Random pastors, an elder in my church, and a special breed of drunk “Christians” (who try to pass themselves off as expert advisers as they stumble out of bars) all give me eerily similar advice: my evangelism methods are all wrong.

The advice I’ve heard so often seems to be gaining in popularity—along with a ministry dedicated to wimpy evangelism. Doable Evangelism is dedicated to “re-inventing evangelism.” (I didn’t realize it needed to be re-invented; I’m convinced God got it right the first time in the Bible.)

Doable Evangelism’s premise is that because most Christians aren’t gifted evangelists, it’s okay if they choose to do good deeds rather than preach the gospel. I agree that good deeds are important and commanded of Christians—but doing kind actions alone without speaking words of truth is not evangelism. I do agree with Doable Evangelism’s belief that much of evangelism in America isn’t very biblical. We don’t eliminate unbiblical evangelism, however, by espousing new, unbiblical methods.

Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” This verse contains the diagnosis for everyone who has a misunderstanding of biblical evangelism. The gospel is the message that saves!

Preaching the gospel is not necessarily easy or even enjoyable (though I have found it to be fun, and I can attest that Philemon 6 is true), but it is commanded. We must not be ashamed of the gospel, unwilling to risk anything for Jesus.

Can you really say you’re trying to be an example to others by living a Christian life and doing good while being disobedient to Jesus’ command to preach the gospel? And if you’re not telling others using words—and just hoping they’ll read your mind as you do kind deeds—are you really living a Christian life?