Reflections on Marketplace Mission Trip #25 – Evangelism Made Easy!

I’ll never forget how intimidated I was the first time I was told I needed to learn how to “win people to Christ.” I was 13 and just hearing the word evangelism put fear in my heart. I felt completely inadequate for the task. Although I couldn’t name the fear then, it was a combination of fear of rejection and fear of failure. Needless to say, I did everything I could to avoid having to participate in evangelism efforts.

At 45 I answered the challenge to go on my first overseas mission trip to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. It was the first of five trips that gave me many chances to evangelize with indigenous people groups. Some of the fear I felt for evangelism was minimized by the fact that I was only there for seven days and knew I wouldn’t see the people I prayed for ever again. If I “messed it up”, I wouldn’t have to repeatedly face my failure.

Even today at age 66, I carried a residual sense of inadequacy for evangelism until I participated in the 25^th Marketplace Mission Trip (January–February 2023). For the first time I had a “can-do” attitude – about evangelizing, that is. And that is no small accomplishment because this trip was all about sharing my faith with the people that I work with, encounter in my everyday activities, and generally do life with.

I had to ask myself, what was different? What made evangelism “doable” this time? The answer is fourfold:

1. Preparation

The first week of the two-week mission trip is spent getting prepared. We are encouraged to pray, appreciate others, know what we believe, serve others, and speak for ourselves. There is much more detail behind each of these preparatory steps, but you’ll need to take the trip to get the full impact!

2. Practical, Easy-to-do Action Steps

The action steps we are encouraged to take are rooted in the commandment to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. When all of our actions are rooted in love, God is able to take our “natural” and add his “super” to it so we get supernatural results.

3. Scripture Foundation for Every Action

As Christians, our actions must always be in line with Scripture. It is the plumbline that keeps what we do and how we do it on track.

4. Methods That Honor God and Man

And finally: What kind of witnesses would we be if, while evangelizing at work, we were “stealing” our employer’s time to do it? The reminder to go in early, stay late, or use your lunchtime or breaks to connect with coworkers was a huge testament to the integrity of this program. Likewise, showing honor and respect to everyone we engage with is the first step to winning their trust and earning the right to share our experience of Christ when they are open to it.

In short, the Marketplace Mission Trips make evangelism easy to do. Don’t let fear stop you. If I was able to overcome that fear by participating in this mission trip, so can you.

I encourage you to give it a try. Even if you’ve been a believer for a long time, even if you like evangelizing, there is much to learn by participating in a Marketplace Mission Trip.

P.S. The icing on the cake in this experience was getting to interact with others who were also on the trip during the week two call-ins. We learned a lot and were greatly encouraged by hearing each other’s testimonies.

P.P.S. If your schedule won’t work to do the trip, consider buying the Marketplace Mission Trip workbook and lead your own trip with a group of friends!

Featured photo by Keira Burton on Pexels; In-text photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash