Evangelism Day 4 - Friendship is the Prime Ground for Evangelism

We learned in lesson 3 that the dynamic of friendships with non-believers changes at salvation. However, not all of the relationships come to an outright end. There will still be old friends and family members that remain in the new convert’s social circle. Additionally, as believers live out their duties and occupations among the unbelieving world, new friends and acquaintances will naturally emerge from among the lost. Although friendship is not a biblically mandated prerequisite for evangelism, it certainly provides fertile soil for planting and watering the seed of salvation.

Packer views evangelism as an intimate talk and reasons that intimate talks occur between friends. He states that,

“. . . personal evangelism needs normally to be founded on friendship. You are not usually justified in choosing the subject of conversation with another till you have already begun to give yourself to him in friendship and established a relationship with him in which he feels that you respect him as a human being and not just as some kind of “case.” With some people, you may establish such a relationship in five minutes, whereas with others it may take months. But the principle remains the same. The right to talk intimately to another person about the Lord Jesus Christ has to be earned, and you earn it by convincing him that you are his friend, and that you really care about him” (page 80).

Packer’s claim revolves around intimacy, which flows from familiarity; familiarity breeds trust, and trust breeds intimacy. Packer’s claim is not that friendship earns the “right to talk” to people about Christ, but that friendship earns the “right to talk” about Christ intimately. People’s ears tend to be more receptive and attentive to the message of the gospel when their eyes see its effects firsthand. It is man’s responsibility to capture the ear with the gospel and it is God’s business of capturing the heart. 

In the Gospel of John, the dynamic of an intimate relationship plays a critical role in introducing non-believers to Christ. First, Andrew brought his brother, Simon, to Jesus (John 1:40-42). Next, Phillip found his friend Nathanael and told him about the Messiah (John 1:43-51). God sovereignly placed Andrew in Simon Peter’s life and used him to introduce his brother to Christ. God sovereignly placed Phillip in Nathanael’s life and used him to introduce his friend to the truth about the identity of the Messiah. God determines, “the allotted periods and the boundaries” of our dwelling place (Acts 17:26). This means that you and the people you are around daily were sovereignly placed there by God! Leverage your relationships with these people to initiate intimate conversations about the gospel and trust God with the results. 

Please join us next time as we conclude our series on evangelism with the beloved brother J.I. Packer in the final lesson titled, “Love motivates evangelism.”