The Evangelistic Community

Today I’m talking to church families, but everyone is welcomed to listen in.

Photo by Davide Cantelli on Unsplash

If you take your faith, those beliefs about God, those ideas that sustain you, that hold you up in tough times, seriously; and you care about others, not as concepts or ideas, but as living breathing human beings, with struggles and fears just like the ones you have, then it naturally follows that you want to share your faith with them. You want them to have the indescribable peace, joy, love, and other attributes that now fill you with meaning. You remember only too well what it was like when those spiritual gifts were absent in your own life, and how, at one of your lowest times, others, possibly even strangers, stepped in and helped you see what you were missing; and you have never been the same.

Some might be waiting for a punchline at this point. If so, it is a measure of how cynical life in our first world society has become.

There is no punchline,

but a small observation,

that the most precious treasure of our own souls seems difficult to share effectively with both friends and strangers.

Now it is true that it is not our responsibility to convert anyone. (We need to quickly explain this to on-fire new believers).

Changing the human heart is a spiritual matter between each one’s soul and God. This is the Holy Spirit’s arena. We are simply called to be witnesses; to tell other thirsty and hungry beggars where we found bread.

But this does not remove from many the ache for those around them who they are sure are going toward a bad place of no return.

So, even though conversion is not our responsibility, none the less we want to do everything we can to bring as many as we can to the eternity we are looking forward to ourselves. Besides, one of the things most important to those of us who take such a place seriously, and actually come to consider it more real than the reality we live in now¹, is the dream of big reunions; of seeing loved ones once again who have died and left large holes in our hearts, not to mention everyone we have ever heard or read about who themselves looked forward to that day.

Now there is certainly a lot of material there for late night comedians in what I have just described, but I’m giving it to you straight.

This is the difference between the two groups. One believes with conviction and certainty in the unbelievable and the other can’t believe anyone in their right mind could seriously believe such drivel.

The most interesting thing I find about the difference between these two groups is only one understands from personal experience both positions. The other only knows what they have always believed. To them the other side is too incredible to even consider.

For years I have wondered how best to evangelize, and for all the reasons I have described above. But my problem is I know very well both sides. I know my desire to share my faith and how annoying it is when people knock on my door wanting to do just that to me.

So here, for what it’s worth, are my current thoughts on the matter of evangelism.

1. The physical and emotional needs are usually of greater importance to people compared with any spiritual questions they may or may not have.

2. Not original with me but true nonetheless —  No one cares what I know about matters of eternal life, until they know how much I care about them personally.

3. How much I care is demonstrated by how I might first be able to meet another’s physical and emotional needs.

4. I don’t have a lot of time or ability to meet the physical and emotional needs of others outside a few closest to me. It turns out I have a lot of physical and emotional needs of my own. It’s draining and often, as I have described above, discouraging to do this sort of ministry alone. It can be a set up for burnout.

5. Attempting to boil the Bible down to a few proof texts is a nice idea that doesn’t work for me. It is a way of showing someone with little to no knowledge of the Bible that there are a few out of context interesting passages in there. There is a time and place for topical bible studies. I just don’t think it is with unbelievers.

6. It seems the default idea of church people is that strangers need to believe what they believe as evidence that they would be safe to be friends with. I think this is backward thinking.

7. Why not make evangelism a community project? This means I can invite people to come and hang out. That’s what Jesus did. Check out John 1:35-39. Getting people to hang out with my group of friends invites them to observe crazy Christians in their natural habitat. It allows them not to be the center of attention but instead to just be with others who enjoy being together. And it has the ability to effortlessly begin to meet their physical and emotional needs. We all need hugs, food, friends, and laughter. We need to be welcomed in and included, regardless our fuzzy beliefs about God.

8. Let God work out his relationship with others in his own way and in his own time. In the meantime, let everyone who wants to, hang out with us. We can love them as they are. Now that, frankly, sounds like a lot of fun. And I’m always up for a good time, especially when it gives me a taste of heaven.

9. Last observation. I know homes are great and people who have the gift of hospitality are highly favored, but churches need to always be this welcoming as well. Fortunately for me, I happen to attend one of these amazing places where people are happy to see one another AND have a heart for welcoming and involving visitors into their circles. I have been to other churches where this wasn’t the case, where it seemed up to the visitors to give it their best shot to meet people. Not fun or evangelistic.

Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.

Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash

1. 1 I recommend The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis for a wonderful description of how heaven is more real than the lives we are living right now.