Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.
Acts 9:36
All the widows stood beside him [Peter] weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.
Acts 9:39
If I stood before a congregation of a thousand devoted believers and asked the question, “How many of you would say you are really good at evangelism?” I think almost no one would raise their hands.
The reason why probably less than 1% would claim to be good at evangelism is because of the way we think about evangelism—that scary word. For many of us, we immediately picture in our minds someone who is not only extremely outgoing but is skilled in steering a conversation towards the gospel. You know, they start with the weather, flow into how the Patriots are doing this season, and then quickly bring the conversation to the day when we all stand before the judgment of Jesus. They are the kind of people who get the waitress to join hands with them in a restaurant to pray over the meal. They are the ones who always share the gospel with the person next to them on an airplane.
In all my years of being a Christian I can honestly say I’ve only known a handful of people who fit this description. They are exceptional. But, are the rest of us just terrible at evangelism?
I believe Dorcas, mentioned in the verses above, was excellent at evangelism. She was known for her love and generosity. It seems she had a special talent for making garments. After she died, the local widows, who received garments made by Dorcas, were weeping over her loss.
I’ve had to take clothing to local tailors on many occasions and have noticed most of them are quiet souls. Being a tailor often involves working alone for long periods of time. My guess is that Dorcas was introverted. I don’t think she would fit our portrait of the outgoing evangelist. And yet, she clearly had a powerful impact upon the widows in her town.
Euangelizo
Evangelism can be quiet. In fact, some of the most effective evangelists are people of few words. The actual word “evangelism” isn’t in the Bible, but it comes from several similar Greek words carrying ideas like “good news” and “proclaiming the gospel.” Evangelism is simply the act of announcing the message of Jesus in word or deed. The most obvious form of evangelism would be a preacher communicating the gospel message to a crowd of people with the intent of reconciling them to God. Evangelism, however, is not limited to this one form—it can be done in thousands of different ways.
Be encouraged that you don’t need to be Billy Graham or like that super extrovert who tells everyone, everywhere about Jesus. You don’t need to be like that guy in your church who seems to bring someone different each week to the Sunday service. You don’t need to be like that woman you know who shares Jesus with someone in line at the grocery store and leads them to tears of repentance in aisle three. As I said, I think these types of people are less than 1% of the Christian population. We don’t need to awkwardly try to imitate these rare, uniquely gifted saints. Instead, we should do what we do most naturally.
Whatever you do
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17
Consider the phrase, “whatever you do.” Could that be any more expansive of the full range of things we say or do? It encompasses thousands of vocations and hobbies and special interests. It includes the full orb of ordinary activities. Evangelism is not one thing, but it is any thing we do or say for the glory of God.
To glorify God means to show forth His excellencies. It is to do or say things that point to the goodness, the beauty, or the truth of God. It could be preaching a sermon, or making a garment, or working as a cashier, or baking bread for neighbors, or writing for a newspaper, or serving on a town committee, or playing in a soccer league. It could be fixing cars, or being a nurse, or delivering the mail. Evangelism is not what we do but how we do it. Anything we do, within the generous bounds of righteousness, can be done in a way that points to Jesus. Paul even mentions the simplest of activities, eating and drinking, can be done for the glory of God.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31
Evoking wonder
No matter what it is that we do, if it is done in a way that is generous, merciful, kind, pure, honest, hardworking, and so on, it has a way of evoking curiosity in those around us. For example, someone on your sports team does something to wrong you. Everyone on the team finds out. Instead of being angry, you forgive the person. Or, everyone in your friend group decides to cheat on a test. You refuse. Or, everyone in the workplace makes fun of a certain uncool person. You don’t join in. Or, the boss is away for the week. Everyone slacks off because the boss isn’t watching them. You, however, keep working hard.
When these kinds of virtuous acts become a pattern in our lives it causes people to notice and wonder why we do things the way we do things. They may try to explain away our virtue, saying that we are just trying to make money, or we are trying to get on the coach’s good side. They may think our virtue is phony and that we’re just self-righteous and pompous. But when we persistently exhibit virtue in a variety of situations it becomes harder and harder for people to explain it away.
Point to Jesus
What will you say when someone asks you why you are so joyful or why you work so hard even when the boss isn’t around? What will you say when someone asks you why you don’t join them in getting drunk? What will you say when someone asks you why you so quickly forgive a person who hurts you so deeply? It’s easy in those moments to credit ourselves. In so many words we say, “Well, that’s just the sort of excellent human being I am.” Or, to avoid identifying with Christ, we give some other vague secondary reason like, “That’s how I was raised” or “I’m happy because I just got a new puppy.”
When someone asks us why we do what we do, it is an opportunity to glorify Christ. For example, if we forgive our boss who treated us unjustly and embarrassed us in front of the whole staff, we can tell someone who asks that we forgive because God forgave us. It’s a perfect opportunity to tell them how undeserving we were of God’s grace, but God washed all of our sin and guilt away. If we are generous to someone, and they ask us why we are being so generous, we can point to the generosity of God. We are being generous because we are imitators of our Father in heaven who is generous. If we are questioned why we would advocate for a person that everyone seems to dislike, we can tell people this is how Jesus would treat the person. We can tell them we are striving to be like Jesus in this world.
Spirit-born virtue
In order for this quiet evangelism to work, two things are essential. The first is that we must have the virtue of Christ. We don’t need to be perfect; no one is. But, we must be genuine to the core. People are pretty skilled, in general, at detecting a phony. They know if we are just acting virtuous, or, if we really are virtuous.
The virtue I’m talking about is much more than our best human effort to be good. It is the purity, kindness, mercy, love, and other qualities that come from our union with Christ. It’s not human virtue but Spirit-born virtue. It’s a manifestation of the glory of God in and through us. There are a lot of people in the world who aren’t Christian who do good things. The kinds of works that we as Christians can do are things that cannot be easily explained. For example, there are times in history during terrible plagues when people fled for safety. Many Christians, however, stayed with the sick and dying pagans to care for them and ended up dying themselves. That expression of selflessness is baffling and causes people to wonder why Christians would do that.
Identity in Christ
The second thing that is essential in this quiet evangelism is that we are not ashamed of our identity with Christ. I think of the 16 year old boy being mocked in the locker room by the other boys because he refuses to look at pornography. They taunt him saying, “What’s the matter? Are you afraid your mommy will disapprove?” They laugh at him for being such a prude. Rather than trying to explain that looking at pornography is offensive to his mother—and to women everywhere—it’s best to plainly tell the locker room boys that you want nothing to do with porn because you are devoted to Christ and pornography offends Him. Tell them you are serious about following the commands of God and that you are striving to not be a hypocrite. When people question why we do what we do, it’s best to just plainly tell them that it is because of our devotion to Christ. Tell them it is your supreme aim in life to please God.
Be encouraged!
Hopefully, what I’m saying is encouraging to you. It’s not necessary to be a gifted orator who preaches the gospel to large crowds. You don’t need to be outgoing and able to steer conversations with strangers towards their desperate need to repent and believe. Rather, do what you’re good at. Lean into your particular strengths and interests. It’s not what you do that matters most, but it’s how you do what you do. Do everything for the glory of God. Let your works point to Christ. As soon as someone asks you the question, “why?”—be ready to say, “because of Christ.” We don't need to be loud and outgoing. We don’t need to be wordy. We don’t need to be gifted preachers or saturated in social grace. We simply need to be the best version of ourselves. Do the things you do best, and do them to the best of your ability. And when you stir curiosity in people and evoke them to wonder why you do what you do—be not ashamed to point to Christ. This is the way all of us normal—and even shy—Christians can be great at evangelism.