On Dr. Dana Hicks' blog, he recently posed this question in a post entitled, "Good Questions: Evangelism in the Postmodern Matrix".
"What do you think of evangelism in our changing world? What experiences do you have (good or bad) with evangelism?"
Below are some of my thoughts. . .
Okay, so...I don't know if what I am about to reference is considered
viable among pastors or if it is viewed as cheesy presentation and
misdirected marketing? When you go to the website, it is definitely
overwhelming...BUT, I watched Kirk Cameron and his pastor friend
Ray in a couple of their evangelism interviews and at the very heart of
it was impressed with the people's reactions to being confronted with
their sins and then the offering of Jesus as their Savior.
(The website is: http://wayofthemaster.com if you have not
ever been there).
Their premise is much like that of Dana's friend James in his article
- who, like Jesus, look to target the sin in a person's life first
and then offer them the living water. I can't remember which account
of Jesus' way of evangelism they used as a reference for their
evangelism, but the woman at the well is the one that comes to mind,
so I will run with that...that to be effective in our evangelism, and
I agree, we need to approach the lost around us like Jesus did. He
showed mercy and grace to the woman at the well, frankly, by just
being available to a Samaritan woman - not to mention, one that
was living in sin. He lovingly recognized and confronted her with
her sin, mostly by getting her to open up about herself and have
herself lead the conversation to a place where she was ready and
prepped for Him to step in with His truth of her sin. And then
when He offered the living water - she had a real reason to
recognize her need for and the ability to accept her salvation.
I think so many people in our world today truly believe that if they
were brought face to face with God they would have a pretty good case
put together for why they and their family should be able to enter
into eternity with Him. They don't believe they have sinned and
fallen short of His glory because our world tells them that they have
no reason to fear, they are at least better than the person next
to them.
I believe that to be effective in evangelism - we DO need to follow
the way of the Master and first be willing and available to develop
deeper and real relationships with the lost in our lives. Be
available and engaging. Pray for God to make us accessible,
approachable, lovable...
And to take direction from that little book, "Praying Effectively for
the Lost", we need to be willing to invest in one of the least utilized,
most effective tools for God's excellent power to be manifested in our
mortal world and the community around us - PRAYER - unrelenting,
long-suffering, faith-filled, travailing, love-covered, tearful prayer
for the lost.
I agree, we don't do anybody favors by ignoring their self-destructive
behaviors. And we don't do our neighbors any favors by
trying to approach them without a commitment to love and relationship
that has been covered in prayer even before we may have ever even met.
Thankfully, we can trust God to equip, enable, raise up and provide
us with the loving tools needed to make those truthful relationships
a reality and an evangelical path paved.
I love one of the questions Dana challenges to ask our friends,
that if you could know what God is doing in the world, would you
want to be a part of it? I think it opens up the door to blessing a
person - helping them recognize the potential that God may have
designed for them and being the one on earth that sees that same
potential in them as well. Who wouldn't want to be riding on the
end of that arrow that God could release straight into the heart
that He has had prepped and readied with prayer you already had
the opportunity to pray?
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