There is an approach to evangelism that is based not on our impressive scholarship, but on our displayed dependency; a way of witness that requires neither charisma nor salesmanship… In fact those things may be enemies to its effectiveness. No preacher, no pastor, no missionary anywhere, is better positioned to share Jesus with your friends than you are. Unlock the forces of ‘tribe’ and ‘testimony’ to reach the student next door.

 

<vagabond title slide>

You already know what you need to know to be incredibly effective in sharing your faith. 

<definition slide>

A vagabond is a person who wanders from place to place without a fixed home.  He’s not a super established – super impressive type person.  He doesn’t have all the answers – he’s a pretty laid back fellow. 

Related terms are Vagrant, Tramp, Hobo, or… maybe the best one… Bum.

It’s a picture of someone a long – long way from how we usually do evangelism.

We like to do evangelism from a place of security and safety.

                                                                        <home court advantage>

Either we want home court advantage

OR

We want to promise, “Hey, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for you life.”

OR

<all the answers>

We want to come across as some kind of person who has all-the-answers…

We want to say “Hey, I’m doing better than you are doing.. Be like me.”

<this NOT that>

There are strategies that just don’t work as well.  We want to adopt a strategy that works.

 

People that don’t follow Jesus are uncomfortable with a super pushy, super press-for-decision, super artificial type of evangelism.  And amazingly – People that DO follow Jesus are uncomfortable with this super pushy, super artificial type evangelism also. 

They don’t like it.   We don’t like it.  AND  it’s not very effective.  But we keep doing it. 

Why?        

1. Because we think that’s what we’re supposed to do. We hear a lot about boldness – and so we think evangelism has to be a thing where we summon our courage and really get in somebody’s face. 
2. Because we don’t really have an alternative – it seems like it’s either do the pushy evangelism that everybody else is advocating – OR don’t do anything because it’s too awkward – and then we kind of feel bad because deep down – we know we should be doing something.

But what if we didn’t have to come from a place of power.  What if we didn’t need home-court advantage. What if we didn’t need to be experts, or super heroes?

What if we could be ourselves.  Put ourselves in places we’re comfortable.  And be effective.

Here’s a different approach…

“Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread.”

                                                                                                                                    D.T. Niles

 

Do we want to approach people from a position of power?

…a position of special ability – special knowledge?

Do we want our message to be ‘I’m an expert, I’m kind of a big deal.’

                                            OR

Do we want to approach people from a position of relatability or friendship.

Do we want to say, “I’m not that different from you.”

This idea – if you think about it – is at the very center of the gospel itself.

Jesus didn’t just parachute in a aid-package, Jesus became one of us.

 

The Values of Vagabond Evangelism:

• Lower not Higher
• Listening not Telling
• Long term not hit-and-run

 

Vagabond evangelism – is saying you and me are in it together – this condition of being human – and we’re going to share with you.

SHARE

• Truth
• Testimony
• Tribe

We want to share the gospel message, and we want to share ourselves (especially our own stories), and we want to share our community of friends. 

Truth

Gospel map
Here’s a quick map just to remind us where we’re going as we’re talking with people about the Gospel.  These are irreducible elements of salvation.

1. Faith
2. Atonement
3. Repentance

 

Testimony

Testimony scaffolding
Scaffolding: a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction

<2 minute testimony workshop>

• [Lab] 2-MINUTE TESTIMONY WORKSHOP
  Write Your Story J  Use the following guidelines to write your personal testimony (the story of your experiences with God and the changes that have occurred in your life).  Practice it with a friend.  Once you have developed your two minute testimony you’ll be surprised how often you have a chance to share it.

Some guidelines to Remember when writing your Testimony: (stolen/adapted from Power Evangelism, by John Wimber – p. 96):

• Write out a clear account so that it can be read in less than five minutes. Memorize the main ideas and bounce it off a Christian friend.  When you are telling it – it will run faster than when you are reading the whole thing.  The goal is to get it down to 2 minutes.
• Keep clearly in mind what the content of the gospel is, especially focusing on the work of Christ on the cross.
• Write in the 1^st person using ‘I’ and ‘me’.
• Write in such a way that others can identify with you
• Offer enough details to arouse their interest
• Try to use Scripture, quoting to illuminate something that happened to you. Quote it from memory.
• Don’t be too wordy.
• Don’t focus on how bad you used to be. The goal is to share the King and the Kingdom of God.
• Don’t present your life now as a ‘bed of roses’. Be honest.  If they know other Christians, they know that we are not perfect.
• One other thing:
• If you were saved as an adult, it makes the most sense to write a ‘chronological’ testimony. This tells what you were like before you came to Christ, how you were converted, and how your life has changed since believing in Christ. 
• If you were saved as a child, the ‘thematic’ testimony is probably best. The thematic approach focuses on how Christ has made a difference with a problem or challenge in your life.  The emphasis is on how Christ can meet our needs and give us purpose for living

 

Tribe

1. Coach your Christians to understand you want non-Christian people.
2. Take your smallgroup people out to do contact evangelism.
3. Make it okay to ‘pass’ in your group.
4. Spend time like family – not just 1-1.
5. Just let people be around you – share your life.

 

STEP 1            Enlist a partner in crime

STEP 2            Pray up

STEP 3            Find your people

STEP 4            Pray like

STEP 5            Share