Struggle to share the Gospel because you feel you aren’t a “gifted” evangelist? Speaking at Cru Singapore’s #READY webinar, Isaac Ong shares why evangelism really isn’t so difficult when it’s something that flows naturally from experiencing God’s goodness in our lives. He also offers some practical tips on how we can be authentic as we share Christ online.
Opening the third session of Cru’s #READY webinar series, evangelist Isaac Ong began by sharing that evangelism isn’t really as difficult as one might think.
The 34-year-old shared that evangelism should not come from a place of religious obligation as a Christian, but out of the overflow of God’s love and goodness in our lives.
“We are actually very gifted evangelists,” he remarked. “It is part of how we’re built: If we see something that is good, worthy, of value, we will shout, scream and speak it out. We do not hesitate to share.”
In order to have this overflow to share from, Isaac believes all believers must experience a deep intimacy with God.
We need to first have a full experience of the Gospel and be transformed by the Good News.
We also need to consider how the Gospel has shaped us and continues to do so.
Emphasising the need to know God’s heart for the world, Isaac said: “It’s not a question of ‘How do I evangelise?’ but ‘Lord, who are You?’”
If we have yet to experience this intimacy with God, Isaac’s encouragement is to begin surrounding ourselves with others who have deep personal relationships with God.
A spiritual community can play its part in inspiring us to grow in our desire for deeper intimacy with God.
“Catch what they share, be encouraged by their testimony,” he urged. “Let it build a faith or a dissatisfaction in you that makes you come before the Lord to say: ‘Lord, what is my portion? God, I want to meet with you'”.
“Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:15)
Likewise, God is not a secret to be kept.
Isaac believes Christians are not meant to be “lights living under a lampshade” but people who keep our lives open so that others can encounter the love and reality of God when they meet us.
As we open up and share our life with others, we can in turn prompt others to open their hearts to God.
Isaac believes that our lives are platforms where the Gospel is displayed for others to see.
He shared that each of us are “God’s masterpieces”, built with different passions and giftings through which others can see Jesus.
As long as our interests do not go against the Word of God, they should not be viewed as “secular or unholy”, but beautiful things that can display God’s goodness and glory.
Giving an example from his own life, Isaac shared that he used his gift in singing for God’s glory when he sang Christian songs at his vocal competitions.
Through his passion for music, he thus had the opportunity to share about the goodness of God through the songs he sang.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,” (Colossians 3:23)
Isaac also exhorted us to be the best that we can be, as excellence in our lives is a great way for people to be able to encounter God.
“The world’s language is excellence,” Isaac remarked. In his view, when someone is excellent at what they do, they have almost an “authority” to speak into the lives of other people.
That is why excellence – bringing God glory through our work and conduct – brings about opportunities for us to share more about our faith.
It should pique others’ curiosity as to why we do our best in everything, regardless of whether we like the task.
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.” (Matthew 24:14)
Isaac believes it is important not to underestimate how deeply our social media posts can impact others.
To him, social media opens the door to opportunities to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.
It is a platform where the goodness of God can be shared by anyone to thousands at once.
“It has incredible reach,” he affirmed. “You get to speak to audiences: People in the past, people in the present, people in the future!”
Isaac personally believes that every post he has ever posted is doing its work now, since it remains on display on his social media for anyone to read anytime and be encouraged by.
As such, he believes all we need to do is to just let our voices be present online.
So, how exactly do we use our presence on social media so for the Gospel?
This basically means posting or publishing something.
It can be explicitly faith-related, such as a verse or a testimony – or just ordinary everyday things we are passionate about.
Isaac also added that the most opportune time to post faith-based content is on our birthdays.
That’s when we can share freely about what God has done in our lives without getting comments about being too “Jesus-y”!
Another tip Isaac shared is to use social media as a channel to keep connecting with our friends, and hence stay relevant in their lives.
He shared that how the social media algorithm works is that if we stop engaging with friends on social media, they will disappear from our feeds, and we will be increasingly less engaged with them on these platforms.
Isaac encouraged us to maintain that engagement on social media, and even take a step further in connecting with our closer friends through DMs, for example through sending them voice messages, prayers or just intentionally checking in on them.
Alternatively, he suggested going to comment sections and offering people a godly perspective to this dark world, by speaking encouraging words of love and truth.
Isaac took pains to emphasise that not everybody would be pleased when we talk about God.
As such, if our goal is to be ourselves and evangelise on social media without offending anyone or losing followers – that’s probably not achievable.
“Today, everything offends people,” he remarked, raising also the example of Jesus, who although was perfect was nevertheless hated by many.
So, even though we aren’t perfect, we should not let fear keep us from sharing the Good News.
“Don’t not dare to step up because you’re afraid to make a mistake,” Isaac encouraged.
As imperfect people, making mistakes are inevitable.
That’s why Isaac reminded viewers of the power of saying “sorry” and being brave enough to apologise for our mistakes.
That said, we should be careful and mindful not to be rude or unkind.
We must understand that others who have not yet known God may not relate to our values, and that we should be more considerate of their perspectives before we speak up.
As he brought his session to an end, Isaac noted that there are plenty of opportunities that we do not take advantage of to evangelise.
He recognised that it may sometimes feel difficult to share the Gospel when we look at it as something obligatory.
When we genuinely want to share Christ out of the overflow of God’s goodness in our lives however, we will naturally come to view most situations as an opportunity to reach out and be a blessing.
When every believer has such a mindset, the Gospel will be preached to all the world.
The question that remains for us: Will we partner with God in evangelism?
As Isaac exhorted, let’s be willing to be used as God’s hands and feet in proclaiming the Good News to others.
Let 2022 be the year that we #PublishPeace through sharing our testimonies on social media, as we bring the Gospel to all people around us.
This excerpt is adapted from a message Isaac Ong gave during the third session of Cru Singapore’s #READY webinar series.
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This article was first published by thir.st.
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