On Sunday we spoke about the dreaded "E" word. You know the one I mean. The word that strikes terror in churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike. Evangelism. Most non-churchgoers, when encountering the word, imagine the letters TV in front of it, opening the door for all kinds of negative images. The dominate Sales Basis Approach to evangelism (create need, demonstrate how the gospel fills that need, move for a close through the sinners prayer) has led to many of those negative images.
Jesus' dominate method of evangelism was spiritual conversations. He was a master of asking questions that allowed him to climb into their lives. The number one evangelism tool for the 21st century is the ability to ask leading questions and then actively listen. I asked these questions on Sunday and I would love to get your feedback: "What would it look like for Crosspointe to inject the evangelism model of Jesus into its DNA?" "When was the last time you engaged someone in a spiritual conversation?" What fears to do you have related to evangelism?"
5 comments:
We had this discussion with the Sanctuary gang last year, and it really became clear to me that there were four main reasons why people were afraid to evangelize:
1. An underlying preconception that evangelism was something that people were paying the pastoral staff to do. The job of the people was to bring the unsaved into church.
2. A fear of failure, based on the notion that the Christian didn't "know enough" to be "successful" at evangelism, i.e., "getting" someone "saved".
3. A fear of accountability in that if a person had not been living out their faith outside the church community, evangelism would now hold them to a higher standard of living before their peers.
4. A lack of "unsaved" relationships. Many of the gang surrounded themselves with other Christians to the point that they did not have many (if any)moderately deep relationships with any outside the faith.
Thoughts?
By the way, I'd love to sit down with any of you over coffee at Cafe Brazil or Daily Grind to talk about this more. It really is a fascinating discussion, and one that I believe the American church needs to engage in with more urgency.
I love Christina's comments to the previous post of Sept 30 - making the point that it's easy to jump on the band wagon and whole-heartedly trust God with CROSSPOINTE's future...yet quite difficult to let go control of one's OWN life! Isn't that the truth! Good call, Christina!
Which brings me to what I "fear" about spiritual conversations with those around me...that I'll have to give up the selfish control of my TIME! I really might rather veg out and watch Heroes and do a crossword puzzle after working all day! Argh!!
Although, when I do take the many opportunities right in front of me to enter into conversation with folks, and really listen to them, it always ends up being very energizing and awe inspiring as I watch God work....and really...wouldn't I have just gotten frustrated anyway at not being able to figure out all those crazy words on the crossword puzzle that no human ever used in a real conversation??!!?
Nancy,
I think that's a great point as well! I wonder how many of the ones I listed at first are actually a front for the fact that we simply don't WANT to do it?
Even as a church planter, it was hard for me because there were more than a few times that I just wanted a break so I could spend some time with my family.
How do you find that your opportunities for spiritual conversation present themselves, and how do they evolve?
Great insights from both of you! I want to respond first to Nancy's point of time and time management. I mentioned Sunday that the tool needed for evangelism in the 21st century is the ability to listen. What is the greatest challenge to really listening? Creating the time in our lives to do it.
Tim's point number 1 is a nice response to the sales basis approach to evangelism that we talked about Sunday. That is about control rather than process. He is correct in his assertion that often times the average church goer thinks evangelism is the job of professional christians (i.e. pastors). Although partly our responsibility, it does not absolve church goers of their responsibility!
So I guess the question becomes in a lot of ways, "How do spiritual leaders transition their communities from passive to active evangelism?"
I think that Ron Martoia's suggestion in Static is a good starting point: enter into conversation at the points where the other party(ies) most sense a hint of the divine in their lives.
How we sense that? I believe that's where Dave's point about being active listeners REALLY becomes crucial.
Post a Comment