{"id":31021,"date":"2022-09-10T15:13:44","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/evangelism-without-the-angst\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:13:44","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:13:44","slug":"evangelism-without-the-angst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/evangelism-without-the-angst\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelism Without the Angst"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"> AaronAmat photo &#8211; Getty <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>How to Make Sharing the Gospel a Stress-Free Part of Your Life<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>By Lynn Pryor<\/p>\n<p>If there was guilt meter in&nbsp;the average church, some of us may see it spike whenever the pastor raised one of these topics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Giving<\/li>\n<li>Helping in the nursery<\/li>\n<li>Sharing our faith<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In a 2016 study, Lifeway Research\u00a0found people were more willing to share their political views (59%) than their spiritual views (41%). Fast forward to a 2019 study, which revealed that more than half (55%) of Protestant churchgoers say they haven\u2019t shared their faith with anyone in the past six months. <\/p>\n<p> In a 2016 study, Lifeway Research found people were more willing to share their political views (59%) than their spiritual views (41%). Click To Tweet <\/p>\n<p>Some&nbsp;things we know we&nbsp;<em>should<\/em>&nbsp;do, but we don\u2019t. For example, no Christian would disagree that talking about Jesus is important, but we get anxious or nervous when we think about actually doing it. We don\u2019t want to come across like an overbearing, obnoxious salesperson with a fake smile.<\/p>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if there was a corner you could just stand on and people would come to you to talk about Jesus?<\/p>\n<p>I found such a corner. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to go to China. College students in China want to know English because it\u2019s good for their careers, so near one of the universities in Chengdu, the students would meet on Fridays to converse with each other in English. They call it the \u201cEnglish Corner.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class='code-block code-block-1' style='margin: 8px 0;clear: both'> <\/div>\n<p>Imagine their enthusiasm when a couple of Americans showed up on Friday night. We were native speakers!\u00a0My friend and I separated, and we were both flooded with questions by students who wanted to practice English. Their questions were all about America and American culture. Inevitably, every student\u2014<em>every<\/em>\u00a0student\u2014turned the conversation to Jesus. They equated Christianity with American culture, and\u00a0they wanted to learn about my faith. I just answered questions and talked about Jesus\u2014in communist China.<\/p>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if we had corners like that right here in America? We do. They\u2019re just not as obvious.<\/p>\n<p> We\u2019re surrounded by people who hurt. People with questions. People who are looking for something to fill that empty spot in their lives. \u2014 @lynnpryor Click To Tweet <\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re surrounded by people who hurt. People with questions. People who are looking for something to fill that empty spot in their lives. They\u2019re in the hallways where we work. They\u2019re in our fitness groups. They\u2019re&nbsp;on either side of us at a kid&#8217;s soccer game. They\u2019re, well, everywhere.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:1em\">\n<div class=\"centered-text-area\">\n<div class=\"centered-text\" style=\"float: left\">\n<div class=\"u063484f30362454ae9c132846c6cf9d8-content\">See also&nbsp; 8 Ways to Persevere in Ministry<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ctaButton\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>These are momentary intersections that could morph into a changed life. Here\u2019s how to do it without getting stressed:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Pray.<\/strong>\u00a0Ask God to show you how to point to Him in a conversation. Not every conversation you have may lead to the gospel. That\u2019s OK. Don\u2019t feel guilty. Just ask God to make it abundantly clear when a door of opportunity is swinging open. And if you don\u2019t see it swing open, don\u2019t worry about it.<\/p>\n<p> Ask God to make it abundantly clear when a door of opportunity is swinging open. \u2014 @lynnpryor Click To Tweet <\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Have a normal conversation.<\/strong>&nbsp;That\u2019s right; a&nbsp;<em>normal<\/em>&nbsp;conversation about life, sports, family, who has the best French fries, whatever. Somewhere along the way, a problem with a child, a health concern with a family member, or an issue at work will pop up. Just offer this: <em>Would it be OK if, when I pray, I include that in my prayers?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A door has been opened. You\u2019ve pointed to your dependence on Christ without preaching. From that point, the conversation can quite possibly go into deeper conversations about faith, who Jesus is, and who He is in your life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Keep caring.<\/strong> If this is someone you see frequently, keep the conversation going. Without pushing, periodically ask how things are going. Let them know of your continued prayer. Offer support. Maybe invite them to your church or Bible study group.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s find those \u201cEnglish Corners.\u201d Those intersections. Those unplanned encounters. And let\u2019s just have a conversation.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-profile-box square gb-has-avatar gb-font-size-18 gb-block-profile gb-profile-columns\">\n<div class=\"gb-profile-column gb-profile-avatar-wrap\">\n<div class=\"gb-profile-image-wrap\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gb-profile-column gb-profile-content-wrap\">\n<h2 class=\"gb-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Lynn Pryor<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gb-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">@lynnpryor<\/p>\n<div class=\"gb-profile-text\">\n<p>Lynn leads the team that develops and produces Bible Studies for Life. He also preaches, leads conferences and currently serves as an interim pastor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"gb-social-links\"><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>This is an adapted version of an article that originally appeared at LynnHPryor.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-box su-box-style-default\" id=\"\" style=\"border-color:#000000;border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"su-box-title\" style=\"background-color:#333333;color:#FFFFFF;border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px\">Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-box-content su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"one-third first\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"two-thirds\">\n<h3>I Am Going<\/h3>\n<p>Daniel L. Akin &amp; Bruce Riley Ashford<\/p>\n<p>  FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class='yarpp yarpp-related yarpp-related-website yarpp-template-thumbnails'>\n<h3>Related posts:<\/h3>\n<div class=\"yarpp-thumbnails-horizontal\">  Solving the \u201cSilent Exodus\u201d From Churches  What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times?  What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation?  3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AaronAmat photo &#8211; Getty How to Make Sharing the Gospel a Stress-Free Part of Your Life By Lynn Pryor If there was guilt meter in&nbsp;the average church, some of us may see it spike whenever the pastor raised one of these topics: Giving Helping in the nursery Sharing our faith In a 2016 study, Lifeway &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/evangelism-without-the-angst\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Evangelism Without the Angst&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}