Lifeway Christian Resources released its latest Bible study by Preston Perry, Everyday Evangelism: Pursuing Hearts, Not Arguments, focused on equipping the everyday believer to share their faith with confidence and to engage non-Christians with love, respect and truth.
“Most Christians find it difficult to share their faith. If we aren’t careful, we’ll let these hesitations keep us from the important work God’s given us to do,” Perry said. “God has called us to be evangelists. If we are willing to engage with this calling, He is more than willing to empower us through the Holy Spirit to give the gospel to anyone we encounter.”
Based on Perry’s book published earlier this year, “How to Tell the Truth,” the six-week study is designed to serve individuals and small groups alike in deepening their biblical view of God’s call on every Christian to share their faith with their friends, coworkers and neighbors. Perry added, “Before we can have productive conversations about the gospel, we need to cultivate a desire to see people come to faith in Jesus— and desire that more than being right or proving a point.”
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According to a 2022 Lifeway Research study, less than half of self-identified Christians have, at least once in the past six months, shared a Bible verse or Bible story with a non-Christian loved one (46%), invited a non-Christian friend or family member to attend a church service or other program at church (43%), or shared with a non-Christian loved one how to become a Christian (38%). Additionally, the 2022 State of Theology report published by Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries, only 32% of the 3,011 American adults surveyed strongly agree that it’s very important to personally encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
“We see a clear, biblical mandate to go and make disciples, and that starts with sharing the gospel,” said Ben Mandrell, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources. “While evangelism should be the heartbeat of every follower of Jesus Christ, we’re seeing a massive drop-off in Christians regularly taking the gospel from the pews to the people next door who don’t know Christ.”
Discipleship need
Mandrell explained that seeing this decline in evangelism highlights the need for greater discipleship among believers to share their faith consistently and effectively. “We pray Everyday Evangelism will equip men and women in the local church with the tools necessary to share the gospel with their friends, family and coworkers. We want to help our church members become everyday evangelists who are, as 1 Peter 3:15 says, ‘ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.’”
Perry builds on his own story of coming to faith and learning how to evangelize in his book and subsequent Bible study, giving readers an example of how the everyday Christian — not just vocational ministers — can talk about their faith wisely and winsomely. Perry, husband to Christian author and speaker Jackie Hill Perry, also founded Bold TV (now Apologetics with Preston Perry) and Bold Apparel in 2017 as avenues to engage the public in theological discourse.
Everyday Evangelism includes video access to teaching sessions, discussion questions, personal study between group sessions, applicable Scripture, “How to Use This Study,” and tips for leading a group. Interwoven into the study are personal stories from Perry and his journey of coming to faith and developing a robust understanding for communicating the gospel clearly and effectively with people from a variety of spiritual backgrounds.
For more information, visit Lifeway.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lauren Pratt and originally published by Lifeway.
