When Evangelism is Hard (Even for Missionaries)

This post is taken from the ministry update of Nathan & Brittany Garrett, SEND missionaries in Romania. Nathan serves as the field leader for SEND’s work in Romania. The post is used with permission.

Setting Our Sights: A Renewed Focus on Evangelism

As our team prepared this year’s Team AMP (annual ministry plan), one of our desired focuses was to seek to cultivate our burden for the lost and to grow in evangelism. This may sound a little basic–like the ABC’s of being a missionary. But it’s not as simple as you might think. Much of our time and energy goes into discipling and building up men and women within our churches.

When “It Doesn’t Work Here” Isn’t Enough

So, as I (Nathan) approached the end of 2024 and reflected on life and ministry, I saw a major gap in the area of sharing the Gospel with those outside the church. Within the culture of Romanian churches, we have been told many times that things like street evangelism or handing out tracts just don’t work here. There is distrust of other sects of Christianity and past experience has caused most people to think evangelical believers are part of a cult.

To be honest, that made me feel better about just focusing on strengthening the men in my church and encouraging them to share what they learn with their unbelieving friends and co-workers. Plus, I reasoned, I’m sharing the Gospel with the kids in the Roma community each week. That should count, right? But I felt that there was a stark difference between what I knew I should do and what I was actually doing. This is soul-destroying.

Beyond Theory: Seeing Evangelism Lived Out

As I noted in a previous ministry update, there was an evangelism conference in another city a few weeks ago. I ended up not attending but several from our team did. Last week, an evangelistic team came down from that city to share the information with the believers in our city. The team is composed of four men who spend much of their time striking up conversations with people about God and sharing contact information. Then they continue those conversations later over coffee or a meal. And these men are all Romanian.

They have such a realistic understanding of the common thinking about evangelism. The team even admitted that they know that relationships are the most effective method of evangelism. But that doesn’t mean we are not also called to share by other methods. They gave very practical teachings that were both biblical and that they had been living out for years. Two of the men are brothers who have both served in other countries as missionaries and church planters. But the most striking thing about them was their love. I was so grateful to hear from their lips that we should not judge anyone or expect them to change anything. Jesus would do that. He would transform them from the inside out.

Awkward and Amazing: Unexpected Conversations

The following day, after their workshop, they invited anyone who was interested to go out with them on the streets and to do the very thing they had taught about. There were four groups of three or four people that went out. I joined with two other guys.

I was looking forward to watching one of the men from Cluj in action, to learn how he interacted with random people. But as he walked up to the first guy we talked with, he said, “Hello, do you mind if we ask you a difficult question? This is my friend from America, listen to his question.” So, I asked him one of the questions they had mentioned in the workshop, “What do you believe happens when you die?”

Each person we spoke with responded differently than I expected. Not many of them had ever thought about that question before. With every person (and our leader had me talk every single time🤣), I was able to share Romans 3:23 and 6:23 and then the great news that Jesus had both taken on our sins and died the death we deserve. But I also shared that Jesus had not stayed dead but had conquered both sin and death at His resurrection. I also emphasized that we do not have to wait until we die to enjoy the wonderful relationship with Jesus but that He should impact our everyday life.

I was particularly struck by a conversation with a young man. He made it clear that he was an atheist and that there was nothing we could say to convince him that God exists. But as he left us, he was visibly more relaxed and even said ‘Thank you” after we said goodbye.

Lessons Learned: Hard Doesn’t Mean Impossible

These conversations were hard and awkward but not nearly as hard or as awkward as I always imagine they will be. I was able to get the contact info for a couple of the guys. With most of them, we handed out information about one of the churches we work with. I hope and pray that I can have further interaction with them.

I can’t force someone to respond to me. But I can now pray for these people by name that Jesus would pursue them. He can make them think about these conversations. And I also pray that they would remember the love and sincerity we showed. I pray that they would realize that we are not some salesmen or manipulators.

Pressing Into the Hard Things: Encouragement for Evangelism

I share all of these things for a few reasons. First, to make it clear that for the majority of people, even the majority of missionaries, evangelism is hard. But Christ has commanded us to do it, and He also promised that He would be with us.

I also wanted to share an encouraging story about how we got to engage with people. We were able to show them that not all Christians are judgmental hypocrites. The Spirit has poured love into our hearts. When we share the Gospel with someone who is very harsh or full of hatred towards Christians, maybe our interaction with them will cause them to think differently. May we all be salt and light to the world as we go out as ambassadors of Christ.

Finally, I wanted to point out that as we pray and set goals, God often provides opportunities to accomplish them! The evangelism workshop didn’t happen because we had a goal of doing more evangelism. But because our radar was up about growing in that area, we took advantage of the opportunity. Just because we’re not good at a certain spiritual discipline or an area of the Christian faith terrifies us, that doesn’t mean that we should avoid it. We should press into it and see what the Lord does!