Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . A Right Attitude.

There is a story, an illustration, that will help us to see how the devil does his work. The story tells how an elder went to visit all of the members on his responsibility list. He took a note pad and asked each member, “Do you have any complaints about the church, or the pastor?” Of course, upon completion of his visits, he had several pages of complaints.

When you are visiting with your circle of influence, family members, unchurched family or friends (or even your church friends for that matter), what do you say about your church? What does your body language or your actions say about your church, or for that matter, about your faith? Do you continually share with your circle of friends how disgruntled you are with your church, school, pastor, workers, etc? “I think the pastor should stop preaching about my sin.” “I think old so and so is a real . . . (hypocrite); I do not know why he even comes to church.” Then, do you follow this grumbling up with, “Hey, how would you like to come and visit with us next Sunday?” and wonder why you get an “I don’t think so” response?

We live in a sin-filled world. Because of sin, we are all, at times, susceptible to hopping on the “things are so bad” bandwagon. But we are God’s church, God’s people in this place, to do His work. With His working through us, we can do great things. A great proof of that is to look at the diversity of the disciples and see how Jesus’ love held them together.

If the elder in our story had asked each member, “What do you like about our church, school, pastor, etc?” or “What do think we are doing right?” He would have helped the members to refocus away from the distractions of this world and on to the work that the Lord would have us to do.

When you are with your circle of influence, think about and talk about those things you like about your church and share that with them. As you sow, so shall you reap. You will be amazed at just how much better things will look when you start out with a positive (God-given) attitude, worked in you by Christ!

34 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs