Missional Millennials (part 4): Evangelism through community

Not all Christians know how to have a good time, but they should. We’ve cornered the market on “piety” and “reverence,” but in the process, lost our God-given sense of “joy” and “fun.”

Christians should repent of their inability to party.

Evangelism is the proclamation of good news! Why so dreary all the time?? Is it just me, or does the thought of “evangelism” sometimes provoke in us the imagery of a door-to-door salesmen, trying to sell a product he doesn’t want, to a stranger he doesn’t know? Perhaps if that’s the way you feel about the caricature of street-corner evangelism, you should try a different method of spreading our “good news.” May I suggest relational evangelism. It’s simple. You get to know people, you live life with them, you suffer with them, you party with them, and along the way, you teach them about Jesus. Of course, this takes quite a bit more investment than door-to-door sales, but it has a better return too. And Jesus rarely preached to people from a distance; he hung out with them, ate in their living rooms, and shared meals with them. Guess what…he often got to know them at parties. (gasp!)

We’ve already looked at the discipling effects of a Christ-centered community on a growing Christian. Now imagine what that would do for a non-believer?

In recent months, I’ve seen people who have been redeemed from many variations of oppression by the power of Jesus Christ. But I’ve also seen some of those same people fall away within less than a year, because they were not connected to the body of Christ in meaningful community.

Many of these people start their new life in Christ (identity) by leaving the old groups that are damaging them spiritually, emotionally, and even physically.

But you can’t just stop hanging out with the old crowd; you’ve got to replace it with a new one.

And a Christ-centered community must be more engaging to newer believers than their former one. Otherwise, when young men and women who are still maturing in their faith encounter a life situation they can’t handle, they will often fall back into their old social patterns, in order to fill the void of support and community that WE should have provided. I never use all caps, but this is begging for it…

EVANGELISM SHOULD NOT BE DONE IN ISOLATION OR IN A RUSH.

To evangelize someone is to introduce them to a new identity in Jesus and walk with them through the rhythms of worship in community for as long as it takes.

We get into trouble when we focus “discipleship” only on Christians, and only “evangelism” for the non-believer. The two become a sweet mixture, however. When you have an opportunity to bring an outsider into Christ-centered fellowship and celebration, you are beholding something beautiful: God’s expansion of God’s kingdom through God’s Church.

Britt Merrick once said, “God chooses to work alongside people, not independently of people.”

So what are you waiting for? Throw a celebration with your Christian community, and invite some visitors!

Related articles

• Missional Millennials (part 2): Discipleship through worship (christopherlazo.com)
• Missional Millennials: Worship through Identity (Part 1) (christopherlazo.com)