"The Evangelist"

Last month, Bronco and I looked at our 04/05 Strategic Plan, and we saw that we were falling terribly short of both our ministry breadth and the number of students who have heard the gospel this year--compared to what we had wanted to see happen at the beginning of the year.

So. Bronco said to find 10-20 girls that are ready to hear about the gospel one-on-one and sit down and talk to them about it.

ACK! I grew up United Methodist. Evangelism isn't something we really practice regularly--there was the occasional "Invite a friend to Youth Group" or "Thanks for visiting, here's a mug." But to actually sit down with someone one-on-one, share pieces of my story and ask them to invite Christ into their life! NO WAY!

At this point, you may be thinking, "Wait, Heather, isn't this why you moved to Washington. To invite and challenge youth to a lifelong journey in relationship with Christ and His church? (YD Mission Statement)"

"Um...yes....'{sheepish grin...downcast glance...toe making designs in the dirt}

"So what's the problem."

"Um...I don't know..."

"The problem is that you're waiting for teenagers to walk up to you and say, 'Heather, talk to me about Jesus and what he's doing in your life and how I can get there.' And that's not going to happen!"

So on Friday night, I had two girls over to my house for a sleepover. I had been initially disappointed that more girls weren't able to come, but by Friday night, I was relieved that it would be a small, intimate group.

And praise the Lord it was an intimate group. The setting was very open and comfortable, and one of my girls started asking questions about Christ and Christianity, and as we were talking and I was explaining, I shared part of my story and then asked her, "Would you like to invite Jesus into your life?"

"Yes."

And we prayed together.

It really was that simple. I wasn't even nervous while it was happening, even though it's still only the forth or fifth time I've stepped through this process with a kid.

So I think that for my whole growing up and even throughout college, there were two categories of people: those who evangelize or those who disciple. I have always preferred to be a discipler...to challenge leadership kids to reach their peers, to help Christian kids deepen their roots....while at the same time, I value evangelism, and I have a desire to be working with non-church kids.

I'm coming to realize that we can't compartmentalize ministry--we have to do both. We can't just teach people how to grow in an already committed faith without first extending them the invitation, and we can't extend the invitation without seeing them through the first steps to growth. Although I prefer to disciple kids (because it fits in well with my gifts as teacher/counselor and steers clear of my complete paranoia of confrontation), it doesn't excuse my call to evangelize too. Mt 28 says we are to baptize and make disciples, and how can someone do that if we never extend them the opportunity?