Does the word ‘evangelist’, for you, conjure up pictures of preachers on soap boxes on street corners, or slick charismatic personalities wooing the crowds at big-stage venues?
Does the word ‘evangelism’ get you really excited or does it send you running for cover? Are you thrilled that we’re about to start a sermon series which will get us thinking about how and where we share our faith or are you thinking “help, get me out of here!”?
If we’re honest, many of us think that evangelists are other people and evangelism is something other people do, in other places – it couldn’t possibly be something that we do, where we are. But what if that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be: not deep theologians or big personalities, but ordinary people…like us, doing ordinary things in ordinary places… like the gym, or the classroom, or the office, or the school-gate, or the coffee shop; talking to our ordinary families and friends about real, ordinary stuff - stuff that happens to everyone, like stress or exams or losing someone or being ill or worrying about the future? What if being an evangelist really means being someone ordinary who simply has some extraordinarily good news for their friends who are going through ‘stuff’?
What if evangelism starts by just sharing your own good news, about how knowing Jesus has helped you through similar ups and downs?
Here’s the bottom line: God can use any of us, anywhere, to be his Good News people. That’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.