What is Evangelism?

Taken from the Bible study guide, God's Word, God's World...and You by Charles R. Swindoll Copyright © 1997 pp. 6-7, Published by Insight for Living, Anaheim, California 92806 All Rights Reserved Used by permission

The One who devised so many "strange" stratagies and methods is the same One who sends us out with the equally outrageous command: "Go therfore and make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 28:19). Can you imagine how impossible it must have sounded to the ragtag assortment of disciples who first heard it? Questioning glances must have shot around the group, "Us? Take on the world?"

Yet within a generation, the grassroots movement of Christianity had spread throughtout the Roman Empire, reaching even the guards in Ceasar's palace (see Phil. 1:12-13). Today, Christ places His crazy, world-changing mission in our hands. If we desire to be a part of it, we must be prepared to go about it His way. Practically that means four things:

• We msut learn to be comfortable with the unusual.
  God may use methods of evangelism that seem strange to us, but we must be willing to break our molds to fit His style.
  
  
• We must be open to the unrehearsed.
  God keeps us on our toes! He delights in the spontaneous. If our carefully laid plans go awry, God may be setting a new opportunity for the gospel that we never anticipated.
  
  
• We must be ready for the disapproval of others.
  If the world rejected God's Son, it will also reject us. Count on it.
  
  
• We must be weary of being dissatisfied.
  God is looking for Christians who long to get out of the religious rut---people who yearn to try something fresh and unusual. Is that you? Are you willing to let go of the ordinary to reach out for the extraordinary? Then you're ready to join God's way and reach the world.
  

Internet Evangelism?

There was a time when the earth must have seemed as vast as the universe. The notion of someone sailing across the ocean was as unlikely as one of us flying to Pluto. On old maps, uncharted regions included pictures of dragons and enchanted kingodms. Early explorers spent years planning a thousand-mailoe journey and set out not knowing if they would ever return.

Today, though, the world doesn't seem so big and mysterious. Through the Internet, we can srtike up a conversation with strangers from South Africa, San Francisco, and Singapore. Or we can browse for rare books in a British bookshop, place an order, and have the package delivered ina scant few days.

Instead of a global universe, the world has indeed become a global village. And as the information superhighway speeds us into the future, we're fast on our way to becoming a global neighborhood.

Truly, the world is at our doorstep ... or, at our fingertips. And as our circles of contact stretch farther and wider, we find ourselves within arm's reach of more and more hurting people. Whome should we care for? How can we share Christ's love with them? Now more than ever the question voiced by a Jewish lawyer to Jesus resounds with relevance: "Who is my neighboor?" (Luke 10:25-37)

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Be an Internet Evangelist

There are many different ways to reach the lost and hurting on the internet, wether by webpages, e-mail, newsgroups, or live chats, either voice or text. These are not only tools to reach the lost, but also great ways to find great christian fellowship with all of out brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

The mission field is there, its up to all of us to use the rescources that God has given us to reach to lost, and bring as many people as we can with us to Heaven. Remeber, "Evangelism is the root of Revival." Its time to plant the seeds of revival that we have been pryaing for.

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