What does this have to do with evangelism? In short, shame silences sharing.
For believers who already live in a shame culture — where people are crouching down like a hungry lion ready to attack via a tweet, a Facebook post, a gossip and slander chain, or a hostile response from someone who doesn’t like what another shares — coupled with the shame they have in their struggle with sin (past or present), it’s no wonder many live in a prison of silence when it comes to sharing the Good News.
4. You won’t evangelize if you experience relational strife.
God graciously draws Adam and Eve out of hiding. How they respond to His questions reveal the hurtfulness and hostility of their hearts. They each play the blame game. Adam begins first and says, “The woman you gave to be with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate” (Gen 3:12). Adam is clearly upset at both God and woman — for God gave the woman, and the woman gave the fruit. If neither would have happened, Adam (from his perspective) wouldn’t have had to learn to sew.
Relational conflicts exert negative effects. When things aren’t going right in life, and the impulse is to blame others — to see “others” as the problem — relationships are bound to stay off track and fail to experience positive forward progress. Thus, when churches experience conflict and friction that disunifies a body, it disrupts God’s mission.
Relational strife within a church keeps a church from reaching sinners. I would argue that Jesus knew this, which is why He prayed, “May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me” (John 17:20–21).
Could relational strife be one of the many reasons why so many churches fail to reach their communities? I think so.
In closing, at the core, a lack of gospel evangelism is a God problem. From the very beginning God put within man the natural impulse to declare His glory and to proclaim the handiwork of His hands. By nature, mankind — as well as the created order — is an evangelist. However, sin distorted and damaged the object of man’s declaration and proclamation of God’s glory and work. Yet, in Jesus, God brings mankind back into a right relationship so that they may declare the excellencies of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Therefore, in Jesus, skepticism, seduction, shame, and strife have subsided so that the declaration of God’s glory and the proclamation of His salvific work in Christ may rise from the lips and lives of those who are His.
