A Simple Way to Evangelize
- Chuck Lawless
- Feb 18
- 4 min read
Thus far in this article series on evangelism, I hope one of these topics has grabbed your attention:
For this article, though, I want to give you a simple way to do evangelism. In the past, I typically tried to find open doors or create conversational “bridges” to share the gospel with others. For example, I might take an approach something like this one with an athlete: “Did you know that a Bible writer named Paul often used athletic imagery when talking about the Christian life?” Increasingly, though, I felt like I was trying to sneak in a side door to get to the gospel. Sometimes I even caught myself not listening well to my conversation partner because I was always looking for that door.
More often now, I simply ask for permission to tell my story, especially if the listener knows me. It’s as simple as this conversation: “You know I’m a follower of Jesus, and one of our commitments is to tell others why He’s so important to us. May I take a few minutes to tell you my story?” When I have permission to tell my Christian testimony, I can easily build the gospel into that story—and encourage others to follow Jesus.
Some folks have, of course, chosen not to grant me that time, but the response I’ve received most often has been a positive one. I may have just a few minutes with a listener, but that’s a few minutes more of evangelism than I might have had otherwise.
Here are some reasons this approach works for me:
I can be upfront with my request. That’s not to say that finding conversational bridges is wrong, however; in fact, I still teach that approach as one option for doing evangelism. I’m simply saying that when I can ask permission upfront to tell my story, I don’t have to spend as much time trying to find that bridge.
If the person says, “yes,” I have a green light to press on. I don’t wonder whether the listener is really involved in the conversation when I hear a “yes.” He or she has given me permission to speak, so I move forward. My responsibility at that point is to make sure I turn the focus to the gospel as quickly as possible.
If the person says, “no,” I’ve at least started the conversation. With a “no” response, I simply say, “Thank you,” offer to talk another time, and then silently pray in my mind for that person. That immediate time is apparently not the best time to talk more, but I’ve taken the first step in the direction of evangelism. Perhaps another time will present itself in the future.
It often opens the door to talk about Jesus. It’s not always the case that others want to listen, but often they’re willing to do so–-perhaps out of politeness to me, or perhaps out of a genuine interest to hear. Either way, I have a wide-open door to talk about Jesus in my life. There’s nothing quite like walking through that door with permission!
It allows me to start with my testimony—which puts me at ease as I lead into evangelism. All of us who are believers have a testimony to tell, and nobody can tell our story better than we can. Telling my story helps calm my nerves, draw people into the personal nature of my story (because almost everyone likes a story), and transition into the gospel story.
It forces me to evangelize concisely and clearly. I’ve asked for only a few minutes to talk about Jesus. If I’m granted that time, I need to keep my word and present the gospel story with focus and passion. It seldom hurts any of us to make sure we don’t waste time when we have a listening ear for the gospel.
It helps me in evangelizing people I don’t know well. I do believe that relationships are important in sharing the good news, but I don’t think we should evangelize only if a relationship is already in place. We need to be obedient to telling all people about Jesus. The method I’ve described here, with a simple tweak in the introduction (e.g., “I’m Chuck, and I’m a Christian. One of the things Christians do is tell others about Jesus”), helps me to talk to people I don’t know, too.
It helps guide me in praying for others. How I pray for the person who hears the story is different from how I pray for someone who isn’t ready to hear it. After these conversations (regardless of the person’s openness to hearing), I can pray with more intentionality and direction.
It makes evangelism easier for me. I’m an introvert at heart, so I don’t easily or naturally engage in conversation with others. Evangelism itself is not always easy for me, but this approach gives me courage to start the process simply because I generally know what’s coming. Someone will tell me either, “Sure, I’ll give you some time” or “No, thank you.” Either way, I’m ready.
I make no claim that this method is the best one or the only one. I’m still learning, but I can say that this approach works for me. Perhaps it should be in your evangelistic toolbox, too.
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