19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20 (NASB)
On the 15th of March 2020, the president of Ghana took the unprecedented step of ordering all religious services to be suspended for a month as a countermeasure against the spread of the COVID-19 disease. Most schools are out, social gatherings are discouraged, Ghanaians’ ‘favourite’ funerals are limited to 25 persons maximum.
These are strange and confusing times to be sure, but the larger numbers of housebound folk, smaller gatherings and scared friends posting all kinds of dire messages on WhatsApp all mean greater opportunities for witnessing and evangelism.
But what do you say, and how? How do you make sure you are sharing the true gospel and not confusing people or, worse, giving them a false sense of assurance? There are many helpful resources online and offline about how to evangelize. Here is one I highly recommend: Living Waters on Youtube and its accompanying website Living Waters.
According to their “About” page, ” Living Waters seeks to train the members of Christ’s Body in the principles of biblical evangelism and to provide them with practical tools to proclaim the gospel.”
To that end, they provide many, many examples of founder Ray Comfort talking to people of all backgrounds about the gospel of Christ, from your everyday person on the street to others with a wide variety of beliefs, including atheists, agnostics, Satanists and Hare Krishnas. Some encounters go well, others not so well. Some people are open, others are not so welcoming.
Either way, the videos along with Ray Comfort’s penetrating article “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” present a simple and effective approach to evangelistic encounters. First share the bad news and help others understand how God sees them. Then share the news that Jesus died to take away the penalty we deserve as guilty sinners, so that in Him we can fulfill God’s standards for righteousness and be acceptable in His sight.
There is no guarantee the people we speak with will accept the message in faith, but that is not our command. Ours is to share the full, true message and leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit.
BTW, in addition to videos about evangelism, the Living Waters channel also has resources discussing contemporary issues such as the coronavirus, celebrity news (!), politics and evolution. Plus they also have a many short movies on topics like Christmas and Hollywood which are far more interesting and profitable to our souls than the latest telenovelas and juju movies.
Together with Scott Gilchrist’s sermon expositions that I recommended some years ago, you should have plenty of material to keep you busy until the president’s directive is lifted approximately a month from now. May God be with us all.