Evangelism as Feast and Adventure (Telling the Story of God VIII)

If we are focused on convincing someone or persuading them, it can make evangelism really hard and awkward, as it was for me at the mall.[1] Indeed, I had a belief that if it’s hard, you’re probably doing it right, and that if you’re miserable, you definitely are. Of course, that’s how I was spiritually wired, in general: the more I suffered, the more pleasing I was to God (so I thought, anyway). 

Jesus’ picture of evangelism tends to be quite different. It’s not that there’s no trial or trouble in being a disciple or in sharing the Gospel (just read the New Testament to see all the challenges Jesus and his followers faced)—on the contrary, telling the story often requires boldness, courage, and a willingness to be misunderstood. Nevertheless, Jesus’ pictures of evangelism are often centered around food and feasting. In Luke 10, for example, Jesus tells his disciples to sit and eat what is set down for them. Luke 24, likewise, involves food shared at a table. His disciples are freed from having to make anything happen on their own (as we discussed in ‘Chapter 2: Ambassadorship and The People Jesus Gives Us to Love’). Instead, they get to discover what God their Father is already doing. This makes evangelism an adventure and a feast, not a task.

Growing up, I believed that I had to save the world (since I was really trying to work my way up The Human Paradigm, which is an enterprise without limits). But Jesus indicates that there are specific people with whom we are to break bread. Jesus’ paradigm is that the Holy Spirit is already working out ahead of us, and we are just walking into His work. In other words: the pressure’s off. It’s not about us, because we are participating in something much bigger than ourselves—God’s redemptive dance of reconciliation. With these two posture points in place (that it’s about presence, not persuasion, and that it’s meant to be enjoyable) we can look more deeply at how Jesus tells the story of God.

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[1] Let me be clear that I am not knocking boldness or joyfully sharing who Jesus is; I am saying that for me, it wasn’t about either of those things. I was solidly motivated by The Human Paradigm.

Presence Over Persuasion (Telling the Story of God VII)

Let us remember that evangelism—telling the story of God and inviting others into it—is always about presence, whether it’s in a lifelong relationship or with an Uber driver. It’s about how we are with the person in front of us and how we make present the Reign of God. At the heart of evangelism is hospitality, which means listening and storytelling (and, if we’re lucky, good food).

As a teenager, I took a course in evangelism. In retrospect, I think I was taught less about hospitably and more about how to “sell” Jesus—to always be on the lookout for an angle through which I could introduce him into a conversation, then make a pitch and seal the deal. A few men taught me the process and once a week we went to a local mall under the auspices of doing surveys so that we could begin a conversation about heaven and hell and the need to trust Jesus.

There was something bold and exciting about intentionally sharing Jesus. But there was also something lost for me in the process. My primary filter for strangers became “potential convert” rather than “human being made in the image of God.” Doing the so-called surveys messed with my brain. I wasn’t introducing Jesus, I was selling a commodity and trying to scare people with the threat of hell so that they would listen.

To be clear, the men who taught me were kind, and I experienced love and care from them. I don’t impugn their motives, but I can impugn my own. I don’t know that I fulfilled the New Testament command to tell the good news “with gentleness and respect.” I don’t know that I was respecting the person in front of me.

Evangelism, for me, became more of a task to do and a sign that I was being a good Christian. On the other hand, if I didn’t “do” evangelism, I felt guilty. As part of my training, I was also taught apologetics—arguments for defending Scripture and explaining why Jesus and Christianity are true. We need this sort of thoughtful training. After all, Jesus often explains the Scripture, as he does in Luke 24. At the same time, apologetics can easily become a gambit toward mere knowledge or argumentation, which can crowd out the harder work of being present in the love of God for another person. What matters most is our posture and how we are with people; this is the only thing that creates space to explain Scripture or anything else. In that context, evangelism and apologetics can take their proper place, as invitations to the feast of God’s grace. In the words of the old adage, often attributed to St. Francis, “Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use your words.”[1]

We live in a culture where what is needed are God-experience and God-encounter. Moving forward, evangelism is going to be less and less about convincing people about anything, and more and more about a compelling story that creates encounter, revealing who God is. Where evangelism is about persuasion, that is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit causes “hearts to burn” when they encounter the truth and reality of Jesus.[2]

To hear the story of good news, our family, friends, faith community, neighbors and people of peace need a consistent experience of generosity. They need to have an experience that bypasses their brain (where, again, they may think they already know the story, even if they don’t) and helps them experience God. This is what helps any of us to truly listen. Jesus created space for people to encounter God so that they could hear the story of God.[3] It’s true that sometimes moments for telling the story of God come out of nowhere, but more often they are moments born of long seasons of kindness and care and hospitality.

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[1] As with so many famous quotes, the actual quote, from the source material, differs from the popular usage. St. Francis is not found using these words, though he did say, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” Qtd. in “Preach the Gospel at All Times” by Jamie Arpin-Ricci. http://www.jamiearpinricci.com/2009/06/preach-the-gospel-at-all-times/ [September 18, 2017]

[2] Luke 24:32.

[3] This, after all, is part of why Jesus healed people. He manifested life because of his great compassion and also so that people could experience the heart of God. Of course, the crowds paid attention to Jesus in a different way when they saw the healing work of God.

How Do We Tell the Story (Telling the Story of God VI)

How do we become artful storytellers? How do we tell the good news—of the suffering God who saves us from sin and death—well? The Scripture tells us explicitly to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”[1] How do we make ourselves ready?

In Scripture, we read about people suddenly asking, “What must I do to be saved?”, or “What does this Scripture passage mean?”[2] Imagine, in a more modern context, that you’re in the lobby of a skyscraper and you get on the elevator with someone who just found out that you’re a Jesus-follower. They turn to you and say, “Okay, so tell me why you’re a Christian.” You’ve got sixty seconds from the lobby to the fiftieth floor, where this person is getting off. They’re flying to Shanghai right after, and you don’t know if you’re ever going to see them again. Pretend you can’t get their email or their cell phone number or ask them out for coffee. What do you say?

This is similar to what happened to me a few weeks ago, on an Uber ride to LAX. My driver found out I was a pastor and asked me, “What do you believe? Tell me why you believe it. And tell me what you think happens when we die.” I had a minute or two before he dropped me off at American Airlines. I said: Our problem is death; it’s the great human problem. God knows this and God loves us so much that He sent Jesus into the world to confront and destroy death and show us what it means to truly live. He invites us to become His followers and to be saved from our selfishness, self-absorption, and our violent and destructive ways (what the Bible calls “sin”), so that we can truly live and so we can love others as He does. We are meant to become like Him! The only way this is possible is through His love, grace, and mercy, and by following Him wholeheartedly. What do I think happens when we die? Well, I think we are eternal beings who are not limited by the death of our physical bodies, so our lives carry on (in some way we can’t fully conceive on this side of things). How we live and the choices we make now are, therefore, of eternal importance.

Actually, I bumbled around quite a bit and I can’t quite remember my exact words, but I hope this close to what I said. The guy sort of nodded his head, and that was the end of it. Then I got on a plane and flew to Orlando, because that’s life: a strange mash-up of mundane moments—getting ready in the morning, car rides, airport drop-offs—all the while we human beings carry eternal questions, like raging fires, around in our hearts: Who are we? Why are we here? Where are we going? “Being prepared,” then, is urgent work. Presencing hope always is, because every human heart needs to know the reality of the suffering God who comes to save us.

For all of these readings in one place, order my book 'Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus.'

[1] I Peter 3:15.

[2] Acts 16:30, Acts 8:34.