Personal Evangelism
One person can make a difference in someone's life.
As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. - Matthew 4:18-22
Today we commemorate the life of Andrew, the brother of Peter. We don't know much about Andrew from today's reading, but he and his brother were fishermen, partners with the sons of Zebedee, whose father had been a partner with Andrew and Simon's father before he died.
In the Gospel of John, we may remember him as one of the disciples who brings people to Jesus and he brings the boy with fish to Jesus at the feeding of the five thousand.
It seems natural to talk of the first apostles to follow Jesus on this, the first day of Advent, the first day of the church year, but while he is the first of the apostles and his feast day is all about personal evangelism, as Episcopalians, we are not known for evangelism of any kind.
So, it is our challenge in this new year to give a thought to personal one-on-one bringing people to Christ. That is the focus of the Fellowship of Saint Andrew which is devoted to individual evangelism.
There are religions which are much more involved in evangelism. The Mormons spend time in mission work and the Jehovah's Witnesses are a frequent site on street corners or going door to door.
But we tend to be more example setters than evangelists. We think it better to show our faith through action, than to go up to people and get in their face about it.
But what happens when our example gets attention? When someone commends us for dong good do we tell them what motivates us?
Maybe we should follow Andrew's example and bring them to someone who can do a better job talking about our faith, like he did with Jesus.
As we start this new year, let us give some thought to how we can share with others what we have found to be so comforting and reassuring in our faith. You never know who may want to know more.
More to come...