"Oh I dont share the gospel with many people, I do what St Francis of Assisi said “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words”

how many times have you heard this? I hear people say it on a weekly basis, because I know a lot of people that believe they can fulfil the great commission without using words. 

  Its supposedly a quote from St Francis of Assisi.  I hear it because its a common question for me to ask my fellow Christians "who did you share your faith with recently?" many Christians get very uncomfortable with this question.  Its common for me to hear, "well I just try to live a good life and wait for questions", to which I will follow up with "when is the last time you were asked questions because of the good life you are living?"  Many Christians think that we are not all evangelists, and unless we feel called or are gifted in evangelism we don't have to share our faith.  Many people think of this quote and think they can just live the gospel at their workplace or social groups.

 When dealing with this quote that people take on as a philosophy of their life it completely goes against scripture. I really appreciate what Ray Comfort said regarding this supposed quote from St Francis that it is comparable to saying“feed the hungry – if necessary, use food.”  its an insane idea that if our goal is to feed children that we just become friends with them instead.  Also if our goal in life is to follow the great commission and make disciples of all nations and we don't share the content of the gospel, that is just as wrong.  Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20  '¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Seems pretty clear to me.

I really feel that this quote of “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words” just supports postmodernism, that people believe words have no meaning.  Well if that is true why not throw out the Bible?  We are a people that believe the word of God does have meaning, and that our words do have meaning.  To fall into this postmodernism is to deny the truth of the word of God.

All you have to do is look at the book of Acts and see if your life would make any sense in that book.  Paul used powerful words, Peter used powerful words, so did Stephen.  Would it make sense if there was then this other character who never used works but just lived a good life and waited for people to ask him why he lived that way?  Lets see what Paul says in Romans 10:14: "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

  This is a Christian myth, and its sad to see it so prevalent today in my culture.  Many people who are not Christian live amazingly kind and giving and beautiful lives.  So whats different between Christians and them?  The difference is that Jesus has the words of life and we should share them with people.

Your words are needed to preach the Gospel, so please forget this silliness about living a good life and waiting for questions and using this quote by St Francis to justify it.