The aspect of evangelism that I want to deal with here is a bit more subtle than some others. When you are talking to someone about the Gospel, one goal you want to work toward is getting God's character right. It's too easy to miss the mark here. We can make God into this ogre who is so mad at people because they don't toe the line in just the right way. Or we can give people the impression that God is this patsy who just loves everyone, and it really doesn't matter what they do. There are other twisted version of who He actually is. Our presentation of the Gospel hangs on our presentation of God's character. We are, after all, talking to people about how they can get to know God.
What we need to do is present God in the way that the Bible does. So, according to the Bible, there are times God when expresses one aspect of His character. Then, there are times when what comes out is something very different. He is, you know, like us (except that, in God's case, whatever comes out is always the right thing).
Getting this right requires something that I don't usually hear about when people talk about evangelism. We will be able to give people the right impression when it comes to God's character only if we are getting to know God's character. You can't teach what you don't know. And the primary way that we will convey to others some sense of God's character will be as we imitate Him in our own interactions with them. Remember where we started. Peter tells us to be ready. As people watch us they will come with their questions. (1 Peter 3.15) Evangelism is about more than what we say. It's also about who we are.