Whatever framework we may put around it, whatever skills we may bring to it, the great need of our time, and any time, is for ordinary men and women to share with other ordinary men and women the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. The key to the expansion of the church lies in the active witness of the whole church. People with human fears and human failings—but filled with the Holy Spirit!—should go gossiping the Gospel wherever they are.
But if we state the necessity of evangelism plainly, some who are shy by nature will immediately shut their ears. “I just don’t have the right personality to be able to share the Gospel this way,” they may say. So we want to be careful not to canonize a particular way of expressing ourselves—whether loquacious water-cooler conversation or street-corner preaching. The quiet, too, can speak to others about the most important part of their life.
If we want to understand what personal evangelism looks like in practice, we can look to the conversation that Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4—a conversation that began with a simple request but ended, as John tells us, with the woman wondering, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (29). This passage contains several lessons that will help us understand how to speak truthfully and boldly about the Gospel in our ordinary lives.
Jesus Began Naturally
First of all, we should notice that Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman began naturally: “A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’” (v. 7).
Some people treat evangelism like a compartment of their spiritual life—something that you go out and do, perhaps by approaching someone on a street corner and sharing the Four Spiritual Laws. Certainly, there is benefit to this way of doing things; but it also tends to mitigate against the reality that we ought to be—and in some sense are—sharing our faith all the time, either for good or for ill, with words and without them.
The truth is that wherever we are and whatever we’re doing, we can proclaim the Gospel. Every conversation and every encounter is an opportunity, somewhere along the line, to bring something of Christ to people. And indeed, we ought to look to every encounter not in terms of “doing it” to somebody but as an opportunity to bring from our hearts the things that are most important to us.
Wherever we are and whatever we’re doing, we can proclaim the Gospel.
Now, that doesn’t mean that we should feel pressure to leverage any comment and every circumstance into an excuse to pull out an evangelistic elevator pitch. In our zeal to communicate the whole counsel of God in the first three minutes, we tend to repel instead of attracting. What it does mean is that when the Gospel is at the center of your life and not at the periphery, the occasions to speak of it, whether in passing or in full, will be manifold, because there will be no part of your life that it does not touch. It may even begin with something as grounded and simple as asking, “Can I have a drink of water?”
Jesus Respected the Individual
Following Jesus’ question, the woman immediately addressed the elephant in the room. It was not normal for a Jewish man to speak to a Samaritan woman in this way—and so she asked, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (v. 9).
Jesus, first of all, cared about her. Despite her position in society, despite her immoral life, He cared enough about her to speak to her with respect and to offer her the message of life. Like anyone we may speak to, she was a person—someone made in the image of God, someone important to God, not just someone to witness to.
Many who are zealous for evangelism treat people less like people and more like marks.
It’s a sad reality that many who are zealous for evangelism treat people less like people and more like marks. They become opportunities to meet a quota rather than to show the love of Christ to a human being. They become a tick on a chart, a notch on the spine of a Bible. And the people who are treated this way will know it.
So not only is it important to recognize that anyone may hear and believe the Gospel, but also, it’s critical to speak to people with compassion and with real interest. We do a great disservice to our witness when we are simply lying in wait to deliver our spiel. We need to learn to start where people are and to address them where they are, presenting Christ as a friend to sinners, not the subject of a theological or polemical lecture. They don’t need our sales pitch. They need to know we care.
Jesus Developed Interest
Thirdly, we see that the Lord Jesus developed the woman’s interest. It was intriguing enough that this man had addressed her in the first place. But then He told her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” This absolutely kept the conversation going!
We needn’t be so coy as Jesus is here (although we might be, if circumstances call for it!). One way to develop interest is simply to show it. Interest in another person’s life, hobbies, opinions, and so on often lends itself to reciprocative questions. “What are you up to this weekend?” inevitably precedes “Well, what are you up to this weekend?” And then there is the opportunity, for example, to share something of what the Lord’s Day will mean to you.
Jesus Confronted the Real Issue
Jesus, however, didn’t let the conversation remain at the level of banter. By verse 16, He begins to confront the real issues of her life: “Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’” Suddenly, the conversation is on a whole different plane.
We are not divine as Jesus was. We have neither the deep insight into human personality that He did nor His supernatural knowledge of circumstances. Yet many of us have been given a gift of discernment that allows us to look into and beyond a situation and speak prudently to a person’s life.
When it comes to this point in the conversation, there are a number of factors to weigh: How well do we know this person? Will we have an opportunity to speak to them again? Are we ready and able to say what we need to from a motive of love? And are we sure of the facts about which we’re going to speak?
Many of us have been given a gift of discernment that allows us to look into and beyond a situation and speak prudently to a person’s life.
There is a difference between, on the one hand, the “train ride conversation” you may have with a stranger on a fifteen-minute commute, where getting to the point may be prudent, and, on the other hand, the frequent talks you might have with a neighbor or longstanding friend over years, where there is opportunity to lay layer upon layer—bearing in mind always that today could always be the last opportunity you have to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).
Jesus Is Prepared for the Diversion
In response to Jesus’ request, the Samaritan woman attempted to divert from her own life by touching the proverbial third rail: the question of the proper place to worship, over which the Jews and Samaritans vigorously disagreed. “Our fathers,” she said, “worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” (v. 20). Yet, as with so many of the questions put to Jesus throughout His ministry, Jesus was able to turn the conversation and address the real issue: not where to worship but how and whom (vv. 23, 25).
In our own witnessing, we’re liable to get questions about Adam and Eve, marriage laws, space aliens—all of which will lead into a tangle of meaningless argument. In such a moment, it is vital to know what the ultimate issues are and not let people off the hook. If the questions are genuine, then perhaps a genuine answer is called for. But if, as is sometimes the case, they are a diversion, then we ought to be ready to bring it back to the personal: “I wonder why you raise that? What bearing do you think that has on the question of sin and the need for forgiveness?”
At the same time, we should resist the temptation to be the Bible Answer Man , instead persisting in presenting the plain Word of God. Apologetics have their place, no doubt. But we need to know that place. If we are too quick to the draw, we are liable to make ourselves a nuisance and the Gospel ridiculous. As Spurgeon often said, the Word does not need us to defend it. It is like a lion. We need merely to release it from its cage—to declare, as Christ Himself did, the plain and life-transforming reality of Jesus as the Messiah who was to come (v. 26).
Jesus Teaches His Disciples
When the disciples returned from their errand to find Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman, they were (characteristically) clueless. They didn’t understand what He had been doing, nor why—and they were too timid to ask (v. 27).
But in His mercy, Jesus did not crush His followers’ spirits, lambast them, or make them feel stupid. No, He taught them gently and kindly. Speaking of the people who were about to hear the word, He said, “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest” (v. 35).
Like the woman, we need the living water Jesus provides. Like the disciples, we need our priorities realigned. We ought to become like the Lord Jesus: chiefly concerned with doing the Father’s will (v. 34), bringing the Father glory, and looking forward to a day when He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matt. 25:21, 23) as we seek to share the good news with our friends, neighbors, and loved ones.
This article was adapted from the sermons “A Lesson in Personal Evangelism — Part One” and “A Lesson in Personal Evangelism — Part Two” by Alistair Begg.
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