In Christendom, an unbeliever is someone who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and is therefore not yet a follower of the Christian religion.
And one of the aim of our religion is to convert these unbelievers and we can only do so by helping them to know and understand the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ to the point of deciding to be a part of us.
One thing we need to understand is that without the proper explanation of God’s word, it is going to be hard for people to understand it and in so doing put it into practice as the scripture plainly states in Psalm 119:34: Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
Thus, evangelism aims to preach the word of God to an unbeliever, but the greatest task lies in the ability to help them understand that word of God to the extent of making the decision to become a believer in Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Therefore, I am writing this sermon to help you understand how to evangelize an unbeliever, and I am going to show you the 5 effective ways to evangelize an unbeliever.
5 effective ways to evangelize an unbeliever.
Below are the 4 basic ways to evangelize an unbeliever:
- Pray.
- Preach.
- Live an exemplary life.
- Use gifts.
- Don’t relent.
1. Pray.
The first step to evangelize an unbeliever is to pray that God would open the eyes of their understanding to believe the word of God you are going to preach to them.
In 2 Corinthians 2:3-4, the scripture says: “For if the gospel we preach is hidden, it is hidden only from those who are being lost. They do not believe, because their minds have been kept in the dark by the evil god of this world”.
As we can see from the above scripture, the devil has blinded the minds of so many people so they could not believe the word of God which is able to save them. And the only way to defeat him is through warfare prayers that will open people’s mind to believe the gospel message you are going to preach to them.
In Mathew chapter 9 verse 35 to 37, the Bible shows us how Jesus went through towns and villages preaching the word of God and healing people of many diseases and sicknesses, and as he saw a large crowd gathering, he had pity on them because they were worried and helpless.
So in verses 37 to 38, he told the disciples that the harvest is plenty and the laborer’s are few, and because of that they should pray the Lord of harvest to send workers who are going to gather the harvest.
The workers Jesus was referring to here are the evangelists whose job is to preach the word of God and deliver the many who are lost and sick.
2. Preach.
Preaching simply implies trying to persuade an unbeliever to believe the gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Mark 16;15, Jesus commanded his disciples to go into the world and preach the gospel message to all people, notwithstanding their race, tribe or religious background.
In 2 Timothy 4:2, the apostle Paul urges Timothy to preach the message in and out of season by convincing, blaming, and encouraging people while teaching with all patience.
So if you want to evangelize an unbeliever, you must ensure you preach the gospel to them.
3. Live an exemplary life.
The easiest way to evangelize an unbeliever is to live an exemplary life that will encourage as well as motivate them to join the Christian religion.
In Mathew 23, Jesus got into a lot of conflict with the Scribes and Pharisees because they were fond of not practicing what they preached. (Mathew 23:3).
In verses 15 of the above Bible verse, Jesus categorically states; “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
And how does the Scribes and Pharisees make their converts as twice as worse as themselves?
They do so when the convert sees them doing the very things they warned them not to do.
The apostle Paul was not left out in this act as he plainly condemns it in Romans 2:3 thus: And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
The Bible therefore says in Romans 12:2 that our conduct among believers should be so good that when anyone tries to accuse us of wrongdoings, they will end up recognizing our good deeds and praise God on the day of his coming.
4. Use gifts.
Using gifts is one of the effective ways to evangelize an unbeliever.
In Mathew 14:13-21, Jesus multiplied 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes to feed about five thousand people and on another occasion, precisely in Mathew 15:32-39, Jesus again multiplied 7 loaves of bread and a few fishes to feed four thousand people.
And in John 6:25-27, Jesus went on to reveal that the large crowd that always followed him came as a result of his ability to provide bread and several other things to them and not because they understood his miracles.
This therefore goes to proof that if you can provide anything for people while doing your evangelical work, you will be able to draw so many people to God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Don’t relent.
One of the reasons why so many evangelists are unable to evangelize an unbeliever is because they easily give up if the person is not responding as they expected.
But if you understand that soul winning will not come as a result of your own effort but rather as God himself chooses to save the person, you will be able to exercise patience and never relent your effort of trying to use different methods or types of evangelism to convert a single soul.
In Mathew 6:44, Jesus says: No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
Now what Jesus was trying to help us understand here is that it is our duty to preach while the conversion belongs to the Father. For this reason, we must not relent our effort in trying to convert an unbeliever when it seems they are not responding immediately and accordingly.
