By: Raymond Billy
If my experience is any indication, most Christians in the Millennial Generation (roughly those born in the 1980s and 1990s) do not favor the kind of evangelism shown in Scripture. That is to say, they do not believe that confronting strangers on the street and telling them the Gospel is an effective means of making disciples of Jesus. As an alternative to this approach, they favor “friendship evangelism” — making friends with non-Christians in the hope of gaining a platform to share the Gospel with them.
While I disagree with the notion that “classic”-style evangelism should be abandoned across the board, I would agree that the friendship model is a wonderful approach. Christians simply need to be more proactive about using this method. According to a LifeWay Research poll, only 27 percent of “born again” Millennials said they intentionally build relationships with non-Christians to share the Gospel with them. This was despite the fact that 85 percent of them said they have a responsibility to proclaim Jesus to the unconverted.1 Our intentions should be matched by our actions.
History suggests that few avenues for evangelism are more potent than friendship. The Barna Group once conducted a survey in which friends were found to be the greatest spiritual influencers among 20 percent Christians who converted after turning 13 years old. Friends were the most commonly cited catalysts for conversion among this demographic in that survey.
The Lord, himself, understood the power of friendship evangelism. When he cast a demon out of a man who lived near the ancient Palestinian town of Gerasa, the man was so grateful that he wanted to follow Jesus and the apostles on their missionary journey. Jesus would not permit the man to follow along. Instead, he commanded his new devotee to “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” I once co-led an outreach to Uganda in which evangelism was one of the focal points of our ministry. One teenager on the team was uncomfortable sharing the Gospel with strangers. He said he wished he had more time to develop relationships with the Ugandan people so that he wouldn’t feel as though he was being intrusive by giving them spiritual advice. Then he realized he had plenty of non-Christian friends back home in North America with whom he had never shared the Gospel or invited to church. He resolved to correct that oversight when he returned home from the three-month outreach.
Every Christian should seize opportunities (which are abundant if you’re looking for them) to share the Gospel with our non-Christian friends. We also must be keen to new opportunities for friendships with non-believers, understanding that we might end up being the only disciples of Jesus in their lives.
1. Ed Stetzer, “The State of Evangelism,” Christianitytoday.com, May 12, 2014
2. “Evangelism Is Most Effective Among Kids,” Barna.org, Oct. 11, 2004
3. Mark 5:1-20
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