Pastor, author, and blogger Sam Storms recently shared a post called The Dirty Dozen: Some Thoughts on Why We Stink at Evangelism. The article (and it’s follow up linked below) are worth reading in their entirety, but in case you want a quick read of his points, here they are:
(1) We are reluctant to share the gospel with others because of a loss of belief in the reality of hell.
(2) We are hesitant to share the gospel with others because of a loss of belief in the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. More and more are coming to the heretical conclusion that all religions are equally valid paths to God; sincerity is what saves, not faith in Jesus. If conscious faith in Christ as Lord and Savior isn’t necessary, neither is evangelism.
(3) We justify not sharing the gospel with others by appealing to God’s sovereignty.
(4) We find an excuse not to speak of Christ by thinking: “If I don’t do it, someone else will.” Let’s call this what it is: willful disobedience.
(5) We fail to passionately share the gospel with others because we are devoid of gratitude for what God has done in saving us.
(6) We don’t share the gospel with others because we lack any substantial and heartfelt fear of God.
(7) We don’t share the gospel with others because we are smugly comfortable with our life and we don’t want to disrupt it.
(8) We don’t speak of Christ to others because we are selfish and prejudiced!
(9) We fail to share the gospel because we live in bondage to the fear of man.
(10) We don’t share the gospel because of a fear of persecution.
(11) We are reluctant to speak to others about Jesus because of our fear of not being able to give answers to hard questions they might ask.
(12) We justify not speaking of Christ by saying: “I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” But nowhere in Scripture is evangelism restricted to those who have the gift of evangelism.
Storms then shared one more reason why we stink at evangelism, and this one is tragic:
…people don’t actually know what the gospel is, or if they do know it, they struggle to articulate it in face-to-face conversations with unbelievers. Feeling ill-equipped to explain the gospel, they look for ways to avoid interaction with non-Christians.
Which reason most convicts you? How might God want you to overcome that excuse?
