Do you lack confidence in evangelism?

We prayed, read Scripture, gathered leaflets, and were sent off in twos. It was my first experience of evangelism and I was terrified! Ken, the mission leader, paired me with Sue – whose enormous confidence and relish at the thought of the task ahead compensated for my distinct lack of both.

We stepped out into the rainy Cardiff streets, with a list of doors to knock and people to invite to the church film night, youth event, and guest service. At the third door we knocked, a lovely Muslim lady invited us in to discuss questions of faith and how the Bible answered them differently than the Qur’an. It was hard.

I “wasn’t very good” at evangelism, I concluded. I didn’t know what to say and made any number of rookie errors. But for the first time in an age, I turned good intentions into action. I got to talk about Jesus. What’s more, I wasn’t assaulted, the difficult questions didn’t shred my faith, and the odd unfriendly response didn’t kill me. When we went out next, it was slightly less terrifying.

What holds most of us back in evangelism is a simple lack of confidence – and if the enemy can silence our witness through fear, he’ll call that a win. There are of course any number of reasons for our fears, and we can over-analyse these; or even over-spiritualise them. Sometimes what we need to do is take obedient action!

For years I harboured the aspiration to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats. What prevented me from even trying was simply a lack of confidence. What if I looked stupid or couldn’t ascend the hill outside my house? What if I couldn’t get home and had to be picked up from the roadside, defeated and dejected? So, I did nothing except nurse my regrets – while the bike parked in my hallway seemed to mock me every time I passed it.

The jolt into action was a charity bike ride held in honour of a friend who had died. Raising money for a good cause, and riding as an act of fellowship with the bereaved, instantly made it not all about me. Inspired by concerns bigger than my own, I found that my crisis of confidence was no longer paralysing, and the riding began! At first it was uncomfortable – but that no longer mattered.

Likewise in evangelism, if we can shift our attention from our own fears and discomforts and think more about the fate of the lost and the reputation of Christ – then we’ll be able to start. In the parable of the talents, the only servant condemned was the disloyal one who did nothing. He failed, not because he lacked much to invest; but because he hid it.

There are countless ways to make that first tentative step: post gospel content on social media and publicly identify with Jesus; invite a colleague to Hope Explored (etc); give a book to a classmate; put gospel flyers through doors; or perhaps most scary of all, initiate conversations about life, hope, truth and faith with a friend or family member.

In most cases, when we do speak up for Jesus, we find that the fears which once controlled us were illusory. While I know people whose lives have been literally threatened for the gospel – most of us are more likely to face apathy, or patronising put-downs. Difficult questions don’t derail our faith, and we come back, even from awkward encounters, with the knowledge that Christ loves us – and we love Him, perhaps a little more than we did before we set out. He might even use our words to save someone!

It’s only fear that keeps us in the rut. The only cure for inertia is action, and the only way to gain the experience that leads to confidence is to do something.