Decorating a Christmas tree with lights used to be a real hassle. Nowadays, if one bulb goes out in a strand of Christmas lights, it’s no big deal — the other lights keep working because they’re wired on a parallel circuit. But when I was little, Christmas tree lights were on a series circuit, so if one bulb went out, the whole strand went out. The only way to identify the burned-out bulb was to painstakingly unscrew each bulb and try a working bulb in every socket until you found the burned-out one. Only after identifying and replacing the dud would the whole string of lights turn on.
The Christian disciplines interact and reinforce each other like a series circuit. Perhaps you have been faithful in Bible study or prayer, yet you still long for revival in your heart. You want to experience supernatural vibrancy in your walk with Christ. You may sense that you’re missing something — a burned-out bulb — and that a breakthrough is waiting if only you could figure out what’s tripping the circuit.
Many Christians have one burned-out bulb in particular that dims their spiritual life: lack of evangelism.
Great Neglected Discipline
If we want to grow spiritually, we will include evangelism as a regular rhythm of life. Why? Because the Bible gives strong warnings about being merely a hearer of the word, not a doer (James 1:22–25; Hebrews 5:12–14). Always learning but never sharing quickly turns your life into a spiritual swamp rather than the river, the channel, the conduit of blessing that God created you to be. As a friend of mine often says, “Beware of letting your knowledge outpace your obedience.”
And one of the best ways to enrich your faith in the gospel is to proclaim it to others. When we think about spiritual disciplines, we are used to thinking about Bible reading, prayer, generosity, worship, fellowship, service, and even fasting. Often, we fail to think about evangelism as a spiritual discipline. When we accept that evangelism is not an activity reserved for elite, specially gifted individuals but a calling for all Christians (Matthew 28:19; Colossians 4:5–6), we will find that it has numerous unexpected blessings.
Because evangelism is a theological, relational, and practical undertaking that engages the whole person, it can uniquely energize other spiritual disciplines, a dynamic I call “the collateral blessings of evangelizing.” In war, collateral damage occurs when a strike on a military target unintentionally harms civilians or destroys a nearby school or hospital. In contrast, collateral blessings happen when obedience to proclaim the gospel unexpectedly benefits other areas of your spiritual life. The blessings of evangelism come to those who don’t just talk about it but do it. So, consider nine collateral blessings of practicing evangelism on a regular basis.
1. Intensified Prayer Life
When you begin to tell others the gospel, you remember that only the Holy Spirit can change hearts, so you are motivated to pray for his convicting and regenerating work. You plead with the Holy Spirit to give you the words you need in the moment. Evangelists face stout opposition from Satan and his minions because nothing provokes them like encroaching on their territory. Spiritual warfare will sharpen your awareness of your dependence on God and drive you to pray.
2. Hunger for Scripture
When you start evangelizing, you may know a couple of solid gospel verses, such as John 3:16 and Romans 6:23 — and praise God that a couple scriptures can be enough to lead someone to faith. But you will not be satisfied with just a few tools in your belt; you will want to stock up on as many gospel verses as possible.
3. Holy Living
You realize that eternal souls are on the line, so you don’t want any sin in your life to impede your effectiveness as an evangelist or prevent you from being fully prepared for any good work (2 Timothy 3:17). You will cultivate a hunger and thirst for righteousness and grow to hate sin even more.
When you focus on yourself, you tend to become lethargic, restless, and self-indulgent. Evangelism puts your attention on others. It sparks love in your heart for the lost and shapes your lifestyle choices.
4. Deeper Theology
When someone shuts down your evangelism efforts by parroting sound bites from YouTube or TikTok, you’ll want to become well-versed in theology. Questions about the nature and character of God will no longer be theoretical but of intense relevance to your evangelistic conversations. Theologians want to know God, and evangelists want others to know God. Matthew Barrett ties these together when he writes, “Gazing at the beauty of the Lord is the premier ambition of the theologian, but the theologian’s task is incomplete if his heavenly gaze is for himself alone.”
Good theology compels us to evangelize, because anyone enraptured by God’s grandeur will long to see other people experience the joy that comes from knowing God, a desire that overflows into gospel proclamation. Not only that, but evangelists set new believers on a theological trajectory, so it is imperative that they lay a solid theological foundation. As one of my professors used to say, “Evangelists are frontline theologians.”
5. Engaged Apologetics
You never know whom you might encounter, so you’ll want to be able to provide thoughtful, compelling answers to possible objections from other cultures and religions. Being an expert in every worldview is impossible, and being able to outwit other people is not the goal, but being conversant with other points of view demonstrates love. Furthermore, understanding different viewpoints will allow you to tailor your gospel presentation to your audience (1 Corinthians 9:19–23). Of course, you shouldn’t wait until you’re an expert to speak up, but don’t remain willfully ignorant either. God blesses humble preparation, not presumption.
6. More Joy
Being used by God to lead someone to Jesus is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can have. No human can manufacture genuine conversion, but evangelists get to serve as spiritual midwives when people are born again. Those who quietly stay in their comfort zone miss out on the joy of being used by God for the salvation of souls.
7. Love for the Lost
It is easy to lock yourself away from the world, forgetting that you are called to be salt and light. Evangelism reminds you that there are still many ensnared by the devil (2 Timothy 2:26) and enslaved to worldly passions (Titus 3:3) — a position you once were in. Being intensely relational, evangelism provides opportunities to practice the second Great Commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). Indeed, one of the most loving things you can do for another person is to give them the gospel. As you share, you’ll find yourself more and more concerned with non-Christians’ struggles, confusions, questions, and plights.
8. Heavenly Hope
The gospel is the supreme message of hope. The gospel reorients your heavenly gaze. The more you hear the gospel, the more you look heavenward. When you evangelize, you are not only declaring this hope to those far from God but also reminding yourself of it, and the more you internalize the gospel, the easier it is to vocalize the gospel. The more you appreciate God’s love as manifest in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, the more evangelism becomes a joyful overflow of your deepening experience of God’s love.
9. God’s Glory
God is glorified when we bear much fruit (John 15:8). As J.I. Packer writes, “We glorify God by evangelizing, not only because evangelizing is an act of obedience, but also because in evangelism we tell the world what great things God has done for the salvation of sinners. God is glorified when His mighty works of grace are made known” (Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, 75). And particularly so when we commend them with manifest joy.
Learn, Love — and Labor
Discipleship involves the whole person: head, heart, and hands. Disciples need to learn, to love — and to labor for others to learn what they’ve learned and love what they love. They need information, affection, and application. Approaches that are too narrowly focused succeed only in producing stunted, malformed disciples. The whole person must be sanctified.
Of course, evangelism is not the only ingredient needed for a healthy discipleship recipe, but it is an often overlooked ingredient. Evangelism is a potent tool for discipleship because it challenges believers to grow in knowledge, love, and obedience. Once incorporated into a believer’s regular rhythm of life, evangelism creates an explosion of collateral benefits.
Desiring God