In our last topic, we talked about learning to cross the barrier of fear in evangelism. We saw that there are two basic factors in learning to witness without fear. First, we need to be shown how to share the Gospel clearly, by someone else sharing the Gospel, while we observe enough times so that we can explain the Gospel clearly and lead a person to Christ. Second, each time before we try to share the Gospel, we need to yield ourselves to God through prayer, so that we witness in the power of the Holy Spirit, instead of our own strength.
Today, we would like to focus on the second barrier: the barrier of learning to make contacts for evangelism. We saw, from observing what the twelve did, that they learned to share the Gospel first with relatives, friends, co-workers, and other acquaintances. However, once they had learned to share the Gospel with those four groups, they had to learn how to make contacts with others in order to share the Gospel.
The disciples had known Christ, had traveled with Him, and observed Him for about twenty-one months before Christ sent them out two-by-two to share the Gospel. As we compare the accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we learn several very important lessons about how to make contacts for the purpose of evangelism. Since this was the first time Christ sent them out without going along with them, He gave them very specific instructions. He told them:
Before we go out to make contacts, we need to personalize the prayer in Ephesians 6:19. Pray... “for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.” We need to pray that God will give us His strength to speak boldly.
In order to make effective contacts for evangelism, we need to go to people and make contact with them where they live, work, and spend their free time. The book of Acts illustrates many of the most common places we will make contacts with people: in their own homes, or the homes of friends, (Acts 10:24, 27); in their religious meeting places (Acts 14:1, 16:13); in the jails (Acts 16:24-27); in the marketplace (Acts 17:17); in their public meeting places (Acts 17:19-34); where they worked (Acts 19:1-3); in schools (Acts 19:9); publicly and from house-to-house (Acts 20:20-21). May the Lord richly bless you as you make new contacts for evangelism.
Growing Christian Leaders Series – Developing Effective Evangelism 4. “Learning to Make Contacts for Evangelism" Updated January 2026 Copyright © 2000, Duane L. Anderson, American Indian Bible Institute; 2022, DLA, Serve and Equip Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. This resource is available from and distributed free of charge by Serve and Equip https://sveq.org ANY REPRODUCTION OF MATERIAL FOR RESALE OR PROFIT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED
