Using Our Homes for Evangelism

EVANGELISM ARTICLE
John Hains | Smithville, Ontario

The truth of the gospel of Christ is one of the most precious gifts we will ever receive – but it’s not just for us to enjoy and hold onto selfishly – it’s for us to share with as many as we can.

It is important we utilize what we have been given from God for doing His work for His glory. Being good stewards is part of being a Christian. First Peter 4:10 encourages us, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Our homes are huge commodities to be used to God’s glory, commodities we invest significant amounts of money into each year – money the Lord has blessed us with. As good stewards of our homes, we can use them in His service. One particular service we can use our homes for is in sharing the gospel with others.

What are some ways we can use our homes for evangelism and spreading God’s truth, sharing our hope in the Lord? Here are several ideas:

We can get out our church directories and going through all the names of the families we worship with ever week and have them in to sing, read the Bible, and pray for those we would like to see obey the gospel. Imagine all the good that could be done if every home engaged in this kind of an effort. Opening our homes for this kind of activity is a way to honour the Lord with our homes. To think your home could become known as a place where prayer is customarily made would be such a blessing, as mentioned in Acts 16:13, “And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made…” Imagine if everyone in the church engaged in this kind of activity with their homes, how the church would grow in strength and number.

Our homes are also a natural choice as a setting for inviting new friends we’ve met, or old acquaintances, for a friendly visit while sharing seeds of the gospel with them. To some people, the comfortable and homey atmosphere may be less threatening than an invitation to attend a worship service. Whatever the case, it is a great first-step. The key is to genuinely care: spend time listening to understand their hearts. Having prayed for wisdom, stick with your conversation plan, so it will not become a visit just about the weather and your favourite sports team. Share passages you have prepared to unfold in a relaxed and gentle way. Some folks will be interested in talking further about the gospel, even committing to studying the Bible. Others will not, but the important thing is to do this often – using your home to keep reaching out with the gospel to more souls. Don’t be discouraged or distracted by the busyness of life: keep praying, asking for wisdom and open doors – God is able. With His help, you can make it  a practice to do this often.

Years ago, every other Tuesday evening was known as Neighbourhood Bible Study night in our home. We became concerned about sharing the truth with those living around us, so we prayed and planned. We started by hand-delivering invitations to the neighbours we knew personally, asking them to join us for a Bible study together, hoping they would want to extend that one study to more sessions – and they did!

Those neighbours enjoyed the Bible study and invited other neighbours and friends to join us, until many were involved. We would post a lawn sign up at the edge of the street which read “All Welcome – Neighbourhood Bible Study tonight at 7:00 PM.” Our largest gathering included, I believe, 39 souls!

Over the years we dedicated to holding the Neighbourhood Study, we were blessed to see 6 precious souls obey the gospel through that effort. It was a time of rich blessings from the Lord, as we prayed for open doors, we saw the fruit come, all because of what the Lord is able to do. It was amazing to see passages like Ephesians 3:20-21 at work: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Wow!

Those were good years for our family. The children participated in the classes, filled with non-Christians from around the neighbourhood and beyond. Those studies really were a blessing for the whole family, and the brethren who joined us – as our minds were centered on the Lord’s work – together. In those studies, all kinds of Bible questions were asked, so we had to dig in the Word for ourselves to find the answers. Not only were the children learning from the teaching, they were learning by example. It was an opportunity for them to learn about the power of the gospel; the importance of evangelism; compassion for other souls; standing for one’s faith with courage and gentleness; and sharing what we had through hospitality. (This makes me think of a verse of scripture in Romans 12:12-13: “…rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.” Hospitality offered while sharing the gospel with others is a great application of this text).

You might be thinking, “Well not me, I could never do a thing like a Neighbourhood Bible Study in my home!” My question is, why not? If you don’t feel up to teaching something like that, you can certainly provide the place and the neighbours. Then ask one of the men in your congregation to help with the teaching.

A good place to start in any Bible study is with simple lessons on topics such as “The Bible is the Word of God”; “Respect for the Bible”; “The Life of Christ”; “The Parables”; “The Fruit of the Spirit”; and “How to Establish Bible Authority.”

In your teaching, it’s important to focus on these things:

1. Prayerfully convey the truth, asking the Lord for wisdom.
2. Look for areas of common ground.
3. Remember to start with the “milk of the word” (1 Peter 2:2).
4. Be as “gentle as doves,” as Jesus taught His apostles (Matthew 10:16).
5. Be assured your words, and your attitudes, in teaching have an immense impact on the hearer, and on whether they will open their hearts to the truth.
6. Argumentation and heated discussion just squelch an atmosphere of trust and safety for studying the word of truth, and mar the message! The gospel is powerful enough to stand on its own merit – it doesn’t need the “help” of human pride, ego or temper!
7. After establishing some “common ground,” teaching foundational truths, and creating a trusting friendship, then hearts will be more receptive to topics such as: “How People Became Christians in the First Century.”
8. Do not force the seed! The word of God is far more powerful than we realize (Romans 1:16).
9. Continue earnestly in prayer (Colossians 4:2).

You want to talk about restoring New Testament Christianity? How about restoring things like boldness, joy and excitement over the truth (Acts 4:12-13). We can do this by God’s grace!

In Ezekiel 3:15, when the Lord prepared Ezekiel to do his work as a prophet, God told him to go and sit where the people sat, so he did: “Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.” You and I need to learn to see life through the eyes of the people we hope to teach. We need to teach them what they need to know with great humility and compassion, just as God taught Ezekiel to do. Then, go teach.

Another aspect of this kind of teaching is trying to learn to love the people as God loves. You remember when the Lord prepared Hosea to do his work as a prophet, God told him, “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry” (Hosea 1:2). As he did just that, Hosea’s heart was crushed and broken when his wife became unfaithful to him. As you continue to study through the book of Hosea, you learn God expressed to Hosea: now you know how I feel when my people sin, now go do your work. We need to glimpse into the heart of God and have a heart like His for the lost. Eventually, Hosea’s wife was used by so many men no one would have her. But Hosea took her back, just as God did with unfaithful Israel. God’s love is absolutely tremendous! When He loves people so much, how can we not attempt to love as He would want us to love? That love includes gently and carefully teaching His truth to others.

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died
for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet
perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)

May the Lord bless our efforts to spread His precious Word as we use our homes to His glory!

18.01.01 | GROW magazine