I am the director of Evangelism at First United Methodist Church in downtown Dallas...scary huh? First, the word Evangelism...yipe! Second, Dallas...in the beltbuckle of the Bible belt...double yipe!!!! I think many Christians have given evangelism the scary rep it has for many people. Since as long as I can remember I've had a weird feeling when I see an evangelist on TV. The hair on the back of my neck gets all prickly and I want to run away even though the Christian faith has always been a part of my heritage.Evangelism, in my view, is the job of everyone. We practice it every single time we encounter another human being. Another opinion I have is that if we, as Christians, meet someone for the first time and mention our faith in God and what that means to us without having first been asked seems only self serving...somehow thinking we're going to 'win' a soul for Christ is in our power. We're doing that because strangely we think that that person is just dying to know about us and what we believe. Why don't we wait for the invitation? Why can't we allow God to move that person to curiosity instead of biting at the bit to 'please be interested in me'. Rather, we should be more interested in that person, respect them for who and what they are and let God work in God's own time. God gives every human being free will and they may decide not to make their life with Christ. If you've argued someone into wanting to know more about Christ, have they really made that choice? Don't speak the language of what seems to many non-Christians as 'club speak' and just be a person loving other people.
Don't feel like you have to learn some special steps to Evangelism. Don't think that you have to have a Theology degree in order to talk about spirituality. Love and commune with God, then allow that love to flow back through you into the midst of others. Just let it be.
Tell me what you think about this brand of Evangelism. A great way to better understand this way of thinking is to read John Shore's, "I'm Okay, You're Not"...his blog is listed in my favorites to the right.
1 comment:
This is a brand of evangelism that suits me fine. Long ago (and with 15 years of parenting to help) I realized that my actions speak way louder than my words.
As a child, I remember passing out evangelistic tracks to trick-or-treaters (and was quite bitter about it too), knocking on strange doors, and passing out flyers for many big tent revivals--all in the name of earning jewels for my crown in heaven.
These days, I do what I can to show love through action, and along the way share with folks how awesome it is to be loved unconditionally by God in spite of my shortcomings. I may not have the flashiest crown in heaven, but I'll be overjoyed to be there just the same.
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