What If Evangelism Looked More Like a Conversation?

Most people don’t understand why men and women of God go out on street corners, into stores, or other public places and loudly tell people about eternal life in Christ.

I have to admit, sometimes I’m one of those people.

Not because I disagree with what they’re saying.

Quite the opposite.

I believe Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. I believe the Gospel is the greatest news anyone could ever hear. And if we truly believe eternity is real, it makes sense that Christians would feel an urgency to tell people about it.

But I’ve started questioning something.

Is there another way to do it?

I recently watched someone preaching loudly inside a Walmart while another person filmed.

My first thought wasn’t that he should stop talking about Jesus.

My thought was:

What if he spent that same amount of time talking to people one at a time?

Instead of preaching across the checkout lines, what if he walked up to someone and asked their name?

How are you doing?

What do you believe?

Do you believe in God?

Has anyone ever actually explained the Gospel to you?

And then listened.

Really listened.

Public preaching isn’t the problem

I want to be careful here because Scripture gives us plenty of examples of truth being proclaimed publicly.

Jesus spoke to crowds.

Peter preached publicly at Pentecost.

Paul reasoned in synagogues and marketplaces.

The prophets publicly proclaimed the Word of God.

So I’m not interested in creating some rule that says public preaching is wrong and private conversations are right.

That would be difficult to defend biblically.

I’m asking a different question.

What is the goal?

Is the goal simply to make sure people heard the words?

Or is the goal to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Those aren’t always the same thing.

You can speak loudly enough for a hundred people to hear you while never knowing whether a single person actually listened.

But when you sit across from someone, everything changes.

You can ask questions.

You can hear their story.

You can understand what they believe.

You can discover the things keeping them from Christ.

And then you can share the Gospel with an actual person instead of an audience.

We are mostly just living

Most people you encounter today aren’t walking around thinking about eternity.

They’re thinking about work.

Bills.

Their marriage.

Their children.

What they’re making for dinner.

The text they just received.

The thing they’re worried about that nobody else knows about.

They’re mostly just…living.

And somewhere inside that ordinary life is a soul.

A person created in the image of God who may have never had another Christian sit down and genuinely ask:

What do you believe about Jesus?

That’s what keeps getting me.

What if our greatest opportunity isn’t always getting someone to stop and listen to us?

What if sometimes it’s stopping long enough to listen to them?

What if they saw something different first?

Ask someone how they’re doing.

Remember their name.

Help them when there’s nothing in it for you.

Listen when they’re hurting.

Show patience when everyone else is impatient.

Love someone who cannot advance your life.

Let them see something different about you.

And when they eventually wonder why, don’t point them toward yourself.

Point them toward Christ.

Tell them the truth.

Tell them about sin.

Tell them why we need a Savior.

Tell them about the cross.

Tell them that Jesus died and rose again.

Tell them about repentance, grace and forgiveness.

Don’t water down the Gospel to make someone comfortable.

But don’t make the Gospel into a performance either.

Truth and love aren’t enemies.

We can tell someone the complete truth while genuinely caring about the person hearing it.

Maybe both have a place

Maybe someone standing on a street corner proclaiming Christ reaches a person I never would.

Praise God.

Maybe someone hears one sentence walking through Walmart and thinks about it six months later.

Praise God.

I’m not interested in telling God which methods He is allowed to use.

But I also don’t want us to confuse being loud about Jesus with being faithful to Jesus.

Boldness isn’t measured in decibels.

Sometimes boldness is walking up to a stranger with no camera rolling and saying:

“Hey, how are you really doing?”

And staying long enough to hear the answer.

Sometimes it’s having a conversation nobody will ever see.

No video.

No likes.

No applause.

No proof that you did it.

Just two people and an opportunity to talk about Jesus.

Maybe that’s less impressive online.

But I’m not sure heaven measures impact the way social media does.

So maybe the question isn’t:

Should we preach on street corners or talk to people one on one?

Maybe the better question is:

Do I love this person enough to tell them the truth in a way that gives them the greatest opportunity to actually hear it?

Because evangelism isn’t about people seeing how bold we are.

It’s about people seeing Christ.

And sometimes the road to the cross might begin with something as simple as:

“What’s your name?”