By Sarah Guldalian, Editor Equipping Newsletter and Coordinator of Equipping to Share Program, Lutheran Hour Ministries, St. Louis, Missouri.

I recently received an email from a passionate servant of the Lord, Dr. Frank Mwakasisi, the Director of Evangelism and Missions at St. Michael Lutheran Church and School, in Portage, Michigan. This gentleman, who moved to the United States from Tanzania, Africa in 1990, brings with him a contagious enthusiasm for the Lord in every conversation. I was incredibly encouraged and felt further trained in evangelism myself by a recent phone call with him and by the email he sent. I trust that you will feel the same. He is joyful in my sharing it.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about evangelism and it is our job, as leaders, to help our people overcome that and empower them by helping them to discover their own personal styles of evangelism. Once they discover their style, it becomes easy to put into place what you teach in ‘Equipping to Share’.

People have seen too much of either Mormons or Jehovah Witness; and, the majority may not like that type of evangelism of knocking on doors. Some have seen a great experience of crusades conducted by people like Billy Graham and they know they’re not like him. Their answer to evangelism is: ‘Sorry, I can’t do it because I can’t be one of them.’ Discovering their own personal style has to overcome that.

Imagine the impact in our homes, and in our community, if everyone in our church became spiritually contagious! That is exactly what happens when Christians begin to understand their personal, God-given evangelism style and learn how to naturally communicate their faith with others.

Today you asked me twice if I am a pastor and anytime I open my mouth and boldly share something about God, the same question arises again and again from other people. Right now, my passion is to share about God and train other people to discover their style of evangelism so that they can go out and boldly proclaim the Gospel.

I’ve totally, I mean totally, surrendered to God and asked Him to use me mightily any way He wants. I am a former professor of Civil Engineering but should God tell me today to go back to school like a seminary, I will jump in a heartbeat. The only thing that I don’t want is to jump ahead of Him. I want Him to pave the way for me and send me in the direction He wants me to go. That way, failure is impossible as His presence will be all over me.

As a Civil Engineer, for years I have been designing and constructing bridges so that people can have a good experience on the highway. However, now I’m designing and building bridges to connect people’s souls to God, what a joy that is! It is an amazing privilege.

That is why for now I’m focusing on training saints to catch the vision and set their hearts ablaze for God. I want people to have a testimony of God’s glory in their lives. Because when you experience that intimate presence of God in your life, Sarah, God becomes so real such that there is no faking anymore. When God is real in your life, you get transformed inside out. That is my prayer for my people here at St Michael as well as all Lutheran churches and of course for all people of God worldwide. That’s why we started a Prayer for Renewal for St. Michael, as I want my people to be on fire for God.

My prayer is for my people to have a jumbo size passion for God, craving for more of God with thirst that doesn’t get satisfied. Getting involved in small group Bible studies, craving for reading the Bible daily, chewing the word of God and coming to a point that if a day passes without reading the Bible or coming into God’s presence is like they’re missing air to breathe. We need to come to that level, Sarah.

Please read Ezekiel 33:1-7 to get the context and then read verse 8, again and again, to get God’s command to evangelize. It is not a choice: It is a command otherwise somebody’s blood is on us for letting him or her die in sin on our watch. May God bless you, your family, your work and everything that your heart cares for.”

When I spoke with Dr. Frank over the telephone last week, he asked me what my style of evangelism is… Confrontational like Peter? Testimonial like the blind man? Servanthood like Dorcas? Invitational like the situation with the woman at the well? His point is: No matter what your area of talent is, God wants to use your talent mightily towards spreading His kingdom message to the entire world.

Dr. Mwakasisi is on fire for the Lord and His calling upon His life as one of His disciples. We are all Christ’s disciples! And, I am especially thankful for this reminder and the refreshment of Frank’s passion. If you have questions for Frank, he is available via email at frank@MightyOutreach.com or by snail mail at Mighty Outreach Ministries, PO Box 1655, Portage, Michigan 49081, USA.

Praise be to God!

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Why are people lost? People become lost because:

• Satan blinds their minds (2 Corinthians 4:3).
• Sinfulness dominates their lives (Psalm 51:5).
• Surroundings shape their values (Romans 12:2).
• Selfishness controls their hearts (James 1:14).

In Luke 15 Jesus tells three stories back to back as a response to Pharisees and scribes who were mad at Him by being a friend of sinners. This entire chapter was a call to understand how God the Father feels towards lost people outside His family. Lost people stir the heart of God. This story highlights three themes about lost people.

• Something of great value has gone missing (sheep, coin, son).
• That was missing was so important that it warranted an all-out search. Sent Jesus to do redemptive work on the cross. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)”.
• Retrievals bring rejoicing … when lost people are found, there is a cosmic celebration in heaven. There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10).

Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). No matter what one have done, no matter how distance one may feel, no matter how far one has wandered, no matter what one may think, there is love, forgiveness of sins and peace waiting for him whether he is aware of it or not.

Imagine… cosmic celebration going on in heaven for you the day you were found and the banner over the table with your name written on it, all the heavenly hosts led by Jesus Christ himself taking a time out to celebrate you being found. Take that visual challenge. It will remind you afresh how much we matter to God and the price that was paid for our redemption.

When you’re out there in the world, you never lack to see people who doesn’t matter to God, who doesn’t warrant an all-out search. We never come into contact with someone for whom all heaven won’t rejoice if they were to repent and receive forgiveness and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

At Mighty Outreach International, our hearts are set ablaze and fired up for God, and we have become all things to all men for the sake of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:22-23). We found great joy and unique privilege to Help Churches Reach More People for Christ by equipping and training pastors, church leaders, and members how to share their faith and how to reach out to lost people, find them and keep them. We offer seminars on Evangelism and Church Growth.

At Mighty Outreach International, we view as an opportunity that God has given us to tell someone outside the family of God whether he is aware of it or not that:

• He matters to the father.
• The price has been paid for him.
• An all-out search is out for him.
• That a party would be thrown for him if he repents his sins and gets adopted into the family of God.

We view Evangelism as an opportunity for us to live a Contagious Christian Life. As co-author of the Becoming a Contagious Christianprogram Bill Hybels, Senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church shares his remarkable passion for lost people, defines contagious to mean “that the love of Christ is so active in our lives, and the perspective of Christ is the one that we carry around in our mind when we look at the people outside the family of God”.

When your church leaders and members go through this Becoming a Contagious Christian training (among other training), they will begin to see Evangelism in new ways. We pray that there will be an authentic desire to just lead a contagious Christian life in ways the Holy Spirit can use to let lost people know that they matter to God!

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The importance of sharing the gospel of Christ with those who are lost cannot be over-emphasized.

■ This was the main Mission of Jesus on earth (Luke 19:10)
■ Jesus wants everyone to hear the good news of salvation
(Mark 16:15-16).
■ Jesus wants us to make disciples and He will be with us in the process (Matthew 28:19-20).
■ God has provided the gospel as God’s power to save all who believe it (Romans 1:16-17).
■ God has assigned as His watchmen and warns us (Ezekiel 33: 7-9).

But what is the most effective way to reach people today?

The Institute For American Church Growth asked over 10,000 people this question: “What was responsible for your coming to Christ and this church?”.

Their replies were:

■ I had a special need – 3%
■ I just walked in – 3%
■ I liked the minister – 6%
■ I visited there – 1%
■ I liked the Bible classes – 5%
■ I attended a gospel meeting – 0.5%
■ I liked the programs – 3%
■ A friend or relative invited me – 79%

What can we learn from a survey like this?

■ It does appear to confirm that gospel meetings as traditionally held have lost their effectiveness in reaching the lost.
■ It also seems to justify churches’ concern to pick their preachers carefully and
■ to give special regard to the quality of their Bible classes.

The obvious point of the survey is this: IF CHURCHES ARE TO GROW, IT WILL BE THROUGH THE EFFORTS OF INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS!

Preachers, programs, classes may help, but in most cases they will only maintain the size of the congregation. Such congregational efforts are worthwhile, however, for they can reach people with whom we might otherwise never come in contact.

But the fact remains: THE GREATEST POTENTIAL LIES WITH THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SOME CONTACT WITH MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL CONGREGATION.

Each of us have daily contact with tens of people who need the gospel of Christ.

Two fundamental things are needed to utilize the contacts made through individual members of the congregation:

■ CONCERN for the lost by those members (Matthew 9:36-38; Romans 9:1-3; 10:1; 1 Corinthians 9:22-23)

■ KNOWLEDGE OF HOW we can increase our opportunities to share the gospel with those with whom we frequently come into contact.

Assuming that the concern is there, I will share suggestions with accompanying “action steps” on HOW anyone who is a Christian can increase opportunities for the gospel to be shared with their relatives, friends, neighbors, and others.

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