It was no doubt God’s intention, when spreading the seeds of His kingdom, that his future disciples would be sown in environments in proximity to others with whom they could build relationships. God counts on his disciples to witness to their faith by way of relational evangelism. It’s all about utilizing that first threshold of evangelization by building the “bridge of trust” that Sherry Weddell writes about in her book on intentional discipleship.
The duty of the disciple is to cooperate with God’s planting regimen that the seed of our faith which has grown into maturity might through God’s grace reflect what God has done for us in our life.
As many of us continue to discover, the nourishment required to develop a mature faith life rests squarely on the person of Jesus with whom we relationship build for that relationship moulds and shapes us to be Jesus to others. This requires an active prayer life. We need to lean on our God as we prepare ourselves to evangelize. There is no substitute for prayer and the discipline of prayer is a prerequisite to all that God wants us to accomplish in our particular ministry of relational evangelization.
Do you have a spouse, a sibling, a child, a friend, a co-worker or business associate who has yet to experience the power of the Gospel message? Trust that God will use you and your influence to help them grow. Your joy and kindness will be noticed and your words explaining the reason for your hope and your joy can speak powerfully to them. With some it will take time, but the Holy Spirit’s time schedule is the schedule we embrace in evangelization. We are merely facilitators relying on the Spirit to move things along at the right pace.
We equip ourselves by becoming the faithful savants that we are called to be, ears always attuned to the whisperings of the Spirit within.
God Gracious 