The Apostles Never ‘Shared’ the Gospel, and Neither Should We Why it’s time to retire our favorite evangelistic phrase.

[Popcornfish]

EXCERPT Christianity Today

The Apostles Never ‘Shared’ the Gospel, and Neither Should We
Why it’s time to retire our favorite evangelistic phrase.
ELLIOT CLARK| JUNE 21, 2019


A bold adventure into the meat of the Good News.

 

[JSTyler]

Thanks @Popcornfish Great read.

The Three Suggestions at the end are right on target. After reading this article, I'm left with the dilemma of examining and reexamining recent evangelical oriented interactions I've had. That's always personal evidence to me that an author has hit upon some powerful and salient truth. It's a good thing to have our comfort zones challenged.

Now I'm wondering if we should ever be comfortable in our outreach? If it's too comfortable, maybe I'm not going about it correctly.

 

[Goodboy]

I read the article and I can't say that I agree with the premise. I "share the Gospel" and I would say about 90 percent of those I shared with, did not want to hear it. I disagree that people only share something with someone who wants it. For example, while there were things that my parents dominantly preached to me, there were many other things that they simply shared with me, even though I did not want to hear it. While I agree with his statement that many times you may have to pay a cost to share the Gospel, like losing a friend or getting into trouble. I am just not getting his point that we must preach and not share.

Another point I would make is about his assertion of us "closing the deal" so to speak. Most people by far don't just get saved by hearing it shared (or Preached) the first time. There are times when we just plant the seed and other times when we are the ones who harvest. It seems that we only like to celebrate the harvest, when we should also celebrate the planting. If you have anything over a 2 minute conversation with someone about Jesus, you have planted and should celebrate. Planting is much harder than harvesting. Many times when we harvest we might think to ourselves "Wow that was easy". Well if it was, that is only because someone else did a good job of planting!

I will also state that the only reason I ended up getting saved when I was 28 is because someone just calmly shared the true Gospel with me with absolutely no pressure. People had come up to me with the pressure approach, but I refused to listen to them.

Well that's my two cents!

 

[Andy C]

I read the article and I can't say that I agree with the premise. I "share the Gospel" and I would say about 90 percent of those I shared with, did not want to hear it. I disagree that people only share something with someone who wants it. For example, while there were things that my parents dominantly preached to me, there were many other things that they shared with me, even though I did not want to hear it. While I agree with his statement that many times you may have to pay a cost to share the Gospel, like losing a friend or getting into trouble. I am just not getting his point that we must preach and not share.

Another point I would make is about his assertion of us "closing the deal" so to speak. Most people by far don't just get saved by hearing it shared (or Preached) the first time. There are times when we just plant the seed and other times when we are the ones who harvest. It seems that we only like to celebrate the harvest, when we should also celebrate the planting. If you have anything over a 2 minute conversation with someone about Jesus, you have planted and should celebrate. Planting is much harder than harvesting. Many times when we harvest we might think to ourselves "Wow that was easy". Well if it was, that is only because someone else did a good job of planting!

I will also state that the only reason I ended up getting saved when I was 28 is because someone just calmly shared the true Gospel with me with absolutely no pressure. People had come up to me with the pressure approach, but I refused to listen to them.

Well that's my two cents!

Excellent post and I agree with everything you said as I also had the same issues with the OP.

Sharing, preaching, planting, harvest.....all steps necessary, and is one more important than the others? In my case, I had a whole field of seeds planted in me before I actually listened, then believed, all the results of combined efforts over many years.

 

[JSTyler]

Well that's my two cents!

Your two cents always seem to go a long way. I always appreciate the value added. And I agree with your post as well as much I do with the article in the OP. Spreading/sharing the gospel is a dynamic experience.

I used to rock climb. In climbing there are two very different approaches (and many combinations in-between, but two primary) to many different problems, problems being complex or difficult moves or sets of moves employed to advance your ascent. So you wanna get from point A to point B? You can try a static combination of tried and true moves to climb upwards. This is careful and precise relying on well practiced, repeated movements, finely honed via years of experience. Or you can go full dynamic, relying on aggressive moves, agility and strength. This too can move you upwards. It's a caution to the wind, "I'm'a goin' for it, cuz I may never be here again and have this chance again!" dynamic.

Both approaches involve risks that are almost entirely mitigated by the safety and security of the rope and anchors. So, go for it, regardless your style.

Maybe not a truly apt analogy but our safety is the Holy Spirit. He'll make it all work out, mistakes and all.

 

[JSTyler]

Excellent post and I agree with everything you said as I also had the same issues with the OP.

Sharing, preaching, planting, harvest.....all steps necessary, and is one more important than the others? In my case, I had a whole field of seeds planted in me before I actually listened, then believed, all the results of combined efforts over many years.

I don't recall when I was saved. I grew up steeped in christianity and CHRISTIANITY. I've always been (foolishly in so many ways) somewhat envious of the concious conversion experience. I wonder what it would be like to go from here-and-dead and then in an instant be there-and-alive.

 

[Goodboy]

I don't recall when I was saved. I grew up steeped in christianity and CHRISTIANITY. I've always been (foolishly in so many ways) somewhat envious of the concious conversion experience. I wonder what it would be like to go from here-and-dead and then in an instant be there-and-alive.

Sounds like you did not have a period of disbelief. I think that's really cool.

For most people the process of salvation is like this.
As a child we just kind of believe whatever our parents (or the environment we were raised in) tell us.
At some point (around 12 years old for me) we decide for ourselves what it is that we want to actually continue to believe.
At that point for what ever reason we either decide to reject what we were told or accept it as the truth.

In my case and many others, we either rejected what we believed as a child or never believed it in the first place. So our conversion and salvation changed our lives and perspective such that we can easily remember when that was and what caused it.

In your case, there was also a time that you decided for yourself what it is that you wanted to actually continue to believe. As you accepted what you already believed, there was not a profound change for you which is why you don't remember the actually time of the experience.

Again, my two cents so if I got that wrong feel free to correct me.

 

[JSTyler]

Again, my two cents so if I got that wrong feel free to correct me.

Exact change tendered.

 

[lightofmylife]

We are to go into all the world and preach the gospel just as the apostles. Mark 16:15, and Matthew 28:16-20. It is called the Great Commission.

 

[ItIsFinished!]

We are to go into all the world and preach the gospel just as the apostles. Mark 16:15, and Matthew 28:16-20. It is called the Great Commission.

Yup.

And the state of urgency is at a all time high.
We must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.
There is NO HOPE outside of Jesus Christ.

Praise Him .

 

[InsuranceGuy]

I was at the Cardinals playoff game against Atlanta a couple weeks ago. Outside the stadium there were a handful of guys from a local church. They had megaphones and were calling on people to repent and preaching straight from the Bible. People completely ignored them, outside of the complaints about them being intrusive or loud. I thought it took extreme courage to do what they did.

 

[Salluz]

I was at the Cardinals playoff game against Atlanta a couple weeks ago. Outside the stadium there were a handful of guys from a local church. They had megaphones and were calling on people to repent and preaching straight from the Bible. People completely ignored them, outside of the complaints about them being intrusive or loud. I thought it took extreme courage to do what they did.

Sometimes I wonder because I hate when people interrupt my day to talk about Mormonism or jehovah's witness stuff or to talk about some sin they think is fine. If I don't like being tracked down and yelled at, I find it hard to justify doing the same to others.... at the same time I've always been. better at what has been dubbed "relational evangelism" which is bringing the gospel up in conversation with people you're already friends with versus bringing it up with strangers. Maybe different people are better suited to different methods of sharing the gospel than others? It would make sense to me considering the diversity of spiritual gifts present in the church as well that we would not all be experts at every type of sharing the gospel, although that hasn't stopped me from getting outside my comfort zone and trying to talk to strangers about Jesus, I still feel more comfortable talking to people I know, but that doesnt mean there is less risk. I could still lose a friendship speaking the truth about God, which to me is higher stakes than talking to a stranger, but I'm still more comfortable with it.

Hopefully that was logical it's 4am here and I need to go to bed

Edit: what's more, I still think it is right to share the gospel because the gospel is all about the good news of freedom from the penalty of sin because of what Jesus has done. That's something I'm proud to share and something new believers are happy to recieve. Yes, it requires people to admit sin is sin and they need a savior, but the gospel is the best news ever, something we can rejoice over. I'm still okay using the terminology share to share something so absolutely lovely