General Verses Specific Witness
Context
Theology is a framework for people to understand the nature of God and the relationship between Him and everything else. Theology arises out of contexts - typically in response to new challenges, be they external or internal. Truth never changes, but certain aspects of it become more pressing for us at various times and for various reasons. In these moments, we seek to understand the same truth in a way which applies itself to our need.
For many long years I’ve sought to understand what God expects of me as it relates to personal evangelism. For the purpose of this article I will define personal evangelism as ‘the explicit and intentional engagement of an individual in the salvation journey of another person.’
The reason I have wrestled so greatly with God’s expectations for personal evangelism is because of the tension between these two points:
1.) I am both naturally responsibility-driven (that is, primarily motivated by a sense of what I am and am not supposed to do) and obsessive compulsive;
2.) Scripture clearly teaches that God’s mission is to reconcile all people to Himself and that He generally prefers to use people to accomplish this.
My personal traits interact with biblical teaching in such a way that what to the majority seems to be a productive challenge - ‘Go! Preach the Gospel!’ - is to me a crippling burden. If you have experience with OCD, or some other similar personal or mental health challenges, you’re likely already familiar with how this happens.
Take the following logical sequence:
If God wants to save all people,
and God wants to use people (like me) in this process,
and I am surrounded constantly by people who are not saved,
then how can I justify doing anything other than preaching the gospel?
For this logic I have received many affirmations from other faithful and well-meaning Christians. I suspect they see in it another encouragement to ‘Go! Preach the Gospel!’
What they aren’t able to understand is that to me, and to many like me, the question I posed is quite literal and incredibly painful.
For example, many are the times that I have spent hours in prayer to have only successfully prayed for several minutes. The rest of the time spent I was unable to pray because I was too guilty that I was not using my time to preach the gospel. In some other cases, I have tried going and preaching the gospel, rather than praying, to alleviate the anxiety. The effort was entirely unfruitful, because even in preaching I was miserable and dominated by anxiety.
After many years of this pain, an opportunity was afforded me to retreat into my shell and never speak to anyone. I medicated the pain by hardening my heart and refusing to even consider that God wanted to use me at all.
In mid/late 2024, God began changing my heart and leading me again to the lost. In this, the ‘great tension’ as I refer to it, quickly came to the forefront. How can I participate in God’s mission without becoming a miserable slave to anxiety?
What follows is my current answer to this question, born out of great struggle. Rather than a plan for personal evangelism, it is a framework for trying to answer ‘what does God expect from me in personal evangelism?’ in a manner that is both biblical and healthy.
General Witness
I usually contribute to God’s redemptive plan for humanity by living my normal life in personal holiness.
I work diligently, I care for my family, I exercise, I read the bible, I rest, etc… In all things I seek to grow in my faith in God and love for those around me. When, in the course of normal life, some conversation turns to God I refuse to hide out of fear or embarrassment. I love Jesus, so if He naturally comes up, I will not shy away from Him or His gospel. However, I make no effort to create these conversations.
Unless God initiates a moment of specific witness, which I will describe below, then I can go about my life in this manner without worrying that I am neglecting a divine responsibility.
Why?
We tend to make much of ourselves and little of God. The truth is that our lives are a vapor, and that God is eternal. We can do nothing, He can do anything. When I feel that I must perform some action for God to accomplish some purpose, I am out of balance. An example can clarify:
Let’s say some friends are coming over for a birthday party.
I begin to feel anxious well before the event, because some of them are not believers, and therefore I feel responsible to preach the gospel at the party, even though I don’t want to. If I don’t preach, I feel I am in some way responsible for their unbelief.
I have made too much of myself.
The truth is that I can not save anyone. Not a single person. I could preach for the rest of my life and no one would be saved.
Conversely, God could convict every single one of my friends of their sin while they were still at their house - and they would show up to my house weeping and ready to be baptized.
Therefore, as an act of trust in God, I prefer to never engage in personal evangelism unless I genuinely want to (anxiety and responsibility free) or God initiates a moment of specific witness.
Specific Witness
The Holy Spirit can so fill a person that His word burns in them like a fire shut up in their bones. It becomes painful not to speak, but to keep silent. I trust that God can and will so fill me when He desires to use me in personal evangelism. When He does, I will open my mouth and speak.
For example, the other day I was at the pediatrician for my daughter, being friendly but minding my own business (general witness).
When the doctor came in and started talking with my wife, I could hardly breathe. For no discernible physical reason, my heart was pounding and I knew that I knew that Jesus was calling this doctor to follow Him. I barely managed to keep quiet while she examined our daughter! If you know me, this truly is a miracle. I do not enjoy talking to strangers. Finally, I was able to open my mouth and tell her that Jesus was calling her. She asked me to stop talking before I made her cry, and she wasn’t even a follower of Jesus!
Closing Thoughts
This is not a complicated framework, but I think it’s moving in the right direction. The beauty is in the simplicity, and the success hinges on trust. I can avoid preaching out of guilt and fear because I trust both that God alone can save and that He can fill me beyond a shadow of a doubt when He wants to use me.
I didn’t reference any scripture portions directly, but I believe the logical claims are well grounded in biblical truth. Here are some small samples (not exhaustive by any means):
a.) On God’s mission (2 Cor. 5)
b.) On not denying Jesus (Luke 9:26)
c.) On personal holiness (1 Tim 2:1-3, 1 Pet. 1:16)
d.) On our personal power (James 4, 2 Cor. 12)
e.) On God’s power (the whole bible, Rom. 1:16, John 16:8)
f.) On the Holy Spirit (Jer. 20:9, the book of Acts - read my post here)
