Are you an evangelist? How about a witness?

My daughter recently found a new show that she really likes. I have seen some of it, but I could tell you a lot more about it than what I’ve seen. Why? It’s because she tells me about it all the time.

It’s interesting how easily we tell others about the shows or movies we watch, the new job we start, the recent football/hockey/baseball game, the new person we’re dating, etc., yet when it comes to telling others about Jesus, we freeze up. We feel uncomfortable and like we don’t know how to talk about Jesus.

Have you ever thought about telling someone about a movie you just saw, but then decided not to because you weren’t sure you would use the right words or be able to answer every question? Probably not. Have you ever decided not to talk about Jesus for the same reasons?

We start to feel these fears and then we reason in our head,

“I’m just not an evangelist.”

“That’s for those special people who are gifted with the spiritual gift of evangelism.”

There certainly are people who are specially gifted in evangelism.

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,” – Ephesians 4:11

However, 1 Peter 3:15 isn’t just talking to evangelists. It’s talking to all of us.

You are a witness.

I like to think of the difference between an evangelist and a witness as kind of like the difference between a movie’s marketing division and the people who go see a movie, become a fan, and tell others about it.

Marketers are trained. They know what words to use and not use. They do more than convey information, they convey feeling and they entice. A fan hasn’t received special training and they don’t carefully weigh every word. They just know they like a movie and want to share that with others.

Evangelists have a gift. The Spirit works through them and they are driven to share the Gospel. They seem to be able to talk to anyone and veer the conversation towards Jesus.

Witnesses still have the spirit, but maybe not a specific spiritual gift for evangelism. They may not be able to veer conversations to Jesus, but they can certainly talk about him when the opportunity arises. They just know they love Jesus and they want to share that with others.

These are just my definitions here, but whether someone uses these terms in this way or not, we should all be able to agree that whether we have the gift of evangelism or not, we all have both the command and the blessing to be able to witness to the love of Jesus when the opportunity presents itself.

It doesn’t require a degree or a unique spiritual gift. You don’t have to have all the answers, but you do need to be prepared. So, let’s start.