You may feel a bit like that when I tell you that my topic for today, under the heading, "What's the point?" is "Evangelism" - sharing the Christian message with others. A survey by "Health magazine" in America in 1992 revealed this statistic: "Among things Americans fear, rank of death: 7. Rank of speaking before a group: 1" I don't think Americans are any different to the rest of us in that. Most of us are afraid to stand up in public and talk about our faith; few of us feel comfortable about doing so, and I have to include myself in that. We're afraid of embarrassing ourselves or our audience, of seeming to impose our faith on others, we are held back by all sorts of inhibitions. But that is to miss out on something important and to lose a great blessing.

1. Reaching others for Jesus is at the heart of our calling.

Today we heard from the bible the words Matthew recorded at the end of his gospel as Jesus' last words to his followers: "Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples..." (Matthew 28:19) In his version of Jesus' last words Luke records, "... you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) This command was physically impossible for the disciples of the first generations to fulfil - they didn't have the means of travel available to get everywhere (though they made an impressive start on the task). So Jesus must have meant this challenge to apply to all his followers through the centuries. So you and I are charged with the responsibility to "make others Jesus' disciples" & to "be witnesses" for him. How did you find out about the Christian faith? I am sure it was because others told you about him. If the Christian faith is of any value to us, we must likewise pass it on to others. We are part of God's mission to the world, whether we like it or not.

2. We are all called to be "witnesses".

Notice that Jesus called all his disciples to be "witnesses", not "evangelists". The great evangelist of the 20th century, Billy Graham has said, "An evangelist is a person with a special gift and a special calling from the Holy Spirit to announce the good news of the gospel.... And it's a gift from God. You can't manufacture it, you can't organise it, you can't manipulate it.... I study and read and prepare all the time, but my gift seems to be from the Lord in giving an appeal to get people to make a decision for Christ. Something happens I cannot explain. I have never given an invitation in my whole life when no one came." Few of us have that gift, just as few of us are called to be attorneys or lawyers. But just as any of us is liable to have to give our testimony in a court if we are witnesses to a crime, so we are all cited by Jesus to bear witness to what we have experienced ourselves of God and of a relationship with Christ. We do not have to be clever, gifted or trained to do that, just willing and honest. People may argue with the Christian message, but it is much harder to argue with an honestly given account of personal experience, and what have we to lose anyway if our testimony is rejected? If people don't want to be friends with us as a result, they are not worth cultivating as friends on condition of our silence about what should matter most to us in the world. Most people are brought to faith in Jesus by the witness of family members or friends. Here's what one survey showed: "The Institute for American Church Growth, asked 10,000 people about their pilgrimage. What led them in? Answers were: Special need, 2%; Walk-in, 3%; Pastor, 6%; Visitation, 1%; Sunday school, 5%; Evangelistic crusade, 5%; Program, 3%; Friend/relative, 79%." You are probably the key person to your friends finding about the love of God for them and receiving that into their lives.

3. Sharing Jesus with others is the greatest privilege.

If you are a Christian, would you not say that your relationship with Jesus is the most precious thing in your life? Would you not also agree that everyone's life would be better if they too had a living relationship of love with God through Jesus? Surely that means you have the best thing of all to offer to others, especially since it is free! I, regrettably, am not an evangelist, but I, like everyone, have opportunities sometimes of sharing what I have experienced of the Christian faith with others, and as a pastor have extra ones too. The few occasions when I have had the privilege of helping people make a personal response of faith to Jesus have been amongst the moments of greatest joy for me, and that will be true for you. Remember that Jesus said, "I tell you, the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10) If you do share what you know of Jesus with others, you will find joy in so doing, even if it seems hard to contemplate.

4. We are one part of the witness of the whole Church.

St Paul, speaking about sharing the gospel with the Corinthians wrote, "I sowed the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow." (1Corinthians 3:6) Your words of witness are part of a much bigger work God is doing in the lives of your hearers. The bible assures us that God wants everyone to turn to him. He wants each of us to play our part in enabling everyone to hear the good news of his love, to be part of the chain.

As a Church we also need to think about ways of reaching others, which is one major reason for considering offering a second Church service in contemporary mode. Some of us feel an alternative means of sharing the gospel is needed. This should not stop us fulfilling other aspects of our calling, such as helping one another to grow in our faith and to deal with the hurts in our lives. Indeed those who come into a relationship with Jesus, may help us find healing & help.

There is so much more we could say about this topic, but let's end today with the story of Jonah, the end of which we heard from the bible today. God sent him to announce his message to an enemy nation, so Jonah ran away from the task. God turned him around, but although he was successful in his witness, his heart was still not in the job. He was more upset over the death of a plant than the potential death of thousands of people, an attitude for which God rebuked him. We too, do we not, tend to care more about all sorts of other things than the sharing of God's love with our neighbours. May he help us change in this.

Here's a final story to challenge us:
Officer Tori Matthews of the Southern California Humane Society got an emergency call: a boy's pet iguana had been scared up a tree by a neighbour's dog. It then fell from the tree into a swimming pool, where it sank like a brick. Officer Matthews came with her net. She dived into the pool, emerging seconds later with the pet's limp body. As the Arizona Republic (2/14/95) reported, she thought, Well, you do CPR on a person and a dog, why not an iguana? So she put her lips to the iguana's. "Now that I look back on it," she said, "it was a pretty ugly animal to be kissing, but the last thing I wanted to do was tell this little boy that his iguana had died." The lizard responded to her efforts and is expected to make a full recovery. Tori Matthews didn't see a water-logged reptile; she saw a little boy's beloved pet. We may never see the beauty in some people, but when we realise how much they mean to God, we'll do what we can to keep them from drowning.