Evangelism is Not an Art Form

I’m not sure if you are like me, but sometimes I feel like to share my faith with people I have to have this holy moment or have to build up a “friendship” with whomever I’m talking to, or know the Evangelism 101 program notes by heart.  The fact of the matter is; evangelism is not an art form. People are willing to talk if we are willing to listen. Sometimes I think we as Christians just need to shut our mouths and open our ears, get down from our pedestals and remember we are talking to real people made in the image of God.   
 
My husband could often be described as a quiet person.  He’s not shy at all, but just is a better listener than a talker.  He watches, listens, and learns. He has this uncanny, God given ability to just create easy conversations with people, complete strangers.  What does he do that’s so “magical” to create these conversations? He asks questions and then just listens. He shows genuine interest in a person and then let’s them tell their story.    
 
We recently had a contractor at our house putting in some new flooring.  My husband is always interested in how people do things or do their job so he asks questions.  As I’m listening to their conversation, within minutes the contractor is talking to my husband about spiritual things.  His healthy brother-in-law had passed away suddenly.
 
There is nothing else that starts a conversation faster about spiritual things than the death of someone.
 
It’s something we all are going to face some day. Then as my husband listens, he just speaks little pieces of truth in a respectful loving way here are there. “Yes, I mean all our days are numbered.”  It wasn’t like he ran and got his Bible and said let’s sit down and talk about this. Now, don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m not saying there might be times you sit down with your Bible and point out things in the Word of God to someone.  I mean Jesus quoted Scripture all the time. However, if you know your Bible (which means you should be reading your Bible), you should be able to speak truth in normal everyday conversations.
 
If you’ve ever heard Carl Kerby’s Evangelism 101 talk, you know he gives great insight on speaking with people about faith.  The people often we think might have no interest in spiritual things at all or usually the ones that have the most interest. My husband and I have a dear friend who became a Christian later in life.  He was a very successful businessman and traveled frequently. He once said, “Out of all the people I worked with over the years, no one ever shared their faith with me, and with all the people I came in to contact with at least one of them must have been a Christian.  But not a single one ever said anything, and if they did, I would have listened.” WOW! By the grace of God, God used other means to save this friend, but what if we just did a better job about bringing Christ in to normal everyday conversations?
 
I was challenged by my husband.  Maybe you are too.