GUYS, YOU REMIND ME OF MYSELF
(For my good friend Shane Raynor at www.wesleyblog.com, Joe Carter at www.evangelicaloutpost.com, and those who commented there)
All this angst over how offensive some evangelistic methods seem. How conversion is pointless and maybe even harmful if the convert does not grow much in Christ. Just like you, I’ve had those concerns too.
And then I’ve had my comeuppance. A street preacher (anything more offensive than that?) who humbly agreed his method was off-putting – but who found it hard to quit when he was making around six converts a day. The publisher of Crossway books, but also of tracts – who told me they had files and files of letters from strangers led to the Lord by their tracts. Users of EE I knew personally who grew their churches from 1200 to 4000 in one case, and from 125 to over 4000 in the other, each in 5 years. In pagan California yet! This kind of information can be pretty upsetting when you already know these things just don’t work.
The toughest thing in evangelism, of course, is getting past that first time. It’s like jumping off the high board. The first time is pretty scary. The second time, not so bad. Then you’re on your way. Or like learning a totally new sport. At first you’re so awkward that you’re embarrassed to be seen trying. Stop then, and you’ll never get any better. But keep trying, practice, learn, do it over and over and over, and you get to be a lot better. Evangelism is like that. Truth is, almost any method works, once you develop some skills with it. But until then, it is universally embarrassing even to think about.
My very first time, in prison, was Rita. Horribly humiliating. Served me right, too. (See www.outoftheironfurnace.blogspot.com, Chapter 16. Scroll down about 1/3 of the way.) Here is how it went:
“Chaplain Olsen told us (our prayer group) about a woman named Rita. She was coming up out of quarantine into the shop. He wanted us to look out for her. That settled it. Rita was going to be my target. She would be the one I would “witness” to about Christ.”When she started work in the shop, I went up to her during the morning coffee break. She was sitting at her machine. This was already getting hard. I stood beside her. “Hi!” Big smile. “I’m Gerry!” She looked up at me. “Hi.” I’m Rita.” Another big smile on my face. “Uh, uh, Chaplain Olsen said you’d be coming up out of quarantine.” Still looking up, Rita was puzzled. “Yeah?” I am thinking frantically, how will I do this? “Uh, uh, he wanted us to get in touch with you.” “Oh.” She was questioning with her eyes. ”Now I had to say something about Christ. But I could not. OK, I’ve got to say something, even if it’s just about the chapel! I tried. “Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,--do you need anything?” She looked up dead at me and demanded, “Are you saved?” And left me standing there about two inches high.”There was no way I could have brought myself to use the word “saved.” She had no problem. What kind of chicken was I?”
Yet not so much later, after more experience: (Chapter 19)
“When we (in our prayer group) compared our experiences in witnessing, they were amazing. For myself, once I started the process of talking to someone about coming to Christ, I found it was affected very little by me. Sometimes I made the most wonderful, fluent presentation, and it flopped. Other times I stammered and stumbled all over myself, but they came to Christ anyhow. Soon we learned, that when we felt an urge, to just start talking about coming to Christ, and see what happened.”Where we were seemed not to matter. I led people to Christ standing in the line in the dining room. (We had to stand in line a long time.) I led people to Christ on the exercise yard. I led people to Christ standing in the line to the rest room in the shop. I led people to Christ in the rest room standing between the last booth and the nearest basin. Since I counted, I know that there were 19 of them by the time I left prison. (My memory was so bad that I kept a list — I was terrified of forgetting the name of any of them.)”
When seen from the outside, most evangelism seems so off-putting. But after you do it awhile, you see it is so different.
Eventually, after much experience, you become like a hunter, a fisher. When an encounter starts, with you praying fervently and silently, you now have almost an instinct about when and how to move to make this rescue. There is a sense of furious, dark forces pulling all-out in the other direction, and you feel an implacable, burning rage toward them. It really is not a struggle between you and the other person, but a fight for their life against great evil. Truly a battle “not of flesh and blood, but of principalities and powers,” as you come to see eventually. Then the relief, the huge joy of seeing them win through! It makes you understand why the angels dance when they see it. There is nothing, nothing like it.
Don’t miss evangelism. You were made for it. Your future children in the Lord await you.
(Next time – what about converts who don’t grow in Christ?)
All this angst over how offensive some evangelistic methods seem. How conversion is pointless and maybe even harmful if the convert does not grow much in Christ. Just like you, I’ve had those concerns too.
And then I’ve had my comeuppance. A street preacher (anything more offensive than that?) who humbly agreed his method was off-putting – but who found it hard to quit when he was making around six converts a day. The publisher of Crossway books, but also of tracts – who told me they had files and files of letters from strangers led to the Lord by their tracts. Users of EE I knew personally who grew their churches from 1200 to 4000 in one case, and from 125 to over 4000 in the other, each in 5 years. In pagan California yet! This kind of information can be pretty upsetting when you already know these things just don’t work.
The toughest thing in evangelism, of course, is getting past that first time. It’s like jumping off the high board. The first time is pretty scary. The second time, not so bad. Then you’re on your way. Or like learning a totally new sport. At first you’re so awkward that you’re embarrassed to be seen trying. Stop then, and you’ll never get any better. But keep trying, practice, learn, do it over and over and over, and you get to be a lot better. Evangelism is like that. Truth is, almost any method works, once you develop some skills with it. But until then, it is universally embarrassing even to think about.
My very first time, in prison, was Rita. Horribly humiliating. Served me right, too. (See www.outoftheironfurnace.blogspot.com, Chapter 16. Scroll down about 1/3 of the way.) Here is how it went:
“Chaplain Olsen told us (our prayer group) about a woman named Rita. She was coming up out of quarantine into the shop. He wanted us to look out for her. That settled it. Rita was going to be my target. She would be the one I would “witness” to about Christ.”When she started work in the shop, I went up to her during the morning coffee break. She was sitting at her machine. This was already getting hard. I stood beside her. “Hi!” Big smile. “I’m Gerry!” She looked up at me. “Hi.” I’m Rita.” Another big smile on my face. “Uh, uh, Chaplain Olsen said you’d be coming up out of quarantine.” Still looking up, Rita was puzzled. “Yeah?” I am thinking frantically, how will I do this? “Uh, uh, he wanted us to get in touch with you.” “Oh.” She was questioning with her eyes. ”Now I had to say something about Christ. But I could not. OK, I’ve got to say something, even if it’s just about the chapel! I tried. “Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,--do you need anything?” She looked up dead at me and demanded, “Are you saved?” And left me standing there about two inches high.”There was no way I could have brought myself to use the word “saved.” She had no problem. What kind of chicken was I?”
Yet not so much later, after more experience: (Chapter 19)
“When we (in our prayer group) compared our experiences in witnessing, they were amazing. For myself, once I started the process of talking to someone about coming to Christ, I found it was affected very little by me. Sometimes I made the most wonderful, fluent presentation, and it flopped. Other times I stammered and stumbled all over myself, but they came to Christ anyhow. Soon we learned, that when we felt an urge, to just start talking about coming to Christ, and see what happened.”Where we were seemed not to matter. I led people to Christ standing in the line in the dining room. (We had to stand in line a long time.) I led people to Christ on the exercise yard. I led people to Christ standing in the line to the rest room in the shop. I led people to Christ in the rest room standing between the last booth and the nearest basin. Since I counted, I know that there were 19 of them by the time I left prison. (My memory was so bad that I kept a list — I was terrified of forgetting the name of any of them.)”
When seen from the outside, most evangelism seems so off-putting. But after you do it awhile, you see it is so different.
Eventually, after much experience, you become like a hunter, a fisher. When an encounter starts, with you praying fervently and silently, you now have almost an instinct about when and how to move to make this rescue. There is a sense of furious, dark forces pulling all-out in the other direction, and you feel an implacable, burning rage toward them. It really is not a struggle between you and the other person, but a fight for their life against great evil. Truly a battle “not of flesh and blood, but of principalities and powers,” as you come to see eventually. Then the relief, the huge joy of seeing them win through! It makes you understand why the angels dance when they see it. There is nothing, nothing like it.
Don’t miss evangelism. You were made for it. Your future children in the Lord await you.
(Next time – what about converts who don’t grow in Christ?)
posted by Old Neocon at 10:47 PM
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