability to talk to people which is great if you are an evangelist.  But that natural ability needs the anointing of the Holy Spirit, you and I need the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and that will come through prayer.

It is in the place of prayer that God will prepare our hearts and give us guidance and direction.

When it comes to evangelism, I am most comfortable on the streets just talking to people.

Let me give you a great example of how prayer can open doors for us.

 I like to go out onto the streets on a Monday, so in the morning time I will pray about my day.  One key part of my prayer goes something like this.  Lord, would you lead me today to someone that you are already speaking to. 

The argument behind that is that I believe God is speaking to people because of a loved one praying for them or a friend witnessing to them.  God is already working in someone’s heart and to be another link in that chain, a person whom God is speaking to is a person I would love to talk to.

One Monday I was in town, and I had to go to the bank. In the bank I was very unsettled in the queue and I didn’t wait.  I sensed that God was doing something although I didn’t know what. So, I went outside and just went in the direction I felt the Spirit leading me.

I went through a local shopping centre and a woman spoke to me and although I didn’t recognise her, I stopped and we began to talk.  I asked her how she was and she began to tell me how she was getting over an illness.  Immediately I knew that this was a person whom God wanted me to share with.

During the conversation her husband joined us, as we were parting I asked if I could pray with them.  So, there in the middle of the shop I placed my hands on both their shoulders and prayed for them.

We parted and I returned to go to the bank.

On my way back to the car, I passed a local coffee shop, and the couple were sitting outside at a table. 

They called on me to come over, ask me to sit down and they bought me a coffee. 

They began to tell me this story. 

“Willis”, she said “it was a strange thing to meet you today. God has been speaking to us as a couple and just last night we were wondering how we could become Christians.  When we came to town this morning it was just to do some shopping but meeting you and listening to you made us realise that God was again speaking to us. How do we get saved?”

They were amazed and frankly so was I, yet God had done something I ask him to do.  My prayer was lead me to someone you are already speaking to.  That morning at that cafe I had the privilege of pointing them both to Christ.

We must never forget that God wants to draw people to Himself.  He had been speaking to this couple.  Other people had undoubtably sowed into their lives, but on that day at that time it was their opportunity to trust in Christ.

You and I need to be open to the Holy Spirit.  We need to listen to what He is saying and then be prepared to go where He is leading but as I have tried to show you through this story the key is prayer.

Head to the next part of this series where we will look at what evangelism is.

Written by Willis McDowell