Servant Evangelists

Perhaps bold evangelists get the most attention, but there's a type of evangelist who lives her faith where the rubber meets the road.

She's the servant evangelist, and Dorcas is a wonderful example (Acts 9:36-43). 

Dorcas wasn't in the forefront of the church preaching and teaching. She put her faith to work behind-the-scenes, doing good deeds and helping the poor.

We get an interesting view of her effectiveness in touching lives by "attending" her funeral. Her mourners brought articles of clothing she'd made for them and wept at the loss of their friend.

But it gets even more interesting: Dorcas spoke at her funeral. God breathed life back into her, recorded it in the Bible, and brought permanent attention to her behind-the-scenes evangelism.

If you're a servant evangelist, your contribution to the church may go unnoticed, but as long as you are unashamed to share that Jesus inspires your service, you can be extremely effective.

This last week, I've shared that "Real Evangelism" is a process in which many are involved--jumpers, apologists, name droppers, and servants. And these are only a few of the many ways we share Christ with our world. You may be a mixture of these styles or have a style that fits none of these categories. Whatever your style, I encourage you to use it for Jesus!

Name Droppers

A Christian friend told me she was convinced Christ was real because her neighbor talked about Him so naturally.

For most of us, this is the most natural way to share Christ--unashamedly dropping His Name into our everyday conversations.

It may be as small as telling someone we'll pray for them or as big as sharing how Christ changed our entire life. 

Name dropping is not only a natural way to share Christ, it's also highly effective. 

We don't need to present the whole Gospel in every conversation. If we're sharing with strangers, we should share what God's Spirit prompts us to share. God will fill in the gaps as He sees fit.

If we're speaking to friends and neighbors, we'll have opportunities to piece the Gospel together over time.

We talk about bold jumpers like Peter and apologists like Paul, but we mustn't forget that we can be an effective evangelist simply by sharing our big and little testimonies in everyday conversations.