Maybe it's not that difficult...

Everyone I know is an evangelist...Everyone.

It's something we do constantly without often having any intent or even awareness that we are doing it.

It rarely offends anyone, is most often done quite sensitively and leaves most people with a clear opportunity to respond.

We are all evangelists; sharing with friends, colleagues, and neighbours the good news we've discovered about restaurants, TV shows, and music.

Few of us hesitate to mention in conversation that we ate a good meal out last weekend. We're comfortable hearing that from a friend and naturally consider whether we might want to have a similar meal ourselves without feeling threatened. We feel free to ask more about the restaurant, where it is, how expensive it is, whether there's a dress code or not... We might even suggest going with out friend the next time they go.

We're also comfortable telling others about new friendships we've made in most cases without pressure. If there seems to be commonality between our two friends we might even suggest introducing them or doing something together.

But somehow when it comes to Jesus it takes on this ominous tone. We cramp up and feel overwhelmed and unequipped. Churches spend big money on Evangelism plans, courses, and materials. We hope that some other person with the gift of evangelism will take on this onerous burden.

Salespeople generally know that a personal reference is the most valuable marketing tool. We just bought a car from a dealer because they had given my parents a good deal and they gladly did the same for us.

I wonder what would happen if we just determined to speak as openly about our faith and our churches as we do of our favourite movies...