Making it Relevant: 4 Points on Evangelizing in Mark 6:8-11

A few weeks ago, the band and I were in Missouri at a church camp. The camp had a house onsite that they let us stay in, so needless to say we had more space than we usually do when we are on the road. We were all relaxing after a day full of driving, so I scouted out the couch I was going to claim and sat down with my Bible. I was reading through Mark and read through Jesus sending out the 12 disciples. For whatever reason, I have continued to go back and reread it over and over again. There is something powerful in Mark 6, verses 8-11. It speaks volumes about Christians today, which is why I want to share about it.

To give these verses context, Jesus has just left Bethlehem and is traveling with his disciples around to various villages. At this point, He starts to send out the disciples in groups of twos to travel and share the gospel. In these verses, he is giving them instructions on what do to. This is where modern day relevancy really comes in. As Christians, we are called to be disciples, so these instructions apply to us in a powerful way.

1. We Don't Need Anything Extra to Fulfill Our Mission

In verses 8 and 9 it says, "These were his instructions: 'Take nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt.'" What Jesus is saying here is that we as Christians don't need any special items to share the gospel with people. All we need is our voice. In The Lasting Hope, our instruments help put us in front of audiences, but we don't need them to share what we believe. Once we are there, we could throw all of our equipment in the garbage and still get our point across. God has given us a voice and it is up to us to use it.

2. Trust God to Provide

Go back and read verses 8 and 9 again. Can you imagine leaving for unfamiliar places without the slightest bit of material things? Not even extra clothes to wear? I don't think Jesus's goal was to make the disciples go out unprepared, it was to show that He would provide for them. Just like the disciples, we have to trust that God will provide for us everything we need. I have had so many things work out in my life that I can attribute to trusting God, including paying for college, getting jobs and internships, getting married (soon), and more. Telling people about Jesus can be super scary, but knowing that we can trust God to provide words and opportunities should be comforting to us.

3. Build Relationships

In verse 10, Jesus says, "Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town." It's a simple enough verse, right? I think it's an important observation that Jesus tells them to only stay in one house. If they are out trying to convert people to followers of Christ, it seems like it would make more sense to go to and stay in as many houses as they could in a town. Instead, the disciples were instructed to stay in one house in each town. This is relevant today because they were building relationships with a family in each town. It wasn't just one sermon. It was spending time with people and getting to know them. Once the disciples left each town, that family could then spread the news about Jesus. They were planting seeds in communities, which there needs to be more of today.

4. Don't Get Discouraged

I know for me, rejection is always a fear when talking about Christianity. It seems more and more people look at Christians through a negative lens, so sharing what we believe can be intimidating. Verse 11 gives us some encouragement when Jesus says, "And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them." Jesus tells the disciples up front that not everyone and every place will welcome them. Instead of losing confidence, he simply says they will just have to keep moving. It's encouraging to me that Jesus doesn't expect us to succeed every time. "Shake the dust off your feet." How many times have we heard a similar phrase from our parents when we fall down or fail? It's going to happen, but it isn't the huge deal we make it out to be in our heads.

Today there isn't a lot of evangelizing going on, at least that I have been seeing. A lot of people, including myself sometimes, beleive our actions will bring people to Christ. If we live differently than the world, then people will see that and want it. The problem is that people see that we are living differently, but don't understand why. The view of passive evangelism is popular because it is easy. As Christians, we need to start connecting with people, regardless of their moral or financial standing. We need to tell people why we are living differently. Jesus didn't die for us just to have us live differently in silence. We all have a voice.