Evangelism: Sharing God’s Word and God’s Love

Last year, the University of Chicago professor Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize in economics. His research challenged the longstanding notion that individuals act rationally, without procrastination, about their future and their finances. This insight changed our understanding about investment and the ways people save for retirement. As a result, policies such as automatic enrollment in retirement saving plans and automatic increases in contributions to these plans have been developed to nudge people to save more for the future.

When our Christian witness meets rejection or ridicule, don’t we wish sometimes we had automatic enrollments in God’s saving plan? But there are no Richard Thalers in divine economics. The Lord gave us the Great Commission—we have the privilege and challenge of evangelism. As we study evangelism in Today in the Word this month, we’ll look at the gospel as the story of God making friends out of His enemies. We’ll see that this ministry of reconciliation is given to all believers and to the church, with a wonderful Helper and Counselor—the Holy Spirit—working in every heart.

In this year of celebrating our 30th anniversary, all of us at Today in the Word thank you for studying the Bible with us. We pray this month’s study will encourage you to share the Word of God and His love with those around you.

—Elena Mafter, Senior Editor