Generally Against Evangelism
Another thought provoking story from our almost atheist blog manager, Helen Mildenhall. She wrote me with this explainer:
This is part of a post by Rebecca who I met at the Midwest Emergent Gathering in July. –Helen
I suppose this is a reasonable place to talk about how I feel about evangelism.
Generally, I’m against it.
The Christian community has made such disgusting historical display of evangelism and the almost inevitable prostelytization that I would prefer to sacrifice it altogether than risk the harm it can cause to even a few people. Now, this is easier for me to say because I don’t think the afterlife is the payoff for spiritual people. But, I know that there are a lot of people out there who will disagree with my priorities because eternity seems like such a long time and I really respect a lot of those people. Bob Lupton responds to this better than I ever could in his book, And You Call Yourself a Christian: Toward Responsible Charity:
“Do you believe in a literal heaven and a literal hell?” one sharp young theology student retorted. I knew the rationale behind his question. If you believe that either eternal bliss or eternal damnation await every person after death, then the most loving act is to present the truth of the Gospel to as many people as possible and thus save them from everlasting destruction.
It’s a compelling argument. The problem, of course, is that it leads to viewing others as souls instead of people. And when we opt for rescuing souls over loving neighbors, compassionate acts can soon degenerate into evangelism techniques. Pressing human needs depreciate in importance, and the spirit becomes the only thing worth caring about. Thus, the powerful leaven of unconditional, sacrificial love is diminished in society and the wounded are left lying beside the road.”
My church interacts a lot with people who have been wounded by sometimes well-meaning Christians who saw them as a soul rather than a person or who were just looking to add to the notches on their baptismal fonts or who counted how many people showed up on Sunday morning rather than whether the people that showed up were getting closer to Jesus. (Yay to Bill Hybels, by the way, for addressing that last particularly difficult problem in his own church.) Spencer Burke talks about those folks as being inoculated against Jesus by being exposed to only a token amount of Christianity injected by an often cold and sharp needle. Often, what they hear from the evangelism message is that Jesus will only love them if they change to be more like the Christians in that particular church. That is not the Good News. So, if the evangelists’ goal is to save souls, their work is counter-productive in a huge percentage of cases.
However, there are a lot of people out there who are lonely. Who believe they are worthless. Who want to talk to God but flinch because of the previous times the Church has slapped them. They are leading the lives of quiet desperation that Thoreau talked about.
I want them to know that God loves them.
I don’t care if they go to my church.
I don’t care if they call themselves Christian.
I don’t care if they say the magic words and get baptized.
I care that they have a community.
I care that they believe that they are valuable.
I care that they be able to talk to God when they need to.
I want for them life in all its fullness and I don’t care how they find that.
November 16th, 2007 · 21 Comments
Categories: OA Stories
Helen said
am November 16 2007 @ 8:05 am
Randy, thanks for posting this. I love the way Rebecca expresses herself. Even more than that, I love the heart she has for people, shown in what she writes.
Rebecca recently volunteered to lead a new up/rooted group that meets in the city of Chicago. Their second meeting will be on Monday (Nov 19). I missed their first meeting; I’m hoping I’ll be able to attend this one.
Rob Slagle said
am November 16 2007 @ 10:53 am
I admire and appreciate the spirit of most of this story. I do however take exception to:
Wasn’t the great commission where Jesus told us to make disciples, baptising them?
April Terry said
am November 16 2007 @ 11:58 am
I think that is the end result if we are loving people the way that we should, but it shouldn’t be the part that we are focusing on. If someone is going to become baptized, they are going to do it by their own choice. We shouldn’t be trying to force, argue, coerce, or debate someone into it. We should be showing how love has changed us and showing how Christ has affected our lives and live by example. In action, we should be discipling, and the end result will be a change in that person’s heart.
If we truly trust in God, we come to learn that He is perfectly capable of sending the right people to us at the right time. He is perfectly capable of making something happen out of a casual conversation. He is the one doing the changing of the hearts–not us. We give ourselves too much credit and often turn people away by trying to handle it for God.
I think Rachel is right in that our love shouldn’t be conditional on whether or not that person is going to say the magic words and get baptized. It can’t be real love if it is conditional in that way.
Pam Hogeweide said
am November 16 2007 @ 12:52 pm
reading this helps me feel less guilty about not evangelizing, a concept that was drilled into my head and heart for nearly two decades. i’m still detoxing…thanks rebecca…
Randy said
am November 16 2007 @ 2:22 pm
Rob,
You are correct, of course. Thank you for not misquoting Jesus here. You see, a lot of Christians tend to replace “disciples” with “converts” in that quote, which is, as you undoubtedly know, something far less than Jesus was asking us to do.
I’m afraid that this little error has led to the very angst that Rebecca has so eloquently given words to here. We have made conversion the point and goal of evangelism, and this has led to the desecration of the Great Commission in modern times. Thankfully there are voices calling us back to the original plan, but we who have perpetrated the myth of conversion must repent and see Jesus (and his redemptive mission) as much bigger than we imagined. I am one of those guilty parties, and have been for over 30 years.
Once we come to grips with this reality, the baptism issue sort of becomes moot. Disciples get baptised. It’s how they identify with the particular rabbi (teacher) they are in allegiance with. Our problem is that we have made very few disciples, really. We’ve settled for converts and moved on. This thoughtful and powerful article sort of punches us in the stomach with the magnitude of our failure, at least in the evangelical traditions.
May God have mercy on us.
Steve Johnson said
am November 20 2007 @ 2:33 pm
To begin with I think this article has some great points. Though I think the term evangelism has been narrowly defined. Evangelism as defined here is the presentation of the realities of heaven & hell, and then forcing a person to make a decision. To me, this seems like a small & flawed view of evangelism. But I agree that many people & churches hold to this definition and practice it with mixed results.
I do have some issues with this passage however. Mostly because you can do most, if not all of those things, without ever acknowledging Jesus for who he was.
As someone has mentioned, Jesus did call people to follow him & be baptized. (which Paul shows this same priority to believers in Ephesus – Acts 19) So you should care that if someone is a follower that they be baptized.
Also, not all communities are the same. The KKK is a community and I would hope those I loved wouldn’t get involved in it. Since Jesus promised his presence would be with us when we are together, I think the best thing for those we love would be to experience a community of believers who are following Jesus.
Value – People derive their value in many ways. Their looks, careers, finances, vehicles, their BMI. Someone’s value is truly seen in the context of Christ’s death. So I care that at some point, they know the their true worth.
Live life in all its fullness – is a vague phrase. Does it mean to experience as many things possible in this life? Does it mean to have the best quality of life? Again, Christ says that if we follow him we’ll have life, and life to the full. So again, you should care how they find life in all its fullness, because a lot of people, and a lot of things make that promise, but followers of Jesus believe it’s through his Spirit, love, and grace, that we experience life in its fullness.
I don’t want you guys to think I’m a Pro-”smack people in the head with a Bible until they convert” kinda guy. I’m not at all. I think the best way to point people to Jesus is to walk beside them towards him. But I’m not gonna dance around who Jesus said he was and his call to follow him, because others have screwed it up before me. Insert “baby with the bathwater” cliche here.
Randy said
am November 20 2007 @ 4:22 pm
Steve,
Thanks for your thoughtful responses. I feel your pain, man! But I wonder…is it possible you didn’t feel Rebecca’s pain?
This is the paragraph just before the “I don’t care”/”I care” lines that you so carefully examined. I wonder if you might have missed the context for those powerful statements a little? The fact is that Rebecca didn’t find these things in the expression of Christianity she has experienced thus far. Her friends aren’t finding it, either. They’ve been “slapped by the Church” and are, despite their desperate desire to connect with God, leading quiet lives of desperation.
Perhaps we should rethink how we approach people. Maybe being right and doctrinally pure shouldn’t be so important. Maybe people matter more to God than these things we have held onto so strongly. We have become less than bearers of Good News as a result, and may indeed have become like the pharisees who became actual barriers to God. This, I think, is what I heard under the words of Rebecca’s story.
Did you hear that, too?
This approach doesn’t require that you deny or “dance around” Jesus. It only requires that you love God and love your neighbor…like He did. Adn that you be prepared to give an answer to those who ask about the hope that lies within you, with gentleness and respect.
That seems doable and Jesus-like…and not very much how we’ve been trained to reach out to the outsiders.
Thanks again for being part of this dialogue. You’ve made me think, Steve.
Helen said
am November 20 2007 @ 6:56 pm
Steve wrote:
Steve, I think it would be neat if evangelism was about serving the other person, not about what you will or won’t do.
Steve Johnson said
am November 21 2007 @ 11:11 am
Great points guys. And I agree that our lives should really center around becoming servants like Jesus; loving people and loving God. I feel though that evangelism is a term to describe the natural work that occurs between God and the ones we love, if we let Him guide our lives.
I love what Jesus says to the Church in Ephesus in Revelation 2. He says, “You’ve forsaken your first love”. It would seem that this church, which began by loving people into the family of God, became overly focused with doctrine and were more concerned that people believe the right things than they were about the people themselves. I would say this is our current modern church. And yet Jesus does say they are good for not accepting all beliefs and practices.
So when it comes to “Evangelism” I say get rid of the term if you like. But dedicate your life to living for Christ and for allowing his Spirit to use you as He wishes. Evangelism might happen, but it will be between God and them.
Rob Slagle said
am November 21 2007 @ 11:11 am
Randy,
I clicked the link and read her original post and came across this statement:
This also troubles me because it flies in the face of both Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23. There has to be a balance, we can’t be falling down the slippery slope toward universalism.
I totally understand and affirm the point of view that salvation can be and is for some a process versus a specific point of decision, but there is a line to be crossed eventually, from choosing our own way and our sin to placing our faith in Jesus. And this isn’t to be force fed to anyone but to be shared through a genuine and loving relationship.
Randy said
am November 21 2007 @ 1:00 pm
Rob,
I am in your camp on the salvation issue, perhaps in total agreement (although I am leaning hard into an inclusive view these days along with Billy Graham, Rick Warren and few of my other heroes). Rebecca and I would disagree on this point about salvation, if I understand her comment (out of context, of course, since I didn’t read the whole article). But that’s not really the issue we’re addressing.
The issue here is not how someone gets saved. It’s about our history of self-righteous arrogance that has been a hinderence to people falling in love with Jesus.
We evangelical, born-again Christians seem to act as if being right is more important than being kind and respectful…yea, LOVING…to those who disagree with us.
I can communicate the Gospel to people (verbally and non-verbally) with great passion and clarity, WITHOUT being a jerk. I didn’t always consider this as an issue, believing that it was the aroma of Christ that was offensive to people, not me. I’m afraid it was ME that stunk up the place often times, not Jesus. I was, of course, happy to blame HIM.
This gentle and respectful proclamation happens in the context of kindness and being less concerned about me being right and them being wrong. It comes with listening and learning and treating people like the imago dei they are rather than some project I must complete so I can move on to the next project.
Let’s agree to be faithful to the Great Commission, but let’s not negate the Great Commandment as we do it. This is what I think Rebecca is saying in-between lines. We don’t have to buy everything she says in the article to agree on this point, do we?
Steve Johnson said
am November 21 2007 @ 2:33 pm
Good call Rob. Well said Randy.
Randy said
am November 22 2007 @ 1:38 am
BTW…the whole issue of salvation is of immense interest to me these days. I struggle openly with exactly what Rob is expressing, and have not landed securely yet. I don’t want to hijack this conversation, but I wanted to let you know this is something I’m working through presently. It’s important to me to come to some resolution, but it may be one of those areas I’ll have to live with uncertainty in for a while (which I am increasingly ok with).
joe said
am April 25 2012 @ 2:43 pm
well, how do I start? i went to church about 3/4 of my life,and now I am thirty, I have never made a true friend in church, and no one actively pursued me after leaving for good. That was my point: no one actively pursued me. they’re all like: “oh where have you been? haven’t seen you in awhile?” acting all nice and stuff. but to me its fake as a prosthetic arm reaching out.The pastors especially did nothing. never said hi, ignore me on the streets, but continue on to pray in closed doors. i THOUGHT christianity was supposed to be ACTIVE, not passive. i believe in spirituality now, never to condemned by christianity, native spirituality will prove to be more powerful.
all my relations, and deep respect for mother earth and all her guardians.liTTLE JOE
April Terry said
am April 25 2012 @ 3:57 pm
Joe,
If you never made a true friend in church, that’s a real tragedy and it shows that those who attend church every Sunday and never give of their hearts are missing the most important part of what Christ intended Christians to represent. Of course, there are good and bad churches just as there are good and bad people, but God is a spirit and is worshipped in Spirit by each individual. True faith in Christ means to love the Lord with all of your heart, but also to love your neighbor as yourself. Your church family failed you in that and I’m sorry they did. My hope for you is that you won’t let their failure color your love for the God of Love.
Australian Evangelist said
am April 25 2012 @ 9:40 pm
I would generally be against evangelism too if it didn’t mean generally doing nothing about watching family, loved ones and strangers spend eternity in hell. Plus there is the Great Commision which is kind of compelling if you take being obedient to Jesus seriously. There are some truths in the above article and it is helpful for Christians to be challenged in their motives and techniques, but we can’t just decide we generally don’t like evangelism based on our experience of human failings around us. The bible makes it too clear that we need to share our faith and too clear of the consequences for those who reject Jesus. Compassion is required but so is courage. This applies to “practical helps” and “evangelism” and they are best coupled together with copious amounts of prayer.
April Terry said
am April 26 2012 @ 7:32 pm
Australian, you said, “The bible makes it too clear that we need to share our faith and too clear of the consequences for those who reject Jesus.”
I’ve known people who have gone years and years and have rejected faith of any kind, but later, have come to faith. Sometimes, faith is a process for people and sometimes we Christians do more to inhibit that process than we do to encourage it. I’ve yet to see anyone argued into Christianity, but I’ve seen more than a few argued out of it.
Everyone who practices evangelism has their own comfort level with it and everyone is gifted in different ways. Many preach the gospel from the pulpit, many show it through compassion, and others use prayer as their method of evangelism. Many do all of the above. In the end, God is the real evangelist, but our hope is to advocate that more Christians practice evangelism that is doable for them. I’ll never be a Billy Graham, but I can notice and pray for others, listen and love, and even start a relationship that might someday lead to a conversation about why I love God.
Howard Schultz said
am May 10 2012 @ 12:16 pm
I am impressed here with you all, seeing and believing.
You all are a work in progress as I am as well.
The ? here to me is: (work in progress)
Is the work that is in progress from our self wanting to be right with God? You see I see a lot of this going on today. Yes we believe and yes we go out and evangelize, but to whose glory? ours or God’s? or to both God and I? or God and my group?
Well you all personally I think since I am called to be in God and God in me through believe in him. Thus born again would mean I am now alive to God in the spirit and dead to the flesh Romans 6-8 explains this in detail, and is an explanation of what Paul said in Romans 1-5
So this understanding that I am dead to the flesh would be fleshly thinking, renewing our minds to the truth that it is all God and none of me, you or my group. Love goes on forever it is God’s and all else will pass away.
So as you go in this world I see this like a water glass in our cupboards. Waiting there to be used by us the master of that water glass, whenever we see fit to use it.
So I see this in the believer as well to be ready, available to be used by our master whenever our master , (Jesus Christ) (the Holy Spirit of Truth), (and God the Father of Christ) picks us up and pours water onto the others that need the water and thus never thirst again. This is doable by expressiing love to others on the others terms not ours, loving them for who they are period. This is how others are reached as Paul said, when I am here or there I am like those here, or there, that i might win a few to Christ, yet Not I (Paul) but God through me, I (Paul) or who ever in Christ is only the vessel as a water glass is a vessel for us to use whenever we decide to use it. So be the power of God living through you, you just being the vessel. What a joy when you are no longer stressed out trying to obey trying to love, trying to get friends that agree, trying to find a church. Through this analogy one is free and has all they need for life and Godliness, hoping you to see this wonderful love that pours out onto you, and your cup overflows through feeding, loving, caring, with you not doing a thing except believing trusting God doing God’s work through you, and you have rested from your works, yet working all the more than you ever thought possible, oh glory haleluah Lolvong you all just as you are, for this is how God loves me and I change as God shows me, yet always through trusting God.
Howard
April Terry said
am May 11 2012 @ 1:21 am
Howard,
I think your way of putting your faith and sense of God’s purpose in your life is quite beautiful. I think that when we say that “we are a work in progress” we simply mean that we will continue to reach out for God in order to understand Him better and in order to feel His guidance as we go through our lives.
While God lives in us, we are still human and sometimes it is a struggle. I am reminded of James 1:27 which says, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” This is an ideal that we must work toward and it is the love of Christ inside of us that moves us further and further in that direction.
Howard Schultz said
am May 11 2012 @ 3:14 am
Thanks and I am seeing the work is him doing in me what I cannot do in myself. I find my flesh getting less in the way, as I grow in understanding that my flesh in no way will ever please God, but it can and does please people. So I am learning to reckon myself dead to flesh and alive to the Spirit of God from my new Spirit that God planted in me. Thus this also teaches me about what God said to Paul in 2 Cor 12 his thorn in the flesh and how he now glories in it for God’s strength is made perfect in Paul’s (now mine, yours and all that believe.
Howard
kevin mudford said
am November 26 2012 @ 11:12 am
well all sounds good but we are called to fish for souls so you have to put your line in the water and with some bait and gets some bites , ha know word of god returns void 1 was a street preacher for many ys and loved it and all ways got a crowd to listen , you have to have the right net for the catch , what ever it takes ha loud quiet who cares souls are going to hell every day , 1 all ways tell people a bout the fires of hell if 1 can ,as they are spoken a bout in the bible blessings kevin an dee in darwin.