Evangelistic Efforts over Email?! Part One: K. October 9th, 2018
- hemadeusalive
- Nov 18, 2018
- 5 min read
Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ”
When I first arrived in Scotland for my study abroad experience, I expected to share the Gospel with many Scottish-natives. This has not been the case thus-far. I have actually only been able to pass out literature and share the Gospel with my study-abroad group (all Americans) and people back in America. Concerning the latter, I feel like this is good; I know that the physical distance between me and unbeliever friends is what affords me this opportunity. I am not sure that I would have shared the Gospel with them if I were still around them presently, so praise God for that!
Whenever I do not share the gospel, it is because of my fear of man. It is a common theme in my posts, mostly because I desire to be transparent with those who read. My sin abounds and I am thankful for God, Who forgives me and still uses me to sow the seed of His Word. I am going to tell you about an experience I have recently had, over EMAIL of all things.
Technology is a tool that can be a blessing, and I am glad that the Lord gave me the opportunity to witness in this format. I would like to preface that this is far from my preferred method of sharing the Gospel. There have been instances where I have hidden behind a screen to say hard truths, and that boundary is what lessened the fear in my heart. However, this is a pretty unique situation in two ways: I only communicate with two friends through this format (a post about the other friend coming soon), and my fear was VERY MUCH present when writing these email’s. I was moved to the point of tears at several points, to be blunt. That being said, I am so very glad I did send this email. Sowing the seed of the Gospel is a task that we can be 100% successful in; it will definitely land on one of the four types of soil (Matthew 13).
This encounter that I had was with a friend I’ve known since high school, K. We have known each other almost as long as I have been a Christian, and I had never shared the Gospel with her. I type those words out with great sadness. I long to be like the woman at the well who, upon receiving God’s grace and mercy, rushes to tell every soul she knows about Him (John 4)! I am thankful the Lord gave me the opportunity and strengthened my heart, almost six years after my conversion!
To put it simply, K and I communicate over email because it is the most convenient medium for the both of us while I am abroad. We had kept up a correspondence since I left in August, and in October she sent me an email that was a little concerning. Without going into too much detail, this person has been struggling with depressive thoughts, difficult circumstances, and a lot of the changes that young people face. It greatly troubled me to see her without hope, and I struggled for a couple of hours with the decision to share the Gospel with her. I wanted to witness so that she would know the Lord, put her hope in Him, and be shaped by a biblical worldview. I also did not want to create an irreversible conflict in our friendship, because I love her and enjoy being friends with her. How backwards is that? THIS is fearing man more than God.
With some encouragement from my brothers and sisters (and much prayer), I wrote a very long email. Much of it was semi-plagiarized from Todd Friel’s DON’T STUB YOUR TOE booklet. I am thankful to God that I was able to have a written framework of the Gospel with bible references, and it proved to be very handy in this situation. I started by writing about the depravity of the world, which was something she briefly discussed in the previous message. I talked specifically about my own sins against other’s to prove that we are not good. Then, I lamented the fact I had never shared the Gospel with her in the time I had known her. I wanted to be as honest as possible with her, and so I told her that as my love for her grew, the more I felt led to share the Gospel with her.
From there, I pretty much followed the tract, which is modeled the Way of the Master method. I omitted bits of some of the more thorough paragraphs, saying that I would be more than happy to discuss those certain points with her at length if that was her desire. I also added some sentences in order to simplify or explain certain things, like repentance. At the end, I told her that the only reason I was doing this was because I cared for her soul. Then I sent it.
It was a hard email to send. The entire time I tried to anticipate different things she would say and then counter them, but also tried to be simple. It is hard not to be critical and recognize that in sending the Gospel to someone, I am doing what God commands of me.
She emailed me a couple weeks later, mostly with a life update. At the end, she told me that she read and re-read my email, but couldn’t think of a response that would please me. She wrote that she had no desire to convert, and didn’t think she would for the rest of her life. She also noted that she would rather not discuss it any further, because she doesn’t think that would be ‘productive’, seeing as we are friends. That part confused me a bit, but I did not bring it up any further afterwards.
Our friendship is still intact, but I would rather the Lord save her than us be friends in this life only. Please pray for her conversion, and that the Lord would work in her heart through her circumstances and her friends. Please pray for me and my fear of man and that I would be loving, gracious, kind, and obedient when sharing the Gospel.
**** Additionally, please pray that the Lord saves my cousin. She has started going to an on-campus bible study at her college, and has been reading His word recently. I have been having small conversations with her, and I have been encouraged by this situation. I do not think she is saved, but I am praying that the Lord saves her. Thank you!
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