Coffee is for closers only.

What makes a person evangelistic?

What makes a church evangelistic?

Is evangelism a process or a result?

I think many would label a person or a church evangelistic if it got results. Am I right? Would you?

I submit to you that's false, particularly because it credits the person with that which only God can do (cf. John 6:44).

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
-1 Corinthians 3:5-8, ESV (emphasis mine)

We plant seeds. We water seeds. We are evangelistic.

But ... God causes the growth by opening hearts to respond to our message of the Gospel (e.g., Acts 16:14), we then rejoice with the angels in heaven because that sinner has repented (Luke 15:10).

It's less about you and I "doing it right," meaning a slick presentation and all the right words to say, but all about God using the power of the true Gospel as it comes through the lips of His impotent people (cf. Rom 1:16).

"Successful witnessing is sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God."
-first heard in Campus Crusade for Christ

What makes a person evangelistic? I'm thinking ... A person who shares the Gospel is evangelistic. That person should also ...

• Prepare by knowing the Gospel well.
• Pray for opportunities to evangelize.
• Pray for lost friends and family to be receptive and
• Pray for God to change hearts of those hearing the Gospel.
• Provide time to spend with person being evangelized, demonstrating care and the gravity of the discussion.
• Pray for those with whom you've planted seeds that they would be watered (by the involvement of himself/herself or others) and would come to fruition (as the Spirit regenerates that person to respond in faith).

What makes a church evangelistic? I'm thinking ... An evangelistic church communicates the Gospel in its various ministries is evangelistic, for the benefit of the unconverted to be saved and for the benefit of the converted that they would be nourished, encouraged, and equipped to share that message with others. That church should also ...

• Encourage its members to be evangelistic, so they realize their responsibility.
• Encourages interaction with non-Christians by avoiding overloading weekly schedules.
  
• Equip its members through repetition and discipleship to know the Gospel.
• Exemplifies evangelistic priority by its leadership.
• Empowers people, not programs, to plant and water seeds.
  

In my book, a person or a church doing those things gets a cup of coffee. If coffee was for closers only, only God would get coffee.