What is friendship evangelism?

The Bible teaches that friends are a blessing from God (Proverbs 18:24). Friends love, encourage, and support each other through good times and bad (Proverbs 17:17; 27:17). Friendship also provides an opportunity for Christians to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their non-Christian friends. The term friendship evangelism refers to a Christian sharing the good news of salvation with unbelieving friends.

While friendship evangelism may include sharing the gospel with an existing friend, people often use the term to describe Christians building friendships with non-Christians to share the good news with them. In practice, this approach to evangelism uses the trust between friends to spread the gospel. It’s based on the conviction that the best way for Christians to love their non-Christian friends is to invite them to believe in Christ (John 15:13–15; Mark 1:15).

As an approach to sharing the gospel, friendship evangelism has both strengths and potential weaknesses. A strength of the practice is that it begins with an existing relationship. Because some unbelievers may be more open to the gospel when someone they know shares it with them, friendship offers a helpful foundation for the conversation.

However, friendship evangelism also has potential weaknesses. For example, some non-Christians may feel deceived if a Christian tries to develop a friendship with them while having a hidden purpose. While a believer may view the growing relationship as a loving opportunity to share the gospel, a non-Christian might interpret it as insincere because the Christian has a secret motive.

Another potential weakness of friendship evangelism is that a non-Christian may influence a Christian in unholy ways. The apostle Paul cautioned Christians about having close relationships with unbelievers: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14–15). Paul’s warning stresses that believers and unbelievers don’t have spiritual unity. Therefore, believers shouldn’t be friends with people who entice them to compromise their faith. While this warning doesn’t forbid a Christian from having a non-Christian friend, it puts limits on the relationship because the unbeliever doesn’t share the believer’s faith.

An additional concern of a friendship-first approach to evangelism is that a relationship develops, but the believer never shares the gospel. In this case, a Christian might bond with an unbeliever over work, school, a hobby, or another shared interest, but the believer never talks to their friend about the good news. Reluctance to share the gospel with unbelievers, especially friends, may reveal a lack of love, urgency, or courage (Romans 1:16; 2 Timothy 1:7–8).

Paul offers a wise example of the benefits and boundaries of using relationships to spread the gospel. He explained that he sought relationships with non-Christian Jews, but he had clear limits in doing so: “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law” (1 Corinthians 9:20–21). When Paul says in both verses that his aim was “to win” non-Christian Jews, he means that he wanted them to respond to the gospel. For this reason, he was willing to become like them, yet he refused to compromise his Christian faith in doing so.

Paul reiterates this point in the next two verses, saying that he desired to relate to unbelievers for the purpose of spreading the good news: “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings” (1 Corinthians 9:22–23). Paul sought to associate with non-Christians in a caring and careful way in order to share the gospel with them.

Friendship evangelism is a valid approach to spreading the gospel, but Christians should practice it with wisdom and without compromise.