As I have led in Student Ministry for over 17 years I have seen many different programs come through our churches and book stores that encourage evangelism.  All of them seem to be selling a particular method or identity that your group needs in order to be able to connect with those who do not know Christ.  However, over the last several years we have seem a more organic move to encourage our students to do life with those who do not know Jesus.  While I believe this is the best method, it does create some issues with in a group.

1. Students feel like they have to choose between their Christian friends and non-Christian friends.  This is usually imposed by the group that is afraid of truly reaching lost people who need Jesus.  Often out of fear that they will catch some rare disease if talk to those who need Jesus.

2. The gauntlet comes down that if you associate with them then you must be like them.  They will influence you more than you can possibly influence them.  Where is our trust in the Holy Spirit on this?  Jesus and many others through out scripture connect with the very people that culturally they were not supposed to talk too and led them to Jesus.

3. Then you have the parents and leaders of the church who see your students hanging with the group at the mall or some other place in town and they begin to talk as if the students who are actually associating with non-Christians are not growing spiritually.

4. Then comes the challenge of teaching our students that they don’t change lives, God does.  This can be hard as they spend time with those who don’t know Jesus and get frustrated with a lack of results.  We must teach them to be praying and focusing on opportunity and relationship not changing their lives.

Today, in my reading I came across this section of scripture in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11

“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— ¹⁰not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ¹¹But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.”

What a great reminder of how we should be living our lives.  Let us encourage and lead our students to out their on the forefront reaching and communicating with their peers a message of hope and love that can only come through a relationship with Jesus.