I think the main problem is fear and apathy, quite frankly - not whether or not we’ve learned the right method, gotten the right training, or have enough confidence in what we know. Evangelism is so simple - share, talk to people, love people. What’s not to get?

I agree, not only with this, but most of your reply. However, for many that I have talked to, there is an emotional block that simply stops them in their tracks. It would be great to facilitate a simple way through that.

Evangelism should be simple, raw, wild, and even personal.

Exactly. And what is more simple and raw than Scipture itself, designed to facilitate the work of the Spirit and to cut to the Heart supernaturally.

That is exactly what I have in mind here. No fancy techniques. In fact, great avoidance of that. But if a little ‘training’ helps a believer find a little more comfort in taking the risk (possibly huge to them internally) of stepping out, why not?

It took a day to respond because I am struggling (ineffectively) to express ideas clearly for the next post in the thread…

That is, we are responsible to witness well and not to witness poorly.

A slippery slope to not acting. We are back to the MDIV example in essence.

Responsibility is ‘within our capabilities at the time the opportunity is presented’ by the Lord. He is in absolute Sovereign control, and since he chooses the time he also knows our ability (poor or not) at that time. Our job does not include evalutation in that sense.

Since He is in charge and the Spirit is doing the work, honest witnessing from where you are at that time can not fail by definition. The appearance of failure in the present is not relevant (possibly frustrating, but not relevant).

We are called to simple obedience at the time the Lord arranges it, not when we are ready by any human reference. This is especially true since we don’t even know how the Lord is using this event in His scheme of things.

Now, we obviously need a way to share the Gospel, but that is technique as opposed to defensible knowledge. Further, if our technique is from Scripture (and thereby from the Lord and not of us), then the human knowledge and competence issues do not enter the picture. On the other hand, if our methodology is ‘of us’, then we are effectively taking responsibility for the process, in which case we can drop into hot water very quickly. All of this can be dealt with quickly and easily by the tools used. I will have a go at that shortly.

Beyond that, yes, we’re not responsible for the end results. After all, the person’s name is either written or not written in the Book of Life.

To go back to my extreme example, you don’t need an MDIV to witness. Nor is it the respoinsibility of the witness to ‘convince’ anyone. If the Spirit is at work, then it will happen, if not, it won’t. And that has naught to do with the witness.

Now, having said all this, one needs to have at least a rudimentary technique or method to present the gospel, responsible or not. I will get to that shortly. But the most important concept here is that it is ALL of Him and not of us.

I think a lot of people worry that:

1) the person they talk to will bring up some topic that they know nothing about, so they would probably make a negative impact, rather than a positive one. Nowadays this might take the form of some idea plucked from “The Da Vinci Code”, like “But didn’t Constantine write most of the Bible?”

2) they will become irritated, enraged, etc… by the questions they get asked, thus making a negative impact, not a positive one, no matter their theological confidence. It’s not like we get much practice confuting heresies, let alone doing so gracefully.

3) they grew up a Christian, had a Christian family, etc… so they feel they can’t identify with people who are not or they wouldn’t be effective, because they’d be written off. Such a person is more likely to think “I just know such and such is true; I’ve never thought about why. So I couldn’t convince anyone.”

4) they don’t know how to defend the Bible itself, or to at least offer a reasonable explanation of their own beliefs about it