Successful Methods

Among the final words He spoke to His disciples, Jesus instructed them to go make disciples of every nation.

This instruction is also for us today.

Personal evangelism should characterize the life of every believer. My father planted a vegetable garden every year. He seemed to approach gardening in the same way our neighbors did —nothing out of the ordinary.

The garden would be dug, seeds planted, the garden watered —the usual. But today, gardening takes on many forms.

While some people plant seeds or seedlings directly into the ground, others use raised beds. Hydroponics grows plants in water, without the use of soil, while straw-bale gardeners plant directly into bales of straw.

Each of these gardening methods can bring great success. Reaching people with the gospel is much the same.

There are many ways of sharing God’s offer of the gift of salvation. Sharing literature can be a simple, inexpensive, and extremely effective way of sharing Jesus with others. Sharing videos via DVD or the internet brings many people to faith in Christ. An invitation to a small group meeting or a prayer meeting, a kind act of disinterested service, or an invitation to a Bible study or a church program can lead to a saving relationship with God. Great numbers of people have become followers of Jesus, whose first contact with the church was health ministry.

The person who doesn’t feel he or she can give a Bible study might be able to make and share a loaf of bread or offer to go shopping for a sick neighbor.

A person who enjoys knocking on doors might not feel suited to leading a small group. God gifts people in varying ways.

If one method of sharing Jesus doesn’t seem to work for you, another may. Just as a person finds a gardening method that works best for a certain situation, there are witnessing methods that work better for different people in different places. In Jesus’ commission to go and make disciples is the assurance that He who sends also equips. Everyone may share Jesus. If everyone did, the church and the world would be very different.