Over the past few weeks, I have been building on this concept of Doable Evangelism.  This being the third installment, you may want to go back to the previous newsletters (check your trash folder) or you can find them on my personal blog.  I hope you have tried this process of Noticing and then Listening to other people, and I hope you have found it manageable.

This next step shouldn’t be too painful.  Having noticed other people, and having listened to them, the next step is to pray for them.  Check that preposition…“for” not “with.”  Praying for them does two things. First, it heightens your skill at listening to them because you have to know what to pray for, but it also validates that the person matters.  Praying for someone says that what they are feeling and experiencing has importance, such great importance that you realize they need the support of someone more capable than you.

By praying, you are taking the appropriate place in the evangelism process.  Too often our Evangelistic techniques are manipulative tasks so that we can get a desired result.  By praying, what you are saying is that the connection between this person and God is up to God, not you.

Jim Henderson, author of Evangelism Without Additives, describes the process of praying for someone as offering them support, like a glass of cold water:  “I simply offered a ‘cup of cold water’ to her and then left it up to Jesus to do the hard part of bringing her closer to him.”  Praying for someone allows us to come alongside our friends, family, and coworkers and support them, not fix them.

So this week, try this.  Pray for three people without them knowing about it.  Come on, seriously.  Try it.