While it is hard to get away from contemporary associations, it is important to separate these recent American expressions of evangelism from the historic roots of the word in the New Testament. Michael Green, is a theologian and seminary professor with university degrees from Oxford and Cambridge in England. He also believes in and practices a ministry of evangelism. In his book Evangelism Through the Local Church he suggests three definitions of evangelism.

First, overflow. He finds the word in 1 Thessalonians 1:5 - "our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and [in much plerophoria]," much confident overflow. The sense is that of someone who is so full of joy about Jesus Christ that it overflows - filled to overflowing. It is something that is natural and spontaneous. It describes the confident assurance and enjoyment of the Christian faith.

The second definition is attributed to C.H. Spurgeon, the famous nineteenth-century preacher and evangelist. Evangelism, he maintained, "is one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread." Both the giver and the receiver are equally in need of the bread of life. Evangelism is simply telling a fellow searcher where he can get the bread that satisfies. The Bible is filled with the references to Jesus as the bread of life, of the feeding of the five thousand, where the disciples were instructed to take what they had (five loaves and two fish) and distribute them to the hungry. We take what has satisfied us, and met our need and share it with others. That is what led me into the ministry. Jesus had met my need for love and forgiveness, for a new identity and purpose, for the gift of eternal life, that I wanted to share with others what I had found.

The third definition is simply the etymology of the word. Evangel means "gospel". Evangelism is the presentation of the Gospel. The Gospel is about three things.

i. It is about Jesus. That is why the four books in the New Testament about the life and ministry of Jesus are called Gospels. They are the Good News about Jesus and what he came to bring - the life of the kingdom of God. It is not about advancing the claims of a church or of an ideology, but of Jesus Himself. Jesus is the medium and the message. Jefferson Bethke is a Christian evangelist who uses rap to present the Gospel. He created a viral video entitled, Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus, that has thus far received more than 24.5 million views. The theme of the video revolves around "the difference between Jesus and "false religion". Underneath his video, Bethke delineated its purpose:

A poem I wrote to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion. In the scriptures Jesus received the most opposition from the most religious people of his day. At its core Jesus' gospel and the good news of the Cross is in pure opposition to self-righteousness/self-justification. Religion is man-centered, Jesus is God-centered. This poem highlights my journey to discover this truth. Religion either ends in pride or despair. Pride because you make a list and can do it and act better than everyone, or despair because you can't do your own list of rules and feel not good enough for God. With Jesus, though, you have humble confident joy because He represents you, you don't represent yourself and His sacrifice is perfect, putting us in perfect standing with God.

His latest book JESUS'S RELIGION: Why He is So Much Better Than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough is #3 on the New Times Booklist.

ii. The Gospel is about decision. The Gospel is presented to elicit a response. Jesus and the apostles called people to faith in Him, to commitment to Him, to surrender to His claims to be Savior and Lord. The Gospel challenges us to make a choice. There are two foundations that a life may rest upon. There are two roads a person may travel. There are two states, darkness and light, that we may inhabit. There is a choice that we cannot evade. Not to decide is in fact to decide. And that decision carries immensely important and far-reaching implications. Shall we not come to put our trust in God through Him? Shall we not accept Him as our Savior? We must choose. I did and have never regretted it.

iii. The Gospel is about discipleship. Jesus called people to follow him, to learn from him. It is a way of life - The Way as it was called. Evangelism results in a life that is changed from going my way to going Christ's way in the company of brothers and sister of faith. This is only possible by the inward work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

If this is true evangelism, why then do we not want to do it? Why do we baulk at evangelism? Green gives six reasons.

1. We do not want to witness to our faith. John Stott wrote a book entitled, Our Guilty Silence, in which he challenged our shyness in speaking about the things of God. We are given the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can witness to Jesus (Acts 1:8)

2. We have a faith deficit. Many "Christians" cannot share the Gospel because they have no firsthand faith. They need to open the door to Jesus themselves and invite him into their own lives first.

3. We have a lack of confidence and assurance of our own salvation, q.v. 1 John 5:11-13.

4. We are consumed with our own needs and have no overflow for others. We are running on empty in our own relationship with God. We have nothing to give away.

5. We are fearful of taking risks in sharing our faith with others. We may be rebuffed. We need courage to carry the cross. We are not trying to win an argument but to share what we know of Christ, 1 John 4:18 6. We do not see the need. We want to leave well alone. Everyone is entitled to their own faith. Live and let live.

What is your reason for not sharing your faith? Work on it this week. Pray about it. Ask God's help in overcoming it, cf. Kirsten Powers' testimony in Christianity Today, November, 2013.

Subscribe to Ted's blog at www.ameliachapel.com/blog. His new book, ENCOURAGEMENT IN A WORLD OF HURT: The Message of the Book of Revelation is available on www.amazon.com.