In this excerpt from Witness, author Jonathan Dodson shares how church families can feel confident in reaching the community through effective Spirit-filled evangelism, underlined with confident, persistent prayer.

By God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, every day can be a Jubilee—a time of freedom, rest and peace with God. That is a hope that does not and cannot disappoint.

Eventually, I had to come to terms with the fact that it was not my personality, lack of knowledge, or want of opportunity that kept me from telling people about Jesus. It was fear.

My daughter’s social communication difficulties can set her apart in the eyes of the world in all the wrong ways. Yet, time and time again, I have watched God flip the switch, giving her unique opportunities to reach others for the Kingdom and draw people to him in ways that others simply cannot do.

Evangelism is more about being faithful than successful.

I want friends to know that Jesus is for them, but maybe not in the way they supposed, for the gospel proves Jesus is more than a good teacher or an example to copy. Instead, the gospel allows us to know the God of the universe because of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection—but it takes courage to explain.

Identifying common misconceptions about evangelism can help us overcome discouragement about our evangelistic attempts.

When I was a young girl I had friends who were strange. They talked about church and some guy named Jesus. I’m so thankful they did.

As I think back on all the years and all the conversations that Christians had with me, I don’t remember many of their specific words. But I remember their lives and their love.

I grew up in a rough part of Detroit. And so did my passion for evangelism.

We often don’t see the opportunities God gives us to share our faith until they’ve passed by us. But if we’re looking for these opportunities, maybe we’ll see them sooner.

I was slow to learn that evangelism requires using words. But now I get it.