The Pastor’s Perspective
By the Rev. Daniel W. Bellavia
April 2008
In 2002 an independent movie studio released the film, “My Big
Fat Greek Wedding.” The movie found it’s genesis as a small, successful one
woman show in Hollywood, that was written and performed by Nia Vardalos. When
the one-woman show caught the attention of Tom Hanks and his wife, they decided
that it might be worth the small investment of $5 million to translate her story
for the big screen. The movie came out without any of the grand studio fanfare.
No big budget advertising campaign. No cross-promotions with fortune 500
companies. No Happy Meal boxes. Within six months, it had become one the top
grossing films of the year. An investment of $5 million returned over $300
million in worldwide receipts. It earned only $60 million less than Star Wars
Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and George Lucas spent over $115 million just
to make the film! All in all it was one of the most financially successful movie
of the 21st century.
What happened was not the result of any slick marketing, but
simple “word of mouth” advertising. To put it in layman’s terms, people saw the
movie and told others how enjoyable it was. I remember when the buzz surrounding
the movie hit my church. People were telling their friends about the great movie
that they just saw. It was funny, clean, and real. It reminded them of their own
experiences. It was a story that they wanted to see, with normal, likeable
characters. Believe it or not, good word of mouth can trumpet even the most
aggressive of marketing campaigns.
Word of mouth. This is what evangelism is all about. We do it
all the time. Every day. Did you see the Super Bowl? Did you talk to your
friends about it? The NFL appreciates your evangelistic fervor. Did you ever
watch a movie and enjoy it so much that you decided to bring a friend and watch
it again? I’m sure that the local Cineplex appreciated your evangelistic
impulse. If you have ever passed along a book to a friend with the simple
statement, “you have to read this!” then you are an evangelist.
Simply understood, evangelism is sharing your enthusiasm for
something or someone with others. If you doubt me on this, allow me to indulge
in some Greek translation (I knew those classes would pay off someday). The word
that we get evangelism from is the Greek word euangelion, which is a noun that
means “good news” or “gospel.” An evangelist therefore is a messenger who
shares, brings, preaches, or proclaims good news.
If evangelism is simply the Greek word for sharing good news
then we suddenly must come to grips with the fact that we probably do evangelism
every day. We talk about the big game, we discuss politics, we tell our friends
about the movie we saw last night or the most recent development on Lost. We
have invented an entire new way of communicating throughout the globe that is
based on evangelism called the blogosphere that is based on sharing the things
we like. If you access someone’s My Space page you can discover what they like:
their music, their movies, their books, their passions. Do you have a My Space
page? Do you share your faith in Jesus on it or do you just spread the good news
about the new Gnarls Barkley or Muse album?
The problem for the Church is not that we are incapable of
evangelism, but that we often have so many other things to tell the people in
our lives. Sharing Jesus is not difficult, but it does take practice and
courage. The reason we have difficulty sharing Jesus is two-fold.
1. Though we are used to expressing our opinions about pop
culture and junk news we have been taught to avoid anything serious in our
conversations. Many of us intentionally avoid conversations about faith and
politics, because these topics can cause hard feelings or arguments. This
contributes to the superficiality of our lives in America, as the Church (the
salt and light of the world) maintains an uncomfortable silence in regards to
things of eternal importance. We think that we are being polite and that people
will appreciate this, but in the meantime radicalized Muslims have made another
dozen converts in Pakistan and Tom Cruise has shared his “barking-mad” religious
beliefs with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett. We must be willing to risk being real
and share our faith with those around us.
2. We don’t know what to say about our faith because we
haven’t taken the time to understand it ourselves. The primary reason people
avoid sharing Jesus with others is because they aren’t really sure if they know
Jesus, and they are definitely sure that they don’t understand the Bible well
enough to teach someone else about it. This is the most devastating reason why
we do not share our faith: it simply isn’t ready to be shared. Christian
immaturity should never be an excuse for lack of evangelism. Why? Because the
cure for immaturity is to “grow up!” We must take the time to grow in our
relationship with Jesus. If you want to grow up, then begin with the basic
disciplines of the faith: prayer and Bible study. If you are ready for the
expert course then you can begin to order your life around the work of God by
tithing your money and learning to utilize your spiritual gifts in order to
minister to others. Believe me, no one ever learned to discuss football without
watching a few games, and no one can share Jesus effectively without spending
time in scripture, prayer, and Godly living.
The good news about sharing the gospel is that we are not
without resources. Our primary resource is the Holy Spirit, who provides us with
spiritual gifts and a spirit of love in order to equip us in sharing our faith.
Another resource is the Church. Godly churches and pastors do their best to
equip the saints. For this reason I am inviting each of you to join us for a one
day training event on personal evangelism.
We will be gathering together at 12 noon on Saturday, May 3, for our first workshop on personal evangelism. We will discuss the
importance of sharing our faith, ways to determine whether someone is willing to
listen, and strategies for preparation. I urge you to attend this very important
session. It will improve your ability to serve God, and might well allow you to
share the gift of God’s salvation to someone you love.
Sharing Jesus by Word of Mouth
Rev. Daniel W. Bellavia
