I was blogging last week about how evangelical Christians may need some new tools to use in sharing the gospel with others. A lot of things we do have become sour as expired milk in the nostrils of a society no longer open to methods such as door-to-door calling or street preachers. So I’ve been working on a new set of tools believers can use to help share their faith with others.

1. Make friends.

Instead of a "Sinner’s Prayer," making converts, testimonies and altar calls, use real conversations with people you’re trying to get to know instead. Make fellowship in your church more than rosters of members or potlucks. Make it intentional time set aside for something equally as important as worship—friendship. People are not prospects or projects. Encourage church members to make friends, not just with each other, but with neighbors, co-workers and others. 

I’ve been on a mission to make friends over the past two years. I’ve tried to be intentional about it. It is difficult for me to do this since I so infrequently actually see people. I work in a home office, alone. But I have Facebook. I have church gatherings, volunteer activities and the people in my neighborhood. I’m trying.

2. Study the life of Christ.

In an attempt to make Jesus a personal Savior maybe we’re missing some of the point that uber-trendsetter Rick Warren made so faddishly well—it’s not about us. How can you follow someone you don’t know very well? I remember following the advice I received once to read all the red-letter portions of the gospels, which are Jesus’ words. It’s a good start for getting to know the Savior of the world. Other good ideas in this area are following sermon series on the life of Christ, Bible study and small groups on this topic, and book studies

3. Focus on true eternal life.

Take a look at Dallas Willard’s view of eternal life with Christ that encompasses not only life after death (or rapture), but the life you live now imbued with eternal significance. This is it, now, life in abundance, and the beginning of the never-ending life with God. This is usually a huge paradigm shift for most believers—especially those who came to Christ with the idea that it was believing in order to get to heaven when they die. Not that this is an incorrect view of salvation; it’s just incomplete. Again, group studies, sermon series and book groups on this topic can revolutionize the lives of Christians in your church.

4. Prayers that open or close things are not usually that meaningful.

As far as Carter’s complaints about impromptu evangelical prayers, he sort of suggests liturgical or at least pre-written prayers would be better. I don’t know; as long as prayers are heartfelt and humble I don’t mind listening to them. What’s even better, though, is a constant stream of prayers, obviously mostly inaudible. The worst prayers I think are those obligatory open-a-meeting or close-a-meeting prayers that are more like announcements, or something. Maybe the whole meeting should be spent in prayer. I think other good prayers are those that are written in a journal of some sort, so that looking back you can see how God responded. God always returns faithfulness in this sort of praying with faithfulness. And what is more astounding is that his faithfulness isn’t dependent on ours. Thank God.