Updated Friday, March 07, 2008

Servant evangelism finds connections to people

By Bob Burchette

Special to The Recorder

GREENSBORO - "Jesus didn't get in trouble hanging out with the good people but because he was hanging out with lepers, prostitutes and people like that," said David Wheeler during a workshop at the 61st annual Evangelism & Church Growth Conference at Lawndale Baptist Church in Greensboro.

Find ways to connect with people, he said. Wash a stranger's car or buy someone you don't know a meal. Give a light bulb, or clean a commode. Wheeler suggested these possible ways to get to know people and impact them for Christ.

"It's all about caring for folks ... and carrying God's word to them," he said.

Wheeler, an evangelism professor at Liberty Theological Seminary in Virginia, is associate director of the university's church planting and ministry training center.

Animated and excited, Wheeler called for pastors "to be different" to reach people for Christ. Christians can participate in events with non-believers and find ways to impact them for Christ, he added. His session on "Outside the Walls ... Impacting Your Community through the Power of Servanthood," emphasized ways to respond to the unchurched with a personal perspective.

"Servanthood evangelism is a combination of simple acts of kindness and intentional personal evangelism," he said. "Understand what kindness means. It does not mean telling people what they want to hear so they will feel good about themselves," Wheeler said.

"When doing an act of kindness, the witness says, 'I am doing this to show the love of Jesus in a practical way.' Then the Holy Spirit opens the door," he said. Servanthood evangelism involves the biblical model - intentionally sharing Christ, he said.

"How do we respond to them (the non-believers)?" Wheeler asked. "Do we evade - run away from them? Or do we pervade (try to overpower them) or invade (tell them about the incarnate Christ)?"

"We get mad at lost people for acting lost. Jesus didn't hate lost people. Jesus hated sin," Wheeler said.

He emphasized that Christians through the power of servanthood evangelism can get outside the walls of the church for ministry.

Among Wheeler's points were:

The power of servanthood evangelism can impact your community for Christ.

This method of evangelism reestablishes the Bible paradigm of seeking non-Christians outside of the normal religious structure. There are three principles to follow: Plow through prayer; plant the gospel seed; and harvest, he said.

Evangelism is not a gift reserved for a few. Rather, it is the call of the entire church.

Servanthood evangelism is transgenerational, transcommunicational, transcontextual and transcultural.

The bottom line: "People will not believe the truth until they first see the truth demonstrated in us."

Three challenges: We must go to the world of lost people, not expecting them to come to us. We must start with their agenda and not our own. We must focus on Jesus by first modeling and then sharing His life message.

To impact others by servant evangelism, Wheeler said, "Keep it simple and fun! Relax."

He also said, "Be genuine! In this culture people are not offended by our warts."

(EDITOR'S NOTE - Burchette is a retired writer/editor for the Greensboro News and Record and a member of Green Street Baptist Church.)