Evangelism should be the #1 concern of every church. We are only on this earth for a short time ( “…whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” –James 4:14). Are we here to worship God? to study His word? to grow spiritually? The answer to all three is ‘yes,’ but our main reason for being on this earth is to be a witness.
Witnessing is the only thing we can do here on earth that we won’t be able to do in Heaven. In Heaven, we will have perfect worship and perfect knowledge. But we won’t be able to witness to anyone in Heaven — there are no lost souls there!
While we are here on earth, we need to take every opportunity to witness to everyone we see. We can’t just tell by looking at someone if they are saved or not, can we? Charles Spurgeon said, “No pursuit of mortal men is to be compared with that of soul-winning.”
Hell is a real place. It’s not imaginary, or a horror story that should be used to scare people into coming to Jesus. Hell is our punishment for breaking God’s law, and each and every one of us deserve to be there (“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” — Romans 3:23). But we have the assurance of Heaven through Jesus Christ, and we should be telling everyone about His saving grace.
If you’re not one who easily talks to people you don’t know well — or at all — then using tracts could be a good way for you to spread the message of Christ. We all at sometime strike up a short, casual conversation while standing in line at the grocery store, or waiting for your children to finish ball practice or gymnastics class, or just going about your daily routines and errands. Why not end that brief conversation with, “Have you gotten one of these yet?” and hand them a tract. It’s that simple! It does help to strike up a conversation with them, though — many people won’t take something that is just handed to them when they pass by. When you ask them “have you gotten one of these yet?” it makes them think they’re missing out on something (which they are!) and they are more likely to take the tract and read it. Some of the most unusual and most interesting tracts available are from Ray Comfort.
Let’s all follow Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19 and “make disciples of all nations.”