Questions to Improve the Culture of Evangelism in Your Young Adult Ministry
By Grayson Wade
If you want to see your young adults embrace a culture of evangelism, here are four questions to ask yourself:
1. Does my group know why sharing their faith is important?
Many people in our churches do not understand the why of evangelism. Many believe in the existence of heaven and hell. Many believe our lives will be judged by God. Many believe Jesus is the only way to heaven. But for some reason, there is a disconnect between believing these things and telling people about Jesus. This tells us it is possible to know that we should share our faith without doing it. Before we teach people about how to share their faith, we must teach them why sharing their faith is important.
Second Corinthians 5:19–20 (NLT) says, “And he [God] gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’ ”
Did you catch that? God is making His appeal through us. Every single one of us. Paul did not say, “God is making His appeal through extroverts or those who have the gift of evangelism or pastors.” He said that God will use every believer to reach the lost.
The endless misconceptions surrounding evangelism often prevent believers from sharing their faith. They think that they don’t have the right personality or that the Holy Spirit has to give them the perfect moment to speak up or that people will come to faith simply by watching believers live their life. As leaders, we must challenge these misconceptions that become excuses. It’s our responsibility to make sure that our group has a strong, healthy, and biblical view of evangelism. We can’t take anything for granted in our teaching.
2. Does my group know how to share their faith?
Without training, sharing your faith can be incredibly frustrating. Our churches are full of people who know what they believe, but they just don’t know how to communicate it. Good evangelism training gives people confidence to share their faith by teaching them how to clearly communicate the gospel.
Resources like Alive in 5 are a great way to help get your group started. After you pick a resource, be sure to make the training interactive. Practicing conversations will help ingrain the framework and build confidence.
We can’t expect people to boldly share their faith after hearing a sermon on evangelism. We must be intentional about teaching them how to share their faith. It’s amazing how many evangelism opportunities people in your group will have once they know how to share their story and clearly communicate the gospel.
3. Are we telling stories about people sharing their faith?
Stories help people take action. When we share stories of people in our group sharing their faith, we paint a picture of what is possible. When sharing such stories, it should be our goal for every person in our group to think, I could do that!
You can’t change the culture of your group with one story. If you want evangelism to be a pillar of your ministry, you must regularly tell stories of people sharing their faith. What would it look like if evangelism somehow found its way into your sermons, small groups, and altar calls on a regular basis? If evangelism is important to you, you will find a way to make it a part of your teaching.
While it is great to share the wins, it is important to create an accurate picture of evangelism. Sharing your faith isn’t always easy. If we only share the good stories, we’ll paint an unrealistic picture. Tell stories that make people feel better about their struggles in sharing their faith. Tell stories of failure or stories that are still in progress.
If you don’t have a story from someone in your group, share your own stories!
4. Do we have events that are easy to invite outsiders to?
Many young adults will attend an event before they attend a service. With that in mind, does your ministry have events that outsiders are comfortable attending? You should be able to stand before your group and say, “If you’ve never invited some to church, this is a great opportunity to invite someone.” Or, “If you have a friend who is uncomfortable attending a church service, this is a great opportunity for them to get plugged in.”
These events cannot be one-offs. There must be a follow-up plan to plug new people into your group. How are you teaching your group to follow up with their friend who attended an event? Events without follow-up aren’t adequate evangelism strategies.
There are young adults in your area who are struggling to find community. They feel isolated and lonely. Your ministry could be the answer to their problem. Events can provide a great starting point for evangelism and create an easy on-ramp for those who are unsure about attending a service.
It takes time to build a culture of evangelism. The goal is for more members of your group to buy in after each step. A few may share their faith after an evangelism sermon or series. More will take the first step after being trained. More will be challenged and encouraged after hearing evangelistic stories. Even more will invite a friend to an event that is welcoming to outsiders.
It’s easy to fall into two extremes during this process: idealism or pessimism. Idealism says, “If I can preach a powerful sermon or share the right story, my group will finally start sharing their faith.” Pessimism says, “My group is filled with people who grew up in church. They’ve heard every sermon and attended every Bible study. If they aren’t sharing their faith now, what could I ever say or do that would change them?” The answer is somewhere in the middle. It’s unlikely that every person in your group will actively share their faith. It’s also unlikely that no one will ever share their faith if you follow the steps mentioned in this article.
Cultural change is not easy. Take one step at a time and let God do the rest.