Prayer, Care, and Share
A straight forward approach to pointing others to Jesus
(Developed from material by Lon Alison, Billy Graham Center for World Evangelism)
Prayer
The first step towards a purposeful dependence upon God is prayer. We acknowledge our need for Him to act. In prayer, we raise up the lives and needs of the lost. We ask God to open the doors of their heart. We pray for opportunities to share our faith. We confess for our fears. We listen for and anxiously await God’s timing.
Care
How we express God’s love to those for whom we are praying is through our care for them. In simple acts of genuine care we allow Jesus to speak through us. We identify with the real and felt needs of the person and learn to pray more specifically. As God opens the door, baking cookies or inviting a co-worker to lunch is a second step.
Share
As the Lord provides the right timing and we listen to His voice through prayer, we step out and boldly trust God for the words to initiate a conversation about the Good News in a relevant way. If our friend is receptive, we can ask more probing questions and try to address his or her concerns. Through this process we help our friend take another step towards Christ in their faith journey. If he or she isn’t interested at the moment, then we continue to evangelize by prayer and care, awaiting another God given opportunity to help them take another step. In this way we are not forcing a message, but rather joining the process that God is directing in our friends’ life.
Hang in there
We so often understand evangelism as a single event that leads someone to the point of salvation. If he or she rejects our initial attempt to share, we either feel like a failure or wonder if there is anything more that can be done. I think that this simple 4 point approach reflects the idea that evangelism is a process and salvation is an event. Our desire as ambassadors for Christ is to help people continue in the process, or journey that will lead them to salvation and an ongoing relationship with Jesus. As we join our friends through prayer, care, and share, we are encouraged to hang in there!