The Gift Zone

Just this past week, my husband and I were talking about spiritual gifts and whether or not all believers are expected to evangelize...

Evangelize according to the Amplified Bible:

Evangelism is teaching (heralding, proclaiming, preaching) the gospel (the message from God that leads us to salvation) with the aim (hope, desire, goal) to persuade (convince, convert).

What picture comes to your mind when you see the word evangelist?  If you are like me, you picture a person going door to door or to a popular event handing out Gospel tracks.  Or you may picture a person, no matter who they are talking to, stranger or friend, will share the Gospel with the hope of converting.  I admire people like that.  My Pastor and several of my long-time friends fit the very picture I painted of an evangelist.

I started to feel convicted when my church was going to be handing out Gospel tracts at our town's big 4th of July parade, a parade that sees over 100,000 people descend upon our quaint little town.  You see, walking up to complete strangers to start a conversation of any sort, is way out of my comfort zone.  Yet I know we are called to leave our comfort zones, trusting in God's strength to buoy us in our weakness.

I posed the question to my husband of whether everyone is called to be an evangelist - "out on the streets".  He responded with the following verse:

And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, {some} to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry,

 to build up the body of Christ,

Ephesians 4:11

I can remember a situation where a person was fulfilling a role in a Christian setting, but wasn't really gifted at all for the position, so much so that it became a delicate situation.  The leaders prayed about a way to lovingly persuade the person to follow an area that was more within their giftedness.  It turned out, the person really didn't enjoy what they were doing in the original role, and it all worked out for the best when they were then utilized in an area of their gifting.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy,

 in proportion to our faith;  if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;  

the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:4-8

It would seem that the verses above would indicate that not all are called to be evangelists in the street-corner preaching or out on the streets sense of the word.

But I do believe we are all called to share our faith and the Gospel as the Lord presents opportunities.  I have spoken about it before here on the blog, what I will call  "urge to push evangelism" where the Holy Spirit prompts me in such a powerful way to share the Gospel, and it might even be to a complete stranger!

There are also other ways that we can evangelize within our own giftedness, and that's okay too.  Whether through serving, teaching Sunday School, in our relationships with family and neighbors, building new relationships or in a ministry close to our hearts.  {For me, it was a ministry the Lord laid upon my own heart to create, the Ephesians 6:15 Sock Ministry, where over 1000 U.S. Marines received a Gospel of  John tract.}

Evangelism looks different for everyone and that is the beauty of the Body of Christ.  Just like there are many ways to share the Gospel, there are many ways the Lord has prepared a person to receive the Gospel.

This doesn't mean I won't ever participate in street evangelism, but I will trust the Lord to nudge me, if and when that time comes.

This also doesn't mean I will never do something outside of my comfort zone...

I will actually be participating in a Women of Faith Conference at our church where we are hoping to minister to homeless women and those with little means.  You might say, "Well Karen, what makes this different than street evangelism?  There will still be strangers there that you will be interacting with."  And yes, I would say you are right!   Indeed, this will be outside of my comfort zone, but the difference is, this is in my wheelhouse of gifting.  The Lord has blessed me with the gift of teaching and mentoring, and I believe both will be utilized at this conference, to God be the Glory.

I think we are more likely to leave our comfort zones when some portion of our gifting is part of the activity; even though we might not realize it...

Again, I want to reiterate that I know that we can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens us.  And I do believe it is good to stretch our spiritual gifting muscles, but I also believe it is okay to not serve in a particular area if  the activity is outside of our gifting or we have not had that "urge to push".

We are the body of Christ and as such, we all operate in different capacities within our Gift Zone so that the Gospel will go forth in a wide variety of ways to reach the broadest audience in the hopes that many will come to a saving knowledge of  the Lord Jesus.

Let us all be ready to give an answer for the Hope that lies within us ...

THE GOOD NEWS!

 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Romans 10:9-10

*NOTE* When I sat down at the computer, I was just planning on writing a short post to tell you all that I would be back next week with a full blog post. The reason,  I was called to participate in an exciting project this past week, one that I will share more about in the coming weeks.  Because of the time spent on that project, I didn't have any content for a blog post.  Or so I thought... 

As I was reflecting upon how much the Lord was in everything {I} accomplished for this exciting project, it caused me to think about gifting once again; the apparent lesson of my week!  And so I wrote...  


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