A New Evangelism

Why are Evangelists among the most hated people groups in the world? I'm sure you have seen the statistics before, that evangelists are hated more than a number of horrible groups, and not without good reason I might add. But isn't the Gospel supposed to be the good news? Does the Gospel really inspire hatred? Not the Gospel I know. RD you mentioned the Gospel was something worth sharing, a source of hope and life through reconciliation and redemption. What the heck have these have evangelists been sharing with the world then?

One thing I realized early on in college, due largely in part to the wisdom of our Engage brethren, is that there is a big difference between conversion and redemption. And the church I grew up in was all about conversion, but not so much redemption. What I mean by that is that the marriage doesn't stop at I do and our job as a church doesn't end with this magical prayer we are always having people recite. You know the one...ask Jesus in to your heart, yada yada yada. We have dropped the ball on this big time. We seem almost more concerned with numbers than life change. Have you ever overheard a christian you didn't know talk about how successful their mission trip was. They say something about how they built 3 houses for local families to live in and built 2 genuine relationships with local leaders or influencers in the village and plan on following up over the phone right?

No not all. They actually say something like, we had 17 people give their lives to Christ the first night and then 21 the next night, for a total of 38, which of course was 3 more than Jimmy's group last summer. (Ok the last part there may be a little much but you know what I'm talking about). I'm not trying to downplay the importance of sharing Jesus with others. I just don't think that this is what the great commission meant when it said to make disciples. Making disciples is more than saying a prayer. We are just breeding spiritual halflings. Can we actually expect someone to experience a complete life change because of one encounter with God (well God is big enough to do that so there goes that arguement). But 6 weeks later has the effect faded? If so have we really accomplished anything? As a church we cannot just abandon people once "the prayer" has been evoked.

True redemption requires relationship, commitment, accountability. A perfect picture of this was our junior roommate, Derek. When he was over in Central America somewhere for a mission trip or vacation or who knows what, he had apparently put a roof on a guy's house. And every couple of weeks he would talk to him on the phone in spanish to check up on him and see how is family was doing. And every other month he would host a party or gathering to raise money for this guy and his family, so they could pay their electric bill, pay for house repairs, and have food every night for their kids. THAT is redemption. That is life change. He has turned this guy's life completely around. I don't think any of that will soon be forgotten.

Ergo, here is my idea. I call it the New Evangelism (well actually we should probably get away from that word wherever possible because of its extreme negative connotation but oh well). Maybe the best way to make disciples of all nations is not by having them convert or even trying to convince them that Jesus is Lord. After all, only God can bring them to a place of true repentence. We have no control over their heart (and need to stop acting like we do). And given the amount of damage that has already been done using this model and how misrepresented Jesus is within it, maybe we should take a different approach.

Craig Groeschel says that to reach people no else is reaching, we have to do things no else is doing (a motto for us perhaps. I vote yes).

Maybe our aim should be more directed toward getting people interested in Jesus and then following up through relationship (Ok so this idea may not be that revolutionary but it's a start). If we could just get everyone to take a deeper look, then God will do the rest. He will engage them where they are. The beauty of this approach is they may just be surprised by what they find when they seek.

As we all learned in our bible study on the hall, Jesus was one radical dude (one wild and crazy guy). People would be astounded as I am everyday by what Jesus actually says and not what we have been taught he says or what we think he says. We need to just let the man speak for himself.

Tim Kellar makes a great arguement for why everyone needs to take a look at Christ by pointing out that due to the magnitude of the claim (no one else in history has both been accused of being divine and claimed to be divine) you have to KNOW that he must be a fake. You can't just assume that he is a fraud or take someone else's word for it. You HAVE to see you for yourself because the consequences of the claims of Jesus are too great not just for eternity but for today (ridiculous sermon by the way, free on his website). Today, one of our biggest battlegrounds is the apathetic, those who don't want to bother thinking about it or don't have the time. Maybe all we have to do then to get them to take a deeper look is to show them the magnitude of the claim.

Oh and if we want to redeem God's people, we have to follow up.