{"id":761862,"date":"2021-11-09T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T11:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=761862"},"modified":"2021-11-08T05:53:59","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T11:53:59","slug":"a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/","title":{"rendered":"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In some studies, fear is the #1 reason Christians give for not sharing their faith. I think there\u2019s another reason, though, we cannot ignore. The Gospel of Mark has helped me to see this problem, and I invite you to review the Word as you read this post.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In several stories in the first half of the Gospel, the text tells us that crowds were filled with wonder at Jesus. It didn\u2019t always happen that way\u2014some of the religious leaders, in particular, turned against Jesus quickly\u2014but it did happen often. For example, the people were <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">astonished <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at His teaching because He taught differently than the scribes did (Mark 1:22). They were also <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">amazed <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when He demonstrated His power to cast out demons (Mark 1:27).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those who saw Jesus heal and save a paralytic were also <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">amazed <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at Him (Mark 2:12). The people who learned Legion\u2019s story of freedom from demonic bondage <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">marveled <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at what Jesus had done (Mark 5:20). The family of the daughter of Jairus were \u201covercome with amazement\u201d when Jesus raised her from the dead (Mark 5:42). Those who saw Jesus heal a deaf man with a speech impediment were \u201castonished beyond measure\u201d (Mark 7:37).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, here\u2019s what most grabs my attention: when the people were filled with astonishment, they most often immediately began talking about Jesus (Mark 1:28, 2:12, 5:20, 7:37). Even in those cases where Jesus told people <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">not <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to go tell, they often did anyway (Mark 1:45, 5:43 [cf. Matt 9:26). After all, how could you not tell others when Jesus healed you or raised a loved one from the dead?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, then there\u2019s the story of the people in Jesus\u2019 hometown. When they heard Him teach and learned of His miracles, they were initially astonished themselves (Mark 6:2). That wonder, though, quickly gave way to skepticism and disbelief (Mark 6:3); in their minds, they reduced Jesus to just one of them. He was just the \u201croutine\u201d carpenter whose family they knew.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This time, then, it was not the crowds filled with wonder over Jesus; it was Jesus amazed by their unbelief (Mark 6:6). He was amazed that they were no longer amazed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, I can\u2019t help but wonder if He isn\u2019t sometimes amazed by our lack of amazement, too. What was once astonishment in our early Christian walk has too often now become the routine \u2013 and it\u2019s no wonder we don\u2019t evangelize like we should.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are your thoughts?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In some studies, fear is the #1 reason Christians give for not sharing their faith. I think there\u2019s another reason, though, we cannot ignore. The Gospel of Mark has helped me to see this problem, and I invite you to review the Word as you read this post. In several stories in the first half&#8230;","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":761864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,175,186,14796,180,176,189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-761862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-grow","category-health-and-metrics","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-revitalize","category-turnaround-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In some studies, fear is the #1 reason Christians give for not sharing their faith. I think there\u2019s another reason, though, we cannot ignore. The Gospel of Mark has helped me to see this problem, and I invite you to review the Word as you read this post.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In some studies, fear is the #1 reason Christians give for not sharing their faith. I think there\u2019s another reason, though, we cannot ignore. The Gospel of Mark has helped me to see this problem, and I invite you to review the Word as you read this post.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-09T11:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chuck Lawless\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\"},\"headline\":\"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-09T11:00:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/\"},\"wordCount\":407,\"commentCount\":6,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Church Answers\",\"Grow\",\"Health &amp; Metrics\",\"Monday\/Wednesday Featured\",\"Outreach &amp; Evangelism\",\"Revitalize\",\"Turnaround Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/\",\"name\":\"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize | Church Answers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-09T11:00:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\"},\"description\":\"In some studies, fear is the #1 reason Christians give for not sharing their faith. I think there\u2019s another reason, though, we cannot ignore. The Gospel of Mark has helped me to see this problem, and I invite you to review the Word as you read this post.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\",\"name\":\"Church Answers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\",\"name\":\"Chuck Lawless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chuck Lawless\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/clawless\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize | Church Answers","description":"In some studies, fear is the #1 reason Christians give for not sharing their faith. I think there\u2019s another reason, though, we cannot ignore. The Gospel of Mark has helped me to see this problem, and I invite you to review the Word as you read this post.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize | Church Answers","og_description":"In some studies, fear is the #1 reason Christians give for not sharing their faith. I think there\u2019s another reason, though, we cannot ignore. The Gospel of Mark has helped me to see this problem, and I invite you to review the Word as you read this post.","og_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/","og_site_name":"Church Answers","article_published_time":"2021-11-09T11:00:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Chuck Lawless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chuck Lawless","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/"},"author":{"name":"Chuck Lawless","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f"},"headline":"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize","datePublished":"2021-11-09T11:00:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/"},"wordCount":407,"commentCount":6,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png","articleSection":["Church Answers","Grow","Health &amp; Metrics","Monday\/Wednesday Featured","Outreach &amp; Evangelism","Revitalize","Turnaround Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/","name":"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize | Church Answers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png","datePublished":"2021-11-09T11:00:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f"},"description":"In some studies, fear is the #1 reason Christians give for not sharing their faith. I think there\u2019s another reason, though, we cannot ignore. The Gospel of Mark has helped me to see this problem, and I invite you to review the Word as you read this post.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Blog-Article-Picture-8.png","width":1200,"height":628},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-proposal-one-reason-we-dont-evangelize\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Proposal: One Reason We Don\u2019t Evangelize"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/","name":"Church Answers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f","name":"Chuck Lawless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chuck Lawless"},"description":"Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/clawless\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":761863,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761862\/revisions\/761863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}