Peer Evangelism Part 2: Equipping the Evangelists

In Part 1 of this series we began to look at the centrality of evangelism in the life of the Christian and the implication for the teenagers in our churches and youth ministries. We looked at the urgency, but also the strategic importance, of evangelising young people. We also saw the hesitancy that even committed and passionate disciples of Jesus may have about evangelising those who do not yet believe in Christ for themselves.

Having laid this foundation, I want to now turn to the strategies that our young people can use to evangelise those in their various spheres of influence, particularly those whom we may identify as having a ‘gift’ of evangelism (Eph. 4:11). Later in Part 3, we will turn to the question of how those in our ministry who may not have a gift of evangelism, are nevertheless able to be witnesses to the Gospel, living as salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16; Phil. 2:15) and “prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet. 3:15).

Living in multiple spaces

American sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the phrase ‘Third Place’ to describe the places that we inhabit that are not our home (first place) nor our work or school (second place). Third places are the places we choose to go to for the sake of community and relationship. Typical third places in urban environments might be cafes, beaches, skate parks, cinemas, pubs, shopping centres etc. In addition to physical third places, many of us today—especially our teenagers—also inhabit digital third spaces such as social media platforms and online gaming.

Oldenburg’s designation is helpful as we think about equipping our teenagers to evangelise their family, peers, and neighbours, as there may be different strategies involved in speaking the good news of Jesus to their non-Christian parents or siblings (first place), classmates (second place), friends (third place), and online peers (digital third space). We will keep these distinctions in mind as we discuss two modes of evangelism for the remainder of this and the next article.

CONFIDENT CHRISTIANITY

When I was a teenager, I had two great examples of evangelists, each distinct, but instructive. The first was my youth minister. He was, and still is, a classic youth evangelist. He loves nothing better than being with non-Christians and helping them know and understand Jesus. Whether one on one, or in front of a large crowd, his love for Jesus and his love for young people is infectious. He has seen hundreds of teenagers repent and turn to follow Jesus. In my youth group we would regularly have 100-150 teenagers from years 7-10 coming on a Friday night, and over 80% of them were from non-Christian homes.

The other evangelist I think back to was a train guard I met once at a local station. While waiting for a train, I dropped down on the seat, barely noticing the small, folded pieces of paper next to me. As I sat there with headphones in and feet balanced on my skateboard, the station manager wandered over to me and nervously asked whether I had read the booklet. I looked over and noticed that it was a Christian tract. We got chatting, and I found out that it was a regular habit of his to leave tracts out on whichever station he was responsible for each day, and then to try and strike up conversations about Jesus with passengers whenever he got the chance.

My youth minister was a raging extrovert, passionately sharing the gospel with teenagers every opportunity he had. My new friend the train guard was not an extrovert. By comparison he had quite a shy and reserved disposition, but he was willing to risk awkward conversations with punk teenagers (and presumably harsh rebuke by his superiors) for the sake of sharing the message of Jesus.

EQUIPPING OUR EVANGELISTS

Some of our teenagers will be ready evangelists. They may have bold, extroverted personalities, or have the confidence to insert themselves into awkward situation for the sake of gospel conversations. What these teenagers need are the tools necessary to equip them for this task. This may be a simple gospel outline like the Gospel Colours or Two Ways To Live. It might be having postcard or business card size flyers for your church and youth ministry that they can use to invite their friends at school and in their third places. The digital space equivalent might be the right social media post to share or being supported as they create their own gospel-shaped content for their platform of choice. We can equip and encourage these evangelists like Paul equipped Timothy, by raising them up and training them to “preach the word… in season and out of season… with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2).

Teenagers will also benefit from practicing conversations in a safe environment. I think that we may often assume that because we have spoken the gospel to the youth in our ministry, that of course they are now equipped to share that gospel on to others. However, this is rarely the case. Rather, they will need opportunities to speak back the gospel to you, sharpening their language, feeling confident in the truths they are sharing and considering the possible questions or objections that their peers may level at them.

I have seen great examples of teenage evangelists. I can name dozens of youth, many now young adults, who came to our church and ultimately to saving faith in Jesus, because of the bold and embarrassment-free invitation from a small number of gifted teenage peers.

But amongst our ready evangelists, there will also be a great number of our teenagers who have other gifts with which to serve the church and shine like stars in the sky (Phil. 2:15). How we can encourage the other Christians in our youth group to speak the truth and love of Jesus to their families, neighbours and peers is the topic of Part 3.