To evangelize is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Have you ever enjoyed something so much that you just couldn’t help but tell others about it? Maybe it’s recommending a product or talking about a funny movie. This isn’t something you’re forced to do or paid to do. Rather, it’s an overflow of your personal experience.

There is an expression of evangelizing that is similar to this overflow experience and separate from the calling of an evangelist (found in Ephesians 4:11). Evangelism that flows from a personal relationship and experience with Jesus is foundational to the identity of a disciple and an essential function of the Great Commission (Mark 15:16; Matthew 28:19-20).

"A personal relationship and experience with Jesus is foundational to the identity of a disciple"

From the moment we devote our lives to Christ, our life is transformed and yet always transforming. We are Christians on day one but are always becoming more like Christ. When we live from the place of who Christ is in us, we can’t help but share Jesus in our words and actions – at home, work, school, the grocery store, a restaurant, the gas station. You get the idea.

Everywhere we go we are carrying Jesus with us. Paul says we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). Just like when we talk about a new awesome song we heard or book we are reading, out of the overflow of our personal relationship with Jesus, we will evangelize. The gospel of Jesus Christ will leak out of our words, actions, and our entire being all the time.

- Andrew Apple