Do you want to help your students utilize their God-given evangelism gear for maximum impact?
Of course, you do! So to wrap up this series on our amazing array of God-given evangelism gear, I want to dig into three essential “how-to’s.” These key steps will help our teenagers utilize their gear for maximum impact for Christ and His Cause.
Our God-Given Gear at a Glance
But first, let’s review the seven pieces of gear:
1. Every Person’s Inner Knowledge of God
2. Every Person’s Conscience
3. The Power of God’s Word
4. The Power of the Gospel
5. The Power of Prayer
6. A Life of Doing Good
7. Our love for other Christians
Some of our students will be more skilled in the use of one piece of gear than another. This is totally understandable. God has wired each of us differently, with varying strengths and weaknesses. But Christ calls all of us to work toward using ALL of these marvelous resources He’s put at our disposal. When we learn to do this, there’s a Holy Spirit inspired synergy that kicks in—and the overall combined effect is far more impacting than the sum of the individual parts.
So what are these three key steps that will help maximize the impact of your teenagers’ evangelism gear?
Step 1: Pray, pray, pray
At its root, sharing Jesus’ message is a spiritual endeavor that requires God’s supernatural involvement. The Apostle Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
We must help our students realize that the kind of spiritual “war” Paul is talking about here is not a war waged on their friends but for their friends. And since sharing the message of the gospel is a spiritual endeavor, prayer must be at the beginning, middle and end of all our efforts.
Ask yourself:
- Do your students understand that sharing their faith is not about being smarter, wittier or more intelligent?
- Do they understand the spiritual dimension of the battle being waged for the souls of their friends?
- Have you helped your students cultivate a habit of praying regularly for their unreached friends?
Step 2: Equip
These seven pieces of gear are not designed to be used in isolation. For maximum impact, we must equip our students to draw upon all of them. For example, “a life of doing good” is less impacting when you don’t know how to tap into “the power of God’s Word.” Or “our love for other Christians” could seem cliquish if we can’t explain the gospel message clearly to others. And so on.
Ask yourself:
- Are you students aware of their gear? Do they know how to use each piece? If not, do you have a strategy for helping them figure this out?
- Are they equipped to share their faith using both words and deeds?
- Do they know how to explain the gospel in a clear and compelling way?
(Note: If you’re looking for a way to jump-start this evangelism training process, consider bringing your students to a Dare 2 Share training weekend. We specialize in motivating and mobilizing teenagers to share their faith. You can learn more about these events by requesting a free DVD about the next training conference.)
Step 3: Rely on God’s power
Beyond equipping our teenagers with the practical faith-sharing skills they need, we must also give them the confidence of knowing that they are entering this battle for the souls of their friends with an unfair advantage. Their God-given gear has power to convince, convict, and transform. The apostle Paul recognized this in 2 Corinthians 6:7 when he noted he served God “in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left.”
Ask yourself:
- Do your students understand the Biblical truth that God works through them? Check out 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
- Do they know how to rely on the Spirit of God to infuse their spiritual conversations with the very power of God?
So this week, as we wrap up the “God-Given Evangelism Gear” series, assess how you’re doing at equipping your students to utilize their gear for maximum impact. And remember, if you need help, Dare 2 Share is here with training and resources.
