Do you remember when the Lord first called you to lead in your particular ministry context? What led you to say Yes to that calling? I was twenty-one years old when the Lord began calling me to vocational ministry, particularly serving middle and high school girls at the time, and while there was a battle between my wants and His will, I said yes to the calling because I have a deep passion for people to know Jesus. If you and I were to sit down over a cup of coffee, my guess is that you would express a similar desire. You, too, want people to know Jesus.
Romans 10:14-15 says,
How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.
Evangelism is simply sharing the goods news of Jesus, and while this is the ultimate “why” behind our efforts as ministry leaders, oftentimes we get so distracted by the “what” of our ministry areas and lose sight of the “why.” We spend more time focusing on what we need to do, what we need to plan for, and what we need to execute, and we forget the root of why we do all this in the first place—sharing the gospel and equipping those we lead to do the same.
If evangelism is important to us as leaders, then it will be important to those we lead. But how can we become a more evangelistic leader?
1. EXAMINE YOUR SOUL AND LIFE.
Begin by examining your soul. This may initially sound like an odd place to start, but we cannot give others what we do not have ourselves. If we are not personally encountering the power and presence of Jesus, then we will not be focused on sharing Jesus with others.
Several years ago, I was helping our church planting team set up for a Sunday morning service. This particular morning was no different than any other week for our team, but it seemed like there was so much to do and so little time to do it. My attention shifted from the expectation of what Jesus had in store for the morning to the load of things that needed to be done. I’ll never forget the Holy Spirit quietly speaking to my heart in those moments of distraction saying, “Catherine, I’ve called you to serve out of the overflow, not the overload.” What a reminder, as leaders, but also as followers of Jesus in general, that the most important thing we can do is be with Jesus, be filled up by Jesus, and then serve Jesus. We can’t get this out of order or else we will be out of focus.
So how are you doing spiritually? On a scale of 1–10 (1 being the lowest, 10 being the best) how are you doing in your walk with Jesus? Are you encountering His power and presence in your life? Becoming a more evangelistic leader will result from the overflow of your time with Jesus rather than the overload of what you are trying to accomplish for Him.
Secondly, examine your life. Are you praying for people in your life who do not know Jesus? Are you engaging in gospel conversations outside the walls of the church or the contexts of your ministry area? As leaders, we cannot lead what we do not live.
One of my greatest regrets from my early days of vocational ministry is not equipping those I was leading to go out and share the gospel. We did a lot of “come and see” type events where people invited their spiritually lost friends to attend a gathering where they would hear the gospel, but we didn’t equip them to go and share the gospel in the places where they lived, worked, and attended school. In the most gracious way, the Lord convicted me as He helped me to see that the reason I was not equipping others to share the gospel outside the walls of the church is because I was not doing it myself. Talking about Jesus and the gospel was easy in the contexts of our ministry area where it was comfortable, but I had neighbors and family members who did not know Jesus and I had not tried to share with them.
Becoming a more evangelistic leader requires us to be more evangelistic in everyday moments of life. When you begin sharing Jesus “As you go,” you will also begin providing a model that others in your ministry context can follow.
2. EMBRACE A PLAN.
Maybe you are like me in that if I do not have a plan for something, then it is probably not going to happen. As you seek to become a more evangelistic leader, embrace a plan that will help you become intentional about leveraging every gathering you lead to share the gospel, while also equipping those you are leading to take what they are learning and live it by sharing with others as they go.
I spoke with a lady recently who wanted to become more intentional about making her Monday morning Bible study more evangelistic. She said at the end of each week’s study she began doing two things. First, she intentionally shared the gospel and secondly, she challenged the ladies to look for opportunities to share what they were learning with someone else. She had previously assumed that everyone in the Bible study was a follower of Jesus. However, the very first time she walked through the gospel, one lady gave her life to Christ, which is incredible! As leaders, we should never assume that everyone in the room knows Jesus.
As you grow in becoming an evangelistic leader, you will find yourself prioritizing sharing the gospel and equipping others to do the same. Embrace a plan for your ministry that includes praying for the spiritually lost each time you gather, sharing the gospel, and finding creative ways to equip those you are leading to live out the gospel and share it as they prioritize pointing people to Jesus in everyday moments of life.
3. ENCOURAGE OTHERS IN EVANGELISM.
Evangelistic leaders encourage others in evangelism. The command Jesus gave to His disciples in Mark 16:15 to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” is a command that is for every one of His followers.
As a leader, you have the privilege of encouraging those you lead to leverage their lives for the gospel. And as they do, you also have the privilege of celebrating with them! A lady once told me that she knows Jesus, but she cannot talk to people about Him. She lacked courage and confidence to do so. We then began talking about her testimony, practical ways to get into conversations, and even spent time praying for her and those in her life who do not know Jesus. Seven days later she found me at church and exclaimed, “I did it! I talked to my neighbor about my faith in Jesus. I invited her to church, and she’s here today! You have to meet her!” I’ll never forget her excitement and passion. Since then, she has continuously looked for opportunities to point people to Jesus.
Are people in your ministry context praying for spiritually lost people? Celebrate! Are they taking opportunities to talk about Jesus? Celebrate! Has someone come to know Jesus as his or her Savior? Celebrate! Each time we celebrate, we encourage. As you become a more evangelistic leader, you will find much joy in encouraging others as they too become more evangelistic.
What a privilege to know Jesus and make Him known while also equipping others to do the same. After all, this is why we said yes to God’s calling on our lives to lead in our particular ministry contexts.
About Catherine Renfro
Catherine Renfro is a church planter’s wife, a mom and serves as the National Director of Women’s Evangelism at the North American Mission Board. She and her husband, Chris Renfro have three awesome kiddos. Catherine graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2010 with a master’s degree in Christian Education and Biblical Counseling after being called to ministry at the age of twenty-two, and she has served in full-time ministry ever since. She is passionate about seeing lost people come to know Jesus and for believers to live out their purpose of making Jesus known.
Read more in our Leading Well series about how to discuss difficult topics as a leader.
