Here’s a news flash for you! One BIG reason why many of Christians struggle with evangephobia is that they simply don’t feel ready to jump into spiritual conversations because they don’t know how to explain the gospel.
This reason may loom larger for your teenagers than it does for you as their youth leader. But, take heart, it’s one obstacle to faith-sharing that is easily remedied.
Reason #5: I’m Not Ready
I won’t know what to say.
Many teenagers have no idea how to explain the message of the gospel to someone who needs Jesus. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your students need to spend weeks, months or years before they are “mature” enough in their walk with God to share their faith with others. Jesus immediately called His followers to become “fishers of men,” sending them out early and often to share His message.
1 Peter 3:15 challenges all believers—new and old—to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” So train and equip your students—many simply need to know what to say to someone who’s never heard the gospel explained to them in a way they can understand.
Gospel Training
Provide them with a short, succinct way to share the gospel. There are many great approaches to doing this.
At Dare 2 Share, we use the Life in 6 Words acrostic. The Billy Graham Association uses Peace With God. Everystudent.com uses Knowing God Personally. You can choose whatever works best for you. But whatever you use, make sure it presents the full message of the gospel.
Since you’re the coach, it’s your job to help them learn the basic skills they need to approach spiritual conversations with a clear, confident gospel message. And give them concrete prompts and prods to spread the message.
To help you jump start this process, you might consider bringing your students to a Dare 2 Share conference where they’ll get an intensive dose of evangelism training. Or pick up one of Dare 2 Share’s video curriculum products that specialize in training teenagers with the GOSPEL Journey Message.
Tackling Evangephobia in Your Youth Ministry
In review, think back through the 5 big reasons we’ve explored for why most of us suffer from at least some degree of evangephobia.
- Fear
- Live and Let Live
- Anybody But Me!
- Lack of Urgency
- I’m Not Ready
Now think about some of the individual students in your youth group. Why are they evangephobic? What can you do to help them overcome their fears? How can you motivate them more effectively? How will you get them trained and equipped to share their faith?
Jot down 2 or 3 specific ideas that will help your group tackle these big 5 reasons for evangephobia and use them as a launching pad for moving your group in the right direction toward making evangelism a priority.
By tackling these 5 areas head on through prayer, study, teaching, training and prodding, you can create an environment that takes Jesus’ command to “go” seriously.
God has given you and your teenagers the vitally important job of reaching others for Christ! Lead the way and let your passion for the lost rub off on your students, like it did on the following student:
There’s this girl I’ve kinda been talking with lately and she’s never really known Christ, she kinda has a void in her life. She’s been abused and mistreated emotionally a lot. And I started discussing Christ with her…It was just a really cool experience. I feel like I’ve really been used by God to do something helpful and maybe change somebody’s life and now maybe I’ll have the opportunity to reach more lives in turn. It’s a cool experience. It’s like God’s really using you when you do it and it just feels really cool. —Jacob
