Perhaps our lives should show them, instead, that jumping into the water is the best way to learn how to swim. Besides actually winning people to Christ, your involvement promises to purge your evangelism training of the superficiality that otherwise threatens to subvert it. People judge us by our actions. The question, then, isn't whether you will be evangelistic, but how effectively evangelistic will you choose to be. Among young people in your church who might someday consider entering ministry, there may be no stronger a deterrent to doing so than a disparity between the words and actions of their church leaders.
Evangelistic passion goes beyond words.
It is a lifestyle. Its locality, contacts, constituency, purpose, and function well complement this task. Unfortunately, the contemporary church does not always exemplify this. If students learn evangelism from such churches, the outcome must be disheartening. Churches should facilitate the specific evangelistic interests of their members.