Evangelism gives me joy! But I
recall how I used to struggle to start a conversation. By the
time I had planned my approach, my little sermon and my plea for
a decision, I was so uptight that my surprised victim became
embarrassed, too. But in a couple of weeks I would try again
because a few of my victims did find God. Very few.My problem–I was a hunter. A
hunter with a reaping mentality. But I became free to enjoy evangelism when I shifted from
hunting to fishing.
Most Christians dislike hunting, so they rarely
evangelize. I rewrote these pages after reading in two
publications that even most Christian workers do not
evangelize! They do other ministries. It confirmed my own
observation. Most do not share their faith–because they
do not know how!
A major hurdle is initiating conversations.
We feel uncomfortable invading the privacy of unsuspecting
targets and surprising them with unwanted religious information.
So if hunting is the only approach we know, we will not do
it often.
But fishing evangelism is
different. It is selective. It draws out the seekers from
a mixed group of people and focuses on them instead of giving the
gospel to non-believers indiscriminately. Seekers are people who
have become hungry for God through their own deep need and
through observing the character and conduct of Christians and
hearing their casual references to God. Seekers nibble at this
bait. They ask questions. So you begin your evangelistic
conversations by answering the questions of people who want to
know about God!
Fishing is ideal for Christians who
see the same non-believers daily–in the workplace or on
campus. It is ideal for tentmakers who witness discreetly
as they support themselves in hostile countries, and for all of
us who try to win our own compatriots and the internationals
around us.
I will consider six subjects:
I.
Fishing out seekers–explanation, examples, benefits,
contexts, components of bait, and work and witness issues.
II.
Answering questions–attitudes, readiness, kinds of
questions.
III. Drawing seekers to Christ–focusing
their attention on God, tuning them in to God, using information
and people resources.
IV. Encouraging commitment and
caring for new believers.
V. Noting kinds of seekers.
VI.
Getting started.
I. Fishing out seekers
I stumbled onto this 2000-year-old fishing concept
during my tentmaking years in Brazil, and then found that some
other Christians had discovered it, too–from the Bible! This
is how Paul and Peter teach us to evangelize!
I was earning my living as head of a secular international
school in Sao Paulo. A teacher came into my office and said,
"Weren’t you lucky to find that money you
lost?" I almost agreed. But instead, without interrupting my
work, I turned my head toward her, and said, "Oh, it
wasn’t luck–I prayed like mad and God helped me
to find it!" Then I changed the subject. She left, surprised
at my answer. But because I did not push the matter she returned
and asked, "You don’t really think God cares
about a little problem like this, do you?" I told her about
a prayer God answered the previous week–and I changed the
subject, leaving her free.
I wanted to explain the gospel to her from the start, but she
might then have avoided me, fearing I was trying to convert her.
She asked more questions on successive days–because she
felt she had the initiative. I let her set the pace
for our conversations as she was ready–and to set the agenda.
Her questions showed me what answers she was ready for. It struck
me that I should always act and speak in a way that would cause
people to ask the questions I longed to answer! I should
fish out seekers from among the indifferent or resistant
people around me.
Fishing can help Christians share the good news more
often, more joyfully and more fruitfully. But let us examine both
approaches.
1. Explanation and examples
Christians who fish focus on a godly lifestyle where
they work or study–a place where non-believers can
scrutinize their lives. They learn to insert fitting comments
about God casually and naturally into secular conversations. This
verbal and non-verbal bait causes spiritually hungry people to
ask questions. The Christians then answer the seekers’
initial questions, win their friendship and gradually lead them
to put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christians who hunt are more aggressive than those who
fish, but they proceed in the dark. Their hit-or-miss approach
may lead them to a seeker, but more likely to a non-believer who
is indifferent or antagonistic. So hunters often recite a
one-size-fits-all sermonette to everyone because they know little
about these strangers. If their small speech is memorized it also
lacks the authenticity of spontaneity. Many hunters also
use a model of evangelism adapted from selling. Their message is
one-sided, psychologically packaged to elicit a positive
response. They present their sales pitch without relating to the person. They are intent on finishing the
little sermon so they can ask for a decision. They call for the
deepest and most profound realignment of people’s lives
while ignoring the reality of their personalities and
circumstances.
Hunters do get people to make decisions. But many who sign
cards do not understand enough to be born again. The slant of
some stereotyped presentations leads listeners to think,
"What can I lose? It probably can’t hurt." But it
leaves many people mistaken or confused about their spiritual
state. Several victims told me they just signed to get rid
of the Christian. Others responded with anger. Some were
disillusioned–the decision had changed
nothing–Christianity was a hoax.
The hunting Christian tries to reap a harvest without first
planting and watering! A few people in the U.S. may be
ready for a decision because others have sowed and watered, but
this is rarely true here or in other cultures.
When Jesus sent out the Twelve he instructed them to speak
only to the Jews, because he saw that they were like fields
white for harvest. (Mt. 9:37, 38, Jn. 4:35-38.) He sent the
Twelve to reap. Although the Gentile towns scattered throughout
Galilee were needier, they were not ready for reaping and the
Twelve were not at all ready for cross-cultural ministry. Only
the Jews had had enough chance to see Jesus.
As Paul evangelized the Roman Empire, he had to begin near
zero in each Gentile city, sowing and watering. He was doing
pioneer church planting. He had to present God’s Word and
demonstrate it before he could reap converts and form
house fellowships. He always started by fishing out seekers in
the synagogues–Jews, and Gentile God-fearers–people who
knew something about God from the Old Testament.
For us today to indiscriminately accost strangers with the
gospel may be harmful to them, but in hostile countries it can be
dangerous also for us. It can lead to job loss, arrest or
expulsion, sometimes on twenty-four hours notice.
Although most Christians feel uncomfortable and even afraid to
intrude into people’s lives and to impose religious
conversations on reluctant listeners, most books on evangelism
only tell us about better ways to hunt.
Yet even Jesus fished. He did and said things to incite
questions. In Jn. 4 he surprised an immoral Samaritan woman by
asking for a drink of water–something no other Jewish man
would have done! He saw past her promiscuity to her deep
spiritual need and led her to ask the right questions. . . But in
John 3 Jesus’ miracles were bait. They brought Nicodemus on a
night visit. Then Jesus’ puzzling statements about birth
elicited the right questions from this Jewish theologian. Jesus fished!
Jesus referred to evangelism in general as fishing for
people (Mt. 4:19), so the term fishing evangelism is
redundant. But it is a helpful reminder that we should fish
out the seekers from the ponds of people around
us – our family circle, neighborhood, workplace, campus, club,
etc. We can call it workplace evangelism, or neighborhood or campus evangelism, because it is ideal for those
portions of this planet’s great sea of people which God has
assigned to each of us–those people with whom we associate
most often. Above all, it is tentmaker evangelism–ideal
for professional people employed in hostile environments where
hunting can have disastrous consequences. It is ideal for all
intercultural sharing of the gospel.
So switching from a hunting to a fishing model is one secret
of effective evangelism anywhere. It frees messenger and
seeker. Your bait induces outsiders to ask the crucial
questions.
But bait varies in each situation. On a layover in a Texas
airport I could have talked to 100 travelers in the boarding
area. But which one should I choose? What should I say to people
I did not know? I broke the ice with a friendly "hello"
to everyone nearby as I sat down. This freed one woman to ask me
what work I do. An evasive answer would have ended the
conversation. Instead I said, "I assist caring Christians to
obtain salaried positions abroad, so they can tell hurting people
around them how Jesus Christ can help."
The woman grabbed both my hands and said, "I’m so
glad you are here – I am a hurting person!" Her
husband had just died. I was sorry when my plane was called, and
then realized we were on the same flight. She was assigned to
seat 12A and I to 12B! God had planned our encounter! On
takeoff she made the sign of the cross three times–so I knew
she was Catholic and that she was afraid to fly. After
significant conversation I gave her a Gospel of John.
(Pocket-sized Gospels and evangelistic booklets can continue your
conversations, and your address inside may lead to
correspondence.)
On another flight I chatted with a businessman about current
events. An attendant brought our meals and I said softly what I
felt, all in one breath: "I am hungry –t his looks
good – Thank you God for good things to eat! Now as you
were saying. . ." By returning immediately to our subject I
was leaving him free. I had not closed my eyes. He did not bat an
eyelash. I decided he had not heard my little one-sentence grace.
After the meal we both returned to our reading. A half hour later
he put aside his book and began a barrage of questions about
God. He had needed time to decide if he wanted to talk
and then, what to ask. He chose when to speak. If I had
pressed a conversation after my prayer, he might have been
defensive.
So bait can be any casual thing you do or say that discreetly
announces, "I know about God and I am willing to talk."
In the workplace there may be no response for several days. But
when your colleague or client or patient or student faces a
crisis, he or she will know where to come for help.
This happened to me one Monday soon after my arrival in Sao
Paulo to head up an international elementary school. The
principal of the adjacent secondary school came to say that one
of his teachers had drowned in a storm at sea during the weekend.
The high school teachers were preparing a memorial service for
the student body and parents. (I agreed that the elementary
school should participate.) The Glee Club was learning a hymn.
But no high school teacher was willing to say the prayer. He
said, "They suggested you would know how to do that."
Now what made my new acquaintances think that I could pray?
Had someone noticed me briefly bow my head in the teachers’
lunchroom?
So in my short prayer at the service I asked God to comfort
the bereaved family and friends. Then I added confidently,
"Thank you, Lord, that we can know about life after
death!" My little prayer brought teachers and students from
both schools into my office for days, to ask questions. It was
also how I fished out several Christian high school students and
started a Bible club in my apartment to help them win their
friends. In this way I multiplied my own ministry in both
schools!
This event also speeded up my ministry. It could have
taken awhile for most people in the elementary school to find out
about my faith, and months before I would have enough contact
with the high school. But God used the service to quickly inform
everyone in both schools, and many upper class Brazilian parents.
Yet I was not imposing religious conversations on anyone–I
was answering their questions!
This chain of events occurred because I had quietly put out
bait at work where I was being watched. If I had been hunting, most people around me would already have become defensive.
Fishing had proved advantageous.
2. The benefits of fishing
Note just 14 benefits of the fishing approach to evangelism.
1) Fishing evangelism is enjoyable! You look at the
people around you and think, like Jesus, "If you only knew what I have to give you, you would be
begging me!"
(Jn. 4:10) When people ask, you enjoy telling them the
gospel because they want to know, and you want to
tell them!
Their first questions are often indirect, but Marta came
straight to the point. I had just come to Lima to teach in a
secular school and I met this Peruvian teacher at the school
board’s reception for us newcomers. After a bit of small
talk, she asked, "Would you teach me the Bible?" I was
surprised! I did not know what I had said to make her ask. But
when I learned that her pilot husband had just been killed in a
crash, I knew how this hurting young widow had become so open to
Jesus Christ. After a few studies at my house she invited him
into her life. What joy that gave us both!
Then she brought her three sons to learn about God–sons
whom this doting mother had named Miguel, Rafael and Gabriel! I
soon learned they were not angels–just three normally
naughty teenagers whom God loved. A year later Marta died in a
car crash. I was so glad God had led me to her in time!
2) Fishing evangelism is easy since anyone can put out
bait–a godly lifestyle and occasional appropriate words
about God. Bait is little. You need not elaborate a sermon. You
learn to drop tiny spiritual bombshells in the most casual,
natural way! Speak with confidence–as if every thinking
person would agree. But do not be dogmatic, arrogant or preachy.
Fishing is easy because you put out bait in tiny bites.
3) Fishing evangelism is kind–never rude, not
imposing on someone who might become defensive, embarrassed or
angry. A graduate student at U.C. Berkeley saw me with my Bible
in a campus coffee shop and thought I might help with her
research paper on the Protestant Reformation. I wanted to tell
Daphne so much! But she assured me she had no personal interest
in religion. I soon suspected that was not true. But she was
prickly! So I let her questions guide me. I answered each one
briefly, adding bits of bait to keep more questions coming. It
became a long, substantial conversation that let me say most of
what I had longed to tell her. Then I gave her the names of two
pastor friends in a fine church just off campus. She said goodbye
and left. But then she returned and said, "Thank you for not
being pushy." This showed me why she had been so sensitive
to any initiative on my part. She had been the victim of hunters! Hunting can make people very difficult to win.
Good
evangelism is always kind.
4) Fishing evangelism is patient, allowing seekers to
pace the conversations with their questions as they are ready. We
can turn people off or confuse them by saying too much too soon
and using terms they do not yet know. Speak briefly and then
think, "The next move is up to you." Seekers need time
to process what we tell them and time for the Holy Spirit to work
on them.
That was true of Joao Olavo, a medical student in Curitiba,
Brazil, who had been attending an investigative Bible study in my
apartment for a couple of months. Late one evening he asked me,
"What does the death of Jesus 2000 years ago have to do with
me today?" I thought to myself, "Dear Joao Olavo, where
have you been these last three weeks?" As I began to
explain it again, tears filled his eyes and a smile filled his
face. He grasped the meaning for the first time. A bad
experience that week had shown this very intelligent,
self-sufficient, self-righteous young man that he desperately
needed God. It can take time for people to understand spiritual
truths even after hearing them several times.
So we must be patient with seekers because the Holy Spirit is
patient with them and we must not run ahead of him. We can let
the seekers’ partial responses encourage our faith and we
can rejoice over each small step they take toward God. I put
small t’s after their names in my prayer notebook for
a small "Thank you, Lord," and then a big T when
they make their commitment. A whole row of t’s tells
me God is working, so I can be patient.
5) Fishing evangelism is respectful of individuals.
You
treat people as persons, not objects. You customize your approach
for each one. When you get a nibble, determine what kind of
seeker your bait has drawn. Listen to what that person
says, making sure you understand. As I started university
fellowships in Brazil, I spoke differently to Catholic philosophy
student Ramon, to Marxist economics professor Maria Eugenia, and
to my maid, Benta, who panicked at rainbows, fearing they could
make her pregnant! Individuals are as unique as their
fingerprints.
6) Fishing evangelism shows you what to say. It puts
you right on target, with little hit-or-miss. You will not be
giving a lot of answers to questions no one is asking.
Seekers’ questions reveal their spiritual history, the
gospel truths they already understand, their misconceptions,
their felt needs, and obstacles that might hinder their turning
to the Lord. Listen to them. Build on what God’s Spirit is
doing with them. Do not fear their questions. (See Section II.)
7) Fishing evangelism shows you what to pray. None of
your effort or expertise can bring anyone to the Lord unless you
pray. Hunters can only offer general prayers. Fishers can be
specific. You ask God to change Lucho’s concept of him as a
severe Judge, and the idea that he may get by if he balances his
sins with good deeds. You pray that he will do well on his math
exam, and won’t be distracted by the soccer game or his
girlfriend, and that Friday’s study on the rich young ruler
in Luke 18 will touch his heart. Our prayers free the Holy Spirit
to do what he is longing to do for us.
8) Fishing evangelism is wise and discreet. It is not
indiscriminate, but selective. You let your light shine for
everyone, because it can turn indifferent and hostile people into
seekers. You answer their questions, too. But you focus on those
whose questions show they are seeking. You take them aside to
talk without arousing the opposition of the spiritually hostile
people around them. (Evangelism is so risky in non-Christian
countries that I will return to this subject later.)
9) Fishing evangelism is versatile. If you do not get a
nibble, wait for an appropriate moment and try another kind of
bait! There is a right kind of bait for every kind of fish. Many
Christians should cultivate broader interests in order to have
more in common with non-believers. At least we should be able to
ask intelligent questions about current events, business, sports,
literature, art, music, TV, etc.
Scripture is versatile, containing a variety of salvation
metaphors to help people respond to the Lord–terms like
finding him, believing in him, inviting him in, being born again,
submitting to him, making a commitment to him. As alienated from
God, they can be reconciled to him. As guilty and condemned they
can come to the Judge for acquittal. As disobedient children they
can beg forgiveness from the loving Father. As lost sheep they
can let themselves be found by the seeking Shepherd. As broken
people they can be made whole by the Great Physician. As slaves
to sin they can let the Redeemer buy them out of the slave market
and set them free. As rebels they can change sides and make an
unconditional surrender to the King of Kings! Use the metaphors
and Bible passages best suited to the seeker’s questions.
In a crowded but quiet hotel elevator in Manila, a
well-dressed Filipino man saw my Bible and asked me if I was one
of those people who believe Jesus is the Good Shepherd. I said,
"Yes–are you one, too?" He said, "No. My
brother is. But I value my freedom too much to give it up."
So I asked, using his metaphor, "Which lamb has the
most freedom–the one near the shepherd’s rod and staff,
or the one in the dark alone with the lions and bears?" He
said, "You have just put a whole new perspective on the
subject!" (A captive elevator audience listened.) I had no
time to explain how Jesus can make us truly free (Jn. 8:32). I
did not have with me the booklet, Becoming Free. I pray
his brother has won him.
10) Fishing evangelism is rightly motivated by a biblical
definition. It is not headhunting, chalking up numbers or
filling a quota. Evangelism is not even winning people to the
Lord, although that is a desired result. Evangelism is
joyfully, reverently, tactfully "declaring the glory of
God" as we know him from Scripture and personal experience.
It is storytelling! It is the purpose for which the church exists
(1 Peter 2:9, Psalm 96:3)
A bad definition kept me limping along for years. I feared
starting a conversation that would not result in a
decision–I could not risk another failure. But this biblical
definition freed me to sow and water. God was pleased whenever I
spoke of him. Because I was no longer uptight, seekers came to
me. Even if I see no response in a listener, I rejoice–God
can make my words bear fruit in coming days or weeks–for
other Christians to reap.
11) Fishing evangelism is biblical. It is not another
gimmick. Both Paul and Peter describe evangelism as answering
the questions of seekers.
Listen to Paul in Col. 4:5, 6: "Conduct yourselves wisely
toward outsiders, making the most of each opportunity. Let your
speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so you may know
how you ought to answer every one." A godly,
non-judgmental, attractive lifestyle and tactful, thirst-inducing
comments elicit the questions we long to answer.
Listen to Peter in 1 Peter 3:14-16: "Have no fear of them
(persecutors), nor be troubled. But in your hearts reverence
Christ as Lord. (His presence gives courage and wisdom and
power!) Always be ready to make a defense (an answer) to any one
who asks you the reason for the hope that is in
you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your
conscience clear (lifestyle)." According to Peter, what most
attracted non-believers? The Christians’ hope! They
puzzled over what secret gave the Christians joy and peace and
confidence even as they suffered physical persecution, property
confiscation and economic discrimination.
In our hectic, anxiety-filled world today, non-believers
wonder what hope gives Christians peace and patience in
the daily grind of work and the frustrations of life, and peace
in spite of future uncertainties.
But fishing evangelism cannot work if no one asks questions.
Three reasons they do not ask: a) Too little contact. The
Christians ignore non-believers, eating meals and spending free
time with each other. b) Seekers see nothing different in the
believers’ behavior–they gripe like all the rest. c)
Seekers admire the Christians’ conduct but do not relate it
to God because they rarely mention him. Christians must put
out bait, in a context they share with outsiders–the
neighborhood, workplace, campus or club. This is biblical
evangelism.
12) Fishing evangelism leads to evangelistic Bible studies.
After a few questions, even if you could answer, say,
"I’m not an authority on this subject–I’m
still learning about my faith. (You are non-threatening.) But
would you like to see what Jesus said?" Pull out a New
Testament or Gospel and do a one-on-one study of a few relevant
verses. Ask questions and let the seeker find answers in the
text. These will raise new questions. Agree when to meet for a
longer passage. This kind of study usually grows into weekly
encounters with several seekers. (Say investigative Bible
study–IBS, because an outsider could be offended or put on
guard if you say evangelistic.)
IBS’s are not a new idea. Remember Philip, the social
services administrator who fled Saul’s persecution and
evangelized in Samaria and the Gaza Strip. He hitchhiked south
along the international highway and hooked a ride in the
luxurious chariot of a foreign dignitary, who turned out to be
the treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia! Philip knew he was a
seeker because he was reading aloud from an Isaiah scroll! He got
the man to ask him to explain Isaiah 53, then led him in an IBS
of this wonderful passage. He helped him to trust in Jesus and
then baptized him by a roadside pool!
I have seen more people find God through IBS’s than any
other means. It is a patient way to provide the background
seekers need to make an intelligent decision. Each one discovers
truth as he or she is ready for it. You study gospel
narratives. Stories have always been the main conduit for
truth, especially in non-Western cultures. Stories link mind,
heart and emotions in a way that abstract teaching and linear
arguments do not. In the Bible, the gospel stories are the main
evangelistic literature. John 20:31 says, "These things were
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. . . and
that you might have life in his name."
Most important, the stories are about Jesus, who is
always the shortcut in evangelism. You watch him in
action, listen to his words and to the testimony of his friends
and enemies. As you stress his humanity–he is tired,
hungry, thirsty, sleepy, lonely or sad–his deity
stands out in sharp contrast. Ask questions that help
participants interact vicariously with him through the characters
in the story.
IBS discussions are quite different from the usual Bible
study. The majority of the participants should be
non-believers. They share more honestly and spontaneously
when there is no psychological pressure from a Christian
majority. But emphasize the ground rules–to answer the
questions from the text–to discover what the passage
means, not to exchange religious opinions. This avoids arguments
and makes sure the participants will not leave with wrong
conclusions. (But note the opinions they present and discuss them
privately between studies.)
IBS’s enable you to rejoice as seekers take small steps
toward God. Their comments and questions show when you should ask
for commitment. It produces converts who are lay evangelists,
because the new Christians can immediately win others, as they
were won–leading an IBS with a question guide on the
gospel stories! In Spain, Marisa had not yet made a verbal
commitment herself when she took a page of questions to lead that
week’s study with her non-believing father and sister! See GO
Paper: Investigative Bible Studies.
13) Fishing evangelism facilitates follow-up, because
it quickly leads to an IBS, which not only helps seekers find
God, but provides the matrix in which the converts are taught and
nurtured. The IBS turns into a DBS–a discipleship Bible
study. You also begin new IBS’s, with the converts inviting
their friends and leading them to God.
14) Fishing evangelism facilitates church planting,
because
it quickly leads to an IBS which soon turns into a DBS–and
that soon becomes a house church! A larger congregation can be
formed if tentmakers bring two or three DBS groups together. But
in Muslim countries they may have to wait until the converts
learn to trust each other, since they fear infiltration by spies
(phony converts) seeking to report them to authorities.
The above 14 benefits of fishing can be experienced in
different situations.
3. Fishing contexts
Fishing evangelism is useful in our travel, our nuclear and
extended families, our neighborhoods, our places of work or study
and in our social activities. We will consider first where Paul
evangelized, then our contemporary workplaces or campuses, and
then hostile environments.
1) Paul’s contexts for evangelism.
Intellectual Paul, who supported himself by making animal skin
tents, integrated work and witness in the workshop. There
he probably saw some fellow laborers, customers, suppliers, and
artisan guild members with shops on the same narrow street. He
may have worked for an employer or hired his own employees,
managed a workshop or trained apprentices. In the streets
of Corinth he talked to drunks, thieves, idlers and other
bums–and won many to the Lord! (1 Cor. 6:9-11) Conversations
would have spilled over into his residence–maybe
above or behind the workshop, especially when he lived with
Priscilla and Aquila. He talked to people in the market
squares and was invited to lecture to the philosophers in the Aeropagus council in Athens and to the Asiarchs in Ephesus
(Acts 17,18). But he always taught first in synagogues to
fish out seekers, until Jewish hostility forced him to move
meetings to a convert’s home–like that of Jason
in Corinth. In Philippi there was no synagogue so he looked for
worshipping Jews along the riverbanks, and found the
Gentile God-fearer, Lydia. (Acts 16) In Ephesus Paul taught
during the long noontime siesta hours in a borrowed lecture
hall and evenings in large local households. (Acts
19:8, 9, 20:20.) He evangelized on board ship and on long
journeys on foot (Acts 27, 28, 19:1ff). He witnessed
in several jails (Acts 16) and won converts under
Nero’s very nose–in his palace prison! (Phil.
1:12-15, 4:21,22.) He turned his arrests and trials into
evangelistic outreach! (Acts 21-26.)
Although theologically educated, he served as a working man,
not clergy–because it gained him credibility with the
skeptical, suspicious Gentiles. He was erudite and upper class
but he identified with artisans. He modeled and taught fishing
evangelism in all these contexts. (Col.4:5, 6).
2) Today’s workplace and campus.
What makes fishing evangelism so necessary where we work or
study is that we see the same people over and over. We must not
turn them off by saying too much at the beginning.
Maria Celia learned this in her first year of medical school
in Curitiba, Brazil. When she came to share my apartment, she
said, "Don’t expect me to evangelize. Last year I
talked about God so much that when I walked down the hall
everyone disappeared into classrooms!" She was right. More
talk would be counterproductive. I said, "Let’s not
talk to them about God unless they ask." I knew they
would ask if we used the right bait in a context of caring about
them as whole people–not just religious souls.)
Students came to our little apartment mainly from the Catholic
medical faculty next door and the federal medical school a block
away. Once we had 60 people! Sometimes groups studied all night
for exams, with human hearts and lungs on the table exuding
formaldehyde! We provided coffee, Brazilian mate tea and cookies.
Students dropped by almost any time of day, and some asked about
God. When they started working on cadavers Orlandina had trouble
sleeping, so she asked me what happens when we die. As we sat
down to study 1 Cor. 15 others came in, and she called them to
join us. We had these spontaneous Bible studies almost any hour
of the day, and a scheduled study each Saturday. We ended these
studies in an hour, but discussion continued for another hour or
two. When we divided into three groups, some came three times a
week! Maria Celia became popular and wisely used her evangelistic
gift.
This discreet approach is even more important in antagonistic
milieus.
3) Hostile environments. Fishing evangelism is ideal
among that 80% of the world’s people that is off-limits to
missionaries. China comprises about 22% of the world and India
20%. Muslim countries add another 20%. Even some fairly open
countries no longer issue missionary visas. Yet all governments
welcome expatriates with expertise they need. But fanatics can
get you dismissed, arrested or expelled. Yet how could you face
God if you did not tell the gospel to local people who had never
had a chance to hear it?
Solution: You fish! You do selective evangelism,
finding the spiritually hungry people in any group and taking
them aside to talk. Genuine seekers are not likely to report you
to authorities. Non-seekers may not even notice your subtle bait.
But your godly lifestyle can turn even them into seekers.
Jesus evangelized in an extremely hostile situation, not
unlike Muslim cultures today. Jewish society was characterized by
the same fanatical monotheism of people who do not believe in a
triune God. As opposition to Jesus grew, he used parables to fish
out seekers. The crowds could react with curiosity, indifference,
anger, sentimental approval, mockery or perplexity, but only
those who stayed and asked, discovered the meaning of his stories
(Mk. 4:12). He did not "cast pearls before swine" (Mt.
7:6). He did not speak precious truths to the hostile crowds who
would trample and mock. They would discourage timid seekers.
Jesus fished out hungry people and explained the life-giving,
spiritual meaning of his stories to them in private.
A similar tactic would have helped Dick, a music teacher in
Kuwait. He related warmly to the local people, and the Muslim men
in his neighborhood invited him to join their evening chats
outdoors or in their homes. It was an honor to be invited to a diwaniya
and Dick courageously talked to the men about Jesus Christ. Once
they even asked him to bring his Injil (N.T.) But soon they were
fiercely arguing among themselves in Arabic. If a hesitant seeker
was present, he was probably discouraged by the majority. Dick
needed to fish out the seekers and talk with them elsewhere.
Engineers Roy and Carol, working in a sensitive Muslim
country, became discouraged when she and the children fell ill
with hepatitis and he injured his back. The Arab employers were
never happy with his work–it is how they control employees.
The two bosses lied to each other and Roy would get caught in the
middle. The couple asked for thirty days vacation leave in the
U.S. They wanted to reconsider if God expected them to stay in
this hard place.
The bosses protested. If Roy left for a month the whole
factory would fall apart! For the first time he saw how pleased
they were with him. Just before the couple left, one boss came
with a little suitcase, asking for books about Jesus! Roy
thought he was entrapping him–to get him arrested. He would
not have dared to bring a whole suitcase full of Christian books
into this country! But Roy gave him an Arabic New Testament and a
book about Jesus.
The boss proved to be sincere and the couple returned. The
boss had been made hungry for the gospel, first by Christian
radio, then by how Roy related to them at work and how the couple
faced their multiple problems. Anyone can do right when all goes
well. But suffering enhances our testimony.
However, even tentmakers who are discreet can be expelled. It
had taken us only two weeks to get Tom a civil engineering job in
Saudi Arabia. He was helping a small fellowship of mainly Asian
Christians. He returned to his job after a four-week break
outside the country, and found the whole group being expelled,
because of the exuberance of a few new believers. In a week or
two Tom was also ordered to leave. But in a short time all had
jobs elsewhere in Muslim countries and their ministries
continued.
Tentmakers should not flaunt their religious activity before
authorities. But if arrested, they should see God’s hand in
it, since no one can touch them without God’s permission!
Jesus said his followers should expect arrests so they could
witness to authorities. (Mt. 10:16-20). The first tentmaker ever
has assured us that God "makes all things work together for
good for those who love him, and for their families!" (Rom.
8:23-28)
So Christians must be in a context where they can be regularly
observed by the same outsiders, and they must put out bait that
will draw seekers.
4. Components of bait
Note first what is not bait. Bumper stickers and
Christian motto shirts are not witnessing, but advertising.
These turn off most non-believers. But as I traveled in Asia, my
tiny cross or fish lapel pins fished out a surprising number of
seekers. But effective bait where we live, work or study must
contain these four characteristics.
1) Personal integrity. The first component is moral
integrity. Our relationships with the opposite sex must be above
reproach. Our lives must be characterized by honesty,
truthfulness and transparency. In most cultures people ask
personal questions, like how much money we earn, what rent we
pay, the price of our car, why we are in their country. If you
are single, they ask why. If married, they ask why you have no
children, etc. It is good to have nothing to hide. Openness gains
trust.
As tentmakers in sensitive countries we must be who we say
we are, with no pretense. A math teacher who knows Jesus
Christ must be just that. Christians who see themselves as
regular missionaries with a job as a cover or a front,
often develop a clandestine mentality which sooner or later
destroys their credibility. Fear may lead them to evade
questions, to speak half-truths or use code words. Each small
deception requires others. Local people catch on quickly. The
believer’s evasions and inconsistencies puzzle them and
undermine trust. Their actions can result in the very detection
they fear.
No passage of Scripture permits half-truths or other
deceptions. The end does not justify the means. Truth and
righteousness are major parts of our spiritual armor that we must
consciously put on–daily, as we dress. (Eph. 6: 10ff.) In
this cosmic war we dare not risk holes! An untruth gives Satan a
foothold. He can turn us into perpetual liars by keeping us in
hot water. The problem is not only that people will find
us out, but Satan knows, and our lack of trust dishonors
God!
Jesus said our evangelism would bring us before authorities.
(How else would they ever hear the gospel?) He promised that the
Holy Spirit would tell us what to say. Does the Spirit of Truth
ever coach us to lie? Don’t short-circuit what God is trying
to do when you are face to face with potentially dangerous
authorities. It is how God turned the chief persecutor of the
church, Saul of Tarsus, into Paul, the beloved apostle! (See GO
Paper on Tentmaker Ethics.)
Tentmakers who genuinely earn their living in substantial
positions for which they are qualified, have more freedom in
almost every way to live out the gospel in the workplace and to
answer the questions that invariably arise. Tentmaking is not
regular missionary work, but a unique approach to spiritual
ministry. To abstract Paul’s model of secular work but
ignore his instructions for workplace evangelism is to forfeit
most of the benefits of tentmaking.
The Christian professional must live out the Christian life
under the unrelenting scrutiny of non-believers. Personal
integrity is seen in small things. We all fail under stress so it
matters how we deal with failure. We must be willing to
apologize, to say we are still learning. We do not claim
perfection, but we long to please God in all that we do.
Paul’s manual labor enabled him to model the Christian
life for converts (2 Thess.3:8ff). They had never seen a
Christian! It was not enough to tell them how to live holy lives.
It was not enough to show godliness in church. Paul demonstrated
holy living in the same seductive, idolatrous, immoral cesspool
of Roman society in which the seekers lived and worked.
Paul lived out honesty, truth, holiness and love in the same
atmosphere of persecution that tempted new believers to lie and
compromise their faith. But he did not let fear
short-circuit what God was doing in people around him.
Two thousand years after Paul, it is equally important for us
to live out Christ in the world’s diverse marketplaces, to
speak the truth, to refrain from bribery, to avoid illegal
monetary exchange, to respect authority, to deal kindly with
everyone, to be irreproachable in our relationships to the
opposite sex–according to the Bible and local customs. Our
integrity matters!
And so does our work. Note some of Paul’s most
astonishing instructions!
2) Quality work. The second component of bait is honest
work for our employer. Paul also taught and modeled a biblical
work ethic in a society that had none. A contract with an
employer was a contract with the Lord.
Slaves made up 90% of the population in Rome and the Italian
peninsula and 70% in the provinces! The basic social unit of
Greco-Roman society was the wealthy household. It consisted of
the owner’s extended family, slaves who did house chores,
slaves who did farm labor, and slaves who were artisans and
managers who ran the family businesses. A household also had
teachers, and often a doctor and a lawyer. Who were all these
slaves? Some had been born to slave parents and were the
master’s property. Some were picked up as abandoned babies.
Some were freeborn people who fell into debt. The majority were
foreign captives, taken in war or peace and sold in slave
markets. These households were multicultural!
But in Eph. 6:5-8, Paul speaks not only to slaves but to wage
earners–to free citizens, to ex-slaves, to small business
proprietors, to day laborers. He says, "Slaves, be obedient
to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling,
in singleness of heart, as to Christ, not with eye service,
as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God
from the heart, rendering service with good will as to the
Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good any one
does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is
slave or free." See also Col. 3:23-25.
Regardless of the Christian’s social status or the work
done, Jesus was the real boss–rather than the person who
gave the orders or authorized the paycheck. Quality work might
even win the employer to the Lord, improving life for many! To
win a householder could result in a new house church! The
households became the main social unit of the church!
Paul gives us a new perspective on secular work.
Jesus
observes us and evaluates the quality of our work. We are to
serve our human employers as though they were Jesus Christ! Even
if they are cruel slave masters. If we do it consciously for
Jesus Christ it is no longer secular work. Even a hard job, or a
boring one, is transformed into sacred ministry and worship!
So architect Don served God, in the Arabian Gulf, not only by
his evangel ism, but also by the Arab style houses he designed
for Muslim extended families! Engineer Stan pleased God by
providing water resources for rural southeast Asians. Tim did
surgery in Turkey, and Norma played violin in Portugal’s
national symphony orchestra. Brian managed a supermarket in Saudi
Arabia. Keith taught high school math in Kenya. The Ponds taught
children in Belarus. The 70-year old Johnsons taught English in
China. But all had the same employer–Jesus Christ.
Work is part of our cultural mandate (Gen.1:28). It is one of
the ways in which we reflect the image of God. It is how we care
for the resources God has entrusted to us. It is how we
"bless" our new host country. It is how we let God love
people through us. That God "so loved the world"
means he loves the rebels everywhere. He wants his followers to
make life better for them. God told his exiled people in
idolatrous, pagan Babylon, "Seek the welfare of the city
where I have sent you, for in its welfare is your welfare."
(Jer. 29:7) We must integrate our cultural mandate and our
missionary mandate (Mt.28:18-20). Daily work done for God is
spiritual ministry.
But the witness of our work can never take the place of
the witness of our character and words. Both verbal and
non-verbal testimony are as necessary in evangelism as both wings
are to a superjet! All the tentmakers above also shared the good
news on their jobs as well as in free time. Their quality work
opened doors for verbal witness and gave credibility to their
words.
3) Caring relationships. The third component of bait is
how Christians relate to people in the workplace or on campus.
They must be pleasant to all around them and give comfort,
encouragement and practical help where they can. They may help a
colleague at work, help a family move, take meals to the sick, do
the shopping, babysit the children, prepare a fellow student for
an exam, find him part-time work or a place to live. They may
invite their neighbors or colleagues for meals.
Carlos Garcia, fourth year law student, came to our Bible
study group in my apartment in Lima, Peru. The next Saturday was
his birthday so I baked a cake. I should have guessed he would
spend that day with his family. So the next Saturday I baked
another cake for a late celebration. After he found the Lord and
became a pastor he told his congregation that no one had ever
baked him a birthday cake–and it had touched him that I had
baked two! More recently this godly leader was elected Vice
President of Peru.
For Paul’s converts, hospitality and generosity were part
of life and witness. (Gal. 6:9, 10, 1 Tim. 3:2) He wrote in 1
Thess. 2:8: "We shared with you not only the gospel of God
but our very own selves, because you had become very dear to
us."
Americans are judged by foreigners to be friendly, but
unavailable when needed. Most cultures make a big distinction
between friends and acquaintances. People test your friendship by
requesting favors, but they expect you to request favors, too.
You cannot have many real friends at once. Find a few seekers
and focus on them and their families.
When Bob and Betty taught English in China, the government did
not want students to associate with foreign faculty outside the
classroom. But this couple loved the students and knew how boring
their lives were. So they found a way to invite a few at a time
for meals in their pleasant apartment. They designed a course on
how to be a guest in an American home. These students saw a
Christian book or two on the coffee table and a Bible verse on
the wall. On one visit, a young engineer said, "I want to
know about God. Is there any kind of a book about him?"
In another city a young Chinese woman expressed surprise that
her English teachers were volunteering their free time to provide
sacrificial service to children in one of China’s desperate
orphanages. (People abandon girl babies at these institutions
almost daily.) She protested that orphans are the
government’s job! But she became ashamed that it was
foreigners, not her own people, who gave loving care to these
abandoned little ones. She said, "Soon I begin to suspicion
that these teachers are Christians. I ask, and they say to
me ‘yes.’"
Christian groups can show caring on an even larger
scale. An IFES-related student group in Peru painted the filthy
restrooms on campus as a service to the student body! A few years
ago in Communist Hungary the persecuted churches canceled a
Sunday morning’s services so members could help clear away
flood debris for their neighbors. Their labor became worship.
Whenever possible, our personal help to people should be
reciprocal, not paternalistic. In Yemen, Clare, who is an
engineer, stays home to care for her children and to befriend her
Muslim neighbors. But the local women were not friendly until her
first baby was born. Then they came to help this young mother
whose own mother lived so far away. After that Clare could go to
market with the women–her hair wholly covered, like theirs.
She adjusted their sewing machines and they taught her to sew
their long colorful gowns. Give-and-take allays suspicions that a
one-sided relationship creates.
In every conversation we must play the role of either host or
guest. Shy people are often guests–passive. We must learn to
be hosts. Take the initiative to make others comfortable, instill
confidence, free them to confide. Make yourself vulnerable by
sharing personal experiences. Being the host takes your mind off
yourself, reducing your shyness and freeing you to love others.
So we must live out the gospel in a non-judgmental,
non-compromising, attractive way. We must maintain personal
integrity even in the most difficult situations, with quality
work and caring relationships–and watch for openings to talk
about the Lord.
4) Verbal witness. This is the fourth component of
bait. If you do not speak of God, an exemplary life may merely
confuse people. So you must casually, naturally and confidently
insert fitting comments about God into secular conversations. Do
not overdo. Avoid being preachy. But watch for openings. Your
informed, pleasant conversations on non-religious topics make
your occasional religious comments acceptable.
Section II gives more help on verbal witness. But first,
consider mission issues in integrating work and witness.
5. Work and witness issues
Quality work is basic to tentmaker witness everywhere, along
with integrity, caring relationships and speaking. But the
following problems are due to cultural factors or to an
undervaluation of secular work in evangelical circles.
1) Social barriers that inhibit witness. It bothers
Christian faculty in some countries that they may not socialize
with their students without losing respect. Students will expect
favors and good grades without effort. Usually tentmakers find
ways to converse with them. But they have more freedom to
evangelize colleagues, former students and students in other
people’s classes.
In many countries, business people also may not associate
freely with subordinates. But even in this situation, God helps
you fish out the seekers.
2) Little appreciation for efficiency. Many countries
have no work ethic and quality work may be resented. Your
efficiency may mean fewer employees are needed. You do not want
to jeopardize the job of a friend who needs to support his
family. How do you reconcile biblical teaching on work and your
responsibility to your employer, with problems you could cause
coworkers?
Paul faced a similar dilemma. The Jews had a work ethic from
the O.T., but the Gentiles had none. Paul made a big issue of
work. He taught and modeled a biblical work ethic for his
converts. Why? Many had been idlers and thieves, and even after
their conversion Paul had to exhort them to quit stealing! (1
Cor. 6:9-11, Eph. 4:28). He said that idlers unwilling to work
were not to eat. Without a biblical work ethic there could not be
godly, respectable church members, nor well-supported families,
nor indigenous, independent churches. Converts could not give to
the needy, nor have any positive effect on their community. In
many countries today a small Christian minority has great
influence partly because of its work ethic.
In spite of initial disadvantage, in the long run the work
ethic is better for everyone. But rather than compete with
coworkers, earning their enmity and threatening their jobs, help
them all to do better. Help your superior to raise the
productivity of the whole department in a way that gets him the
credit. Gain both the short- and long-term benefits of a biblical
work ethic.
3) The myth of the Christian presence. Some expatriates
who go to China are persuaded not to evangelize. If they just
show what good people Christians are, it is said, the government
will give permission to evangelize a few years from now. But it
is doubtful that any country ever gained religious freedom this
way. How can Christians refrain from giving the gospel to the
Chinese around them who have never had a chance to hear it? They
must do low key evangelism now, eliciting questions to answer.
4) Evangelizing elsewhere but not on the job. It is
easy to understand why some tentmakers do not want to risk their
jobs and work permits by evangelizing in the workplace. They wish
to avoid the cost and hassle of moving their family to another
country. But the people we see daily are our main responsibility
before God. Biblical evangelism is a lifestyle, not an activity
to switch on or off. The solution? Quit hunting. Fish! God
provides a particular job so the tentmaker can witness
specifically in that context. They must trust him to care
for them and their families. No one dare touch them without his
permission!
5) A supposed conflict of interest between job and
ministry. Many tentmakers are told by their Christian
superiors, "Do not put so much effort into your job because that
is not what you are here for." This puts stress on the
workers. The job is viewed as a necessary nuisance to permit
residence in the restricted country. But it is wrong to use
an employer for a visa unless one intends to give wholehearted
service.
Tentmaking and regular missionary work are not just two
different means of financial support, but two quite different
mission strategies for different people in different situations.
Scripture gives us examples of both approaches. God called
Peter to leave his two-family fishing business forever and to
fish for men, as a regular missionary, on donor support. Years
later Paul reports approvingly that Peter and his wife still
traveled and ministered on church support. (Luke 5:1-11, John 21,
1 Cor. 9:5) Paul then gives a long list of arguments to establish
his own right as an apostle to church support. But then in the
same chapter Paul says three times that he has never made
use of this right! Three times! (1 Cor. 9:12, 15, 18) He
writes near the end of his third missionary journey, so all his
journeys are included. God called him to a
self-supporting, tentmaking ministry. His pioneer church planting
among Gentile unreached peoples required a different strategy
from the work of Peter, which was mainly among Jews.
Paul says the Christian’s job is important. He tells
slaves and paid workers that they must serve their human
employers with the same dedication that they would give to Jesus
Christ! Col. 3:23-25: "Whatever your task, work heartily, as
serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will
receive the inheritance as your reward; you are serving the Lord
Christ." See also Eph. 6:5,6. We dare not minimize
tentmakers’ jobs, because they are an integral part of their
spiritual ministry, and can produce more churches than any other
approaches.
The incompatibility of job and ministry is exaggerated in
mission circles for three reasons: a) A failure to heed
Paul–his considerable teaching on work and witness, and
his marketplace example. b) Leaders’ inexperience. Few
mission leaders have done self-supporting ministry. Many have not
held secular jobs! Even most tentmakers did little or no
workplace evangelism in their previous jobs at home. c) The
problem of hybrid ministries. All combinations of
self-support and donor support are legitimate if they are honest.
But people who depend mainly on donor support are not tentmakers,
but regular missionaries, pretending self-support, using a
minimal job as a front or a cover. Each finds "a secular
identity" behind which to hide his or her true identity. But
they tend to develop a clandestine mentality that can lead to
deceitfulness and loss of credibility. It predisposes them to do
the very things which can make them suspect.
Tentmaking is not regular missionary work. But it is
full-time
ministry, since work and witness are integrated on the job.
In their free time tentmakers have additional ministries. A
linguistics instructor translated the New Testament into the
language of five million Muslims as he supported himself in the
local university! Paul considered tentmaking better for pioneer
church planting in hostile regions than the donor-support
approach of Peter. (See GO Paper: Why did Paul Make Tents? A
Biblical Basis for Tentmaking.)
6) The problem of an unethical employer. Deal with the
situation with prayer and patience. Daniel’s bosses were no
saints! Yet he won Nebuchadnezzar to the Lord ! But if an
employer’s reputation compromises your testimony you must
take the proper steps to resign. We know of no tentmakers who
have had to do this.
7) The danger of jeopardizing the employer. All
vocations have occupational hazards. Tentmaking in sensitive
countries adds another–persecution. A Christian expatriate
in Saudi Arabia may be willing to take risks for Jesus Christ,
but what if he jeopardizes his employer? What if his firm loses
its contract because of his indiscretion? a) The firm risks more
by hiring non-believers who are immoral, or use drugs, or
home-brew their own liquor. Most Christians share Muslims’
objection to alcohol and their other scruples. b) Tentmakers may
not remain silent in any country. It is usually legitimate to
answer the questions of local people, so fishing evangelism
reduces the risks. c) They must trust that God brought them there
to witness and he cares for them, their families and their
employers.
But tentmakers must fish, not hunt! Bait is similar
everywhere: personal integrity, quality work, caring
relationships and fitting words about God.
But there is more to evangelism than fishing out the seekers.
Fishing helps you to get started. It helps you over a major
hurdle. Your lifestyle evangelism draws seekers into your
friendship evangelism. As the relationship develops you can take
more initiative in the conversations. But how do you proceed? How
do you handle the seeker’s questions?
II Answering questions
1. Basic attitudes
Confidence and humility. Do
not fear the questions! The key is to evangelize as a learner,
not as an authority. It is less threatening to the seeker and
it takes the pressure off of you. You never claimed to have all
the answers. The Christian faith is not going to be hurt because
you haven’t yet learned everything. After 2000 years no one
is going to think up a question that no Christian can answer! But
we must share our certainties, not our doubts. Be honest. Rather
than bluff or answer poorly, say, "Let me have until
tomorrow so I can give you a clear explanation." Then work
on the answer.
2. Preparedness
1) How do you find the answers? Consult books like Josh
McDowell’s Evidences that Demand a Verdict (CCC) or
Cliff Knechtle’s Give me an Answer (IVP). (See
Bibliography.) Do you have access to a church library? Talk with
fellow Christians–a pastor or campus staff worker. Organize
your data. Make a simple outline of your best arguments and
related Scriptures. Find a relevant booklet to lend. We should
not be unprepared twice for the same question.
2) How can you prepare beforehand? Both Peter and Paul
tell us to be ready for the questions. I found the
following helpful.
a) I started a question file in a shoe-box. On divider
tabs I wrote the questions people asked or that I feared they
might ask. Then I filed outlines of my best answers, with Bible
verses. I kept adding scraps of paper with notes from books,
magazines and sermons–as I found them.
b) I prepared inductive Bible study guides on several
passages for IBS’s like: the woman at the well (Jn.4) the
Syro-Phoenician woman (Mt. 15), blind Bartimaeus (Lk.18), the
rich young ruler (Lk. 19), Zacchaeus (Lk. 19, the Roman
centurion, the widow of Nain, Simon and the sinful woman (all in
Luke 5). These simple stories have tremendous theological
and evangelistic content. 7). I also did mini-studies on
even shorter passages, like Jesus’ promise of freedom in
John 8:31-36; Jesus at the door in Rev.3:20, 21 and on the cross
in 1 Peter 2:18-25, etc. (See Bibliography and GO Paper on Inductive
Bible Study: Preparing a Passage.)
c) I memorized evangelism Bible verses–and their
addresses, so I could find and use them quickly. I started with
salvation verses like John 1:12, 3:16-21, 5:24, 1 John 5:11, 12,
Rev. 3:20,21. (The Navigators memory system and packet are
helpful.)
These three steps should prepare you, as they did me, to
answer questions with more confidence. You must depend on
God’s Spirit to bring to remembrance what you should say in
each case. But the Holy Spirit cannot retrieve data from your
memory bank that you have never stored there!
3. The questions
People ask three main kinds of questions–all of
them important. Understanding them can give balance and keep us
from spinning our wheels. They relate to apologetics, personal
testimony and gospel proclamation. Consider samples of
each.
1) Apologetics–that is, defense of our faith.
Peter’s Greek word for answer is apologia, reason,
defense. It divides into two kinds of questions. a)
Philosophical: If God is good how can he allow evil? How can
he allow a hell? How can he let the innocent suffer? Is there
absolute truth? Where do we get our feelings of right and wrong?
Are human beings more than biochemical machines? What is death?
Is incarnation a reality? b) Historical: How can we know
that Jesus existed? Why not regard him merely as a great teacher?
Why not regard him merely as an impersonal Christ principle or
Christ consciousness? Why should we believe he is God in a unique
sense? Why believe that he arose bodily from the grave,
never to die again? Why believe that the Bible is true? Why is it
more valid than the The Gospel of Thomas, The Unknown Life of
Jesus or extra-sensory messages? Why believe that biblical,
historical Christianity is uniquely different from and superior
to all other religions?
It is permissible to argue, to give reasons, to
persuade–as Paul did. But he said to do it gently and
courteously (2 Tim. 2:23-26, Eph. 6:10ff). The
non-believers are not the enemy, but victims of the enemy,
blinded and held captive by him. It is possible to win all the
arguments but to lose the seeker.
Some years ago, Paul Little pointed out in his book
How to
Give Away Your Faith (IVP) that only a few intellectual
questions occurred repeatedly, even when you worked with students
and professional people. Today, in our much more complex society,
his observation is still true. Most people are not well informed
nor interested in religious and philosophical issues. Most have
little understanding of the Christian faith and have accepted
popular objections with little thought. We can confidently
undermine their shaky foundations.
But we hear more varied questions today than two decades ago,
for two reasons. a) Our increasingly pluralistic society brings
new questions from eastern religions. (See Section V.) b) We
are undergoing a shift from modernity to post-modernity all
over the world among urbanized people. This is a major shift from
three centuries of culture dominated by science and
rationalism–to a new anti-rational, metaphysical, neo-pagan
era. People are less likely to ask, "Is it true?" and
more likely to ask, "What does it do for me? How does it
make me feel?" Post-modernity consists of a variety
of cults, under the loose term New Age. They claim Jesus
as an enlightened guru, but deny his deity, distorting all that
we know of him. They use spurious books about Jesus and turn to
the mystical, the magical, to channeling, to supposed contact
with the dead and with spirit beings. Angels are popular. Many
believe in reincarnation. For them the Bible is not more valid
than any other writings or extra-sensory messages.
There is no need to panic. The devil is not very creative.
Many of these false teachings are like those of the Docetists and
Gnostics in the ancient Greek world–the same heresies the
apostles confronted! Some New Agers today even use old Gnostic
texts found in Egypt. So the tactics and the answers the apostles
used are valid also for today. Just because non-believers’
first concern is not truth does not mean they have no interest in
it, nor that we must discard this weapon. God’s absolute
truth is our sword, which remains as powerful as ever! (Eph.
6:17, Heb. 4:12,13). This great cosmic war is still a war of
ideas–between God’s absolute truth and human lies,
which we must demolish with his Word (2 Cor. 1::3-5) How can we
tell if we are speaking to a modern or a post-modern person?
By their questions! (We will continue to deal with basic
evangelism and discuss special kinds of seekers, like post-modern
ones, in Section V.)
The Christian faith is on trial, but so is every belief
system! Not a single one begins to have the vast amount of
evidences that we have! Many will see that the overwhelming
evidences for the New Testament make it more credible than exotic
books with not a shred of evidence, or the extrasensory messages
of strange gurus.
God’s truth makes sense of God’s world and
everything in it. No religious system that rejects the existence
of our Creator God can present an alternative view of the world
that people can live with. If God is dead: a) Then there can be
no supernatural. Yet in a recent jet crash everyone on board
prayed. b) If there is no God, then human beings are only
chemicals, elusive atoms–yet people know their loved ones
are more than that. c) Without God, morality and sexual ethics
are just a matter of taste, yet these same skeptics are rigid
moralists concerning child abuse or racial prejudice. d) Without
God, everything is meaningless. But people have to live their
lives as God’s creatures in God’s rational world, so
they constantly butt their heads on this objective reality.
Most important, no matter what people in any era or any
culture say they believe, we know they have that same
inner emptiness–that God-shaped vacuum which only God can
fill–as the French mathematician-philosopher, Blaise Pascal,
said in the mid-1600's.
We also have the Holy Spirit coaching us and reinforcing what
we say!
We also have God’s Word which is self-authenticating and
powerful. Defend the Bible as you would a lion–let it out of
its cage! Get seekers into Bible study. They do not need to
believe the Bible is true, but only that it is worth
investigating. Do not raise the issue of
credibility–assume they have that much confidence in it. Even
Muslims consider it a holy book. It has the "ring of
truth." It speaks to people’s hearts whether they
believe it is from God or not, because it agrees with the reality they experience as God’s creatures in the world God
designed. While their mouths argue against God’s Word, their
hearts and consciences are saying "You know it’s
true!"
If people want evidences for the truth of Scripture, begin
with The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable? by F.
F. Bruce. Once they accept this verification of the New
Testament, they must accept Jesus’ authentication of the Old
Testament.
Some Christians consider all intellectual questions insincere.
But many questions come from doubters wanting to believe. Paul
made a distinction between unbelievers in the synagogues
who rejected the gospel, and outsiders who had never heard
it. (1 Cor. 14)
You can discover if a person’s questions are only excuses
to reject the gospel. After a few answers, ask if they would be
willing to receive Jesus if all their questions were resolved. If
they say No, try to determine their real obstacle to faith. An
immoral life? Fear of losing freedom? Fear of persecution? Fear
of family opposition? (A Jewish convert can be disowned and a
Muslim one put to death!)
But watch for people like Jean Louis, a student I met in
France. He had never met an evangelical until he came by
accident to a French GBU (IFES) leadership conference at
Valbonne. His girlfriend, Armelle, a seeker, somehow heard about
this student activity, and came, bringing him along. He asked me
many questions between classes, until the last day, when he said
he had no more questions and he was satisfied with all my
answers.
So I asked, "Then are you ready to invite Jesus Christ
into your life?" He said, "It is all so new to
me–I need to think it over." So I said, "Yes. You
must not make such an important commitment lightly. " I
explained again how he could do it. Two weeks later he wrote that
he and Armelle had both invited Jesus Christ and were being
helped by the local GBU group.
If your evangelism is of the Holy Spirit, you can trust him to
continue the convicting work he has begun in seekers’
hearts. Often we are one link in a chain of people God uses to
win someone to himself. Your answer to a single question may be
such a link.
2) Personal testimony. Another kind of question relates
to your experience of God. How did you find God? How do you know
he accepted you? How do you hear him speak? Could your experience
be self-suggestion? What difference does Jesus Christ make in
your life? On your job? In your marriage? In other relationships?
Could your answers to prayers be mere coincidences? (Someone
said, "When I pray much my life is full of coincidences and
when I pray little, there aren’t any!")
Post-modern seekers and people from non-Christian religions
may be more interested in evidences of God’s presence and
power in us than in our apologetics. Both are needed. (See more
below on spiritual power in evangelism.)
But talk about your spiritual experience in ordinary English.
Avoid evangelical cliches, because most outsiders will not
understand them or will think you quaint. Spiritual language or a
shift to a religious voice or facial expression are bad habits
some Christians learn in church, but they turn outsiders off. So
be casual and be yourself.
Answer experience questions with honesty and humility–not
how Christians should be, but how we are. We are God’s
children, saved for eternity, but we are still sinners,
constantly learning and growing and needing forgiveness.
I recall a dark stormy night in southern Brazil, when I
finally boarded a little prop plane that was two hours late. The
businessman next to me had asked what I was reading and I said it
was a book on how God accepts us as we are and cares for us. But
as the little plane lurched into the air for a very bumpy flight,
I dug my fingernails into the armrests. I didn’t pray,
"God, protect us," but rather, "Don’t let
this man see that I am afraid because I just told him you protect
us!" Christians should not be afraid, should they? But we
are human, and the fear instinct is God’s gift for our
protection. I had caught myself being phony! So I turned to the
man and said, "I really believe God protects us, but on a
rough flight I am still afraid." He said, "I’m
afraid, too, because if this plane goes down I’ll go
straight to hell. God could never accept such a wicked man as I
have been."
My honest admission of fear gave me the chance to tell this
man about God’s grace and forgiveness, as tears filled his
eyes. On debarking, I gave him the little book I had been
reading, because I knew God had intended it for him.
Seekers will sense phoniness and an attitude of superiority.
Even when God’s Spirit has helped us grow spiritually and to
pray effectively, we are still learners. It is wise to give out
the good news "the way beggars tell other beggars where they
have found bread." Bread is the gospel–the third
kind of question people ask.
3) Gospel truths. Seekers cannot be born again through
apologetics or personal testimony alone. They need the facts
of the gospel. The minimum the seeker must understand fits a
three-point outline, and a fourth for response. You would not
usually explain these points in order, like a sermon. Rather,
they are your mental checklist to evaluate how much the seeker
knows and what still needs to be clarified. Remember four words: God,
people, Jesus, and response.
The first word is GOD–Creator of everything,
including ourselves. So we owe him all that we are and have. We
should respond with worship, thanksgiving, love, trust,
obedience, loyalty and willing service. Sin is the insult of
withholding this response. If there were no Creator, there would
be no sin. (Rom. 1:18-32)
But do not get sidetracked into a discussion of: Evolution or
Creation? A bad question cannot have a good answer. What matters
is a prior question: Does everything owe its existence to God or
to blind fate or chance? If to God, then it becomes secondary how
he chose to create–over a long period, in six literal days
or in six seconds. The how is not essential to salvation
and the Bible is silent on the subject. Genesis answers the far
more important questions of who created, what he
created and why he did it.
Do not argue about the existence of God unless seekers ask.
Assume
they believe in a supreme Being. In America 90% do. (See Section
V for those who do not.) But what kind of God?
God is love. "He so loved the world that he gave
his only Son." But love is not just a sentimental feeling.
It seeks the beloved’s highest good. God’s love is
limitless, unfathomable, undeserved and unconditional. "He
does not love us because we are valuable, but we have infinite
value because he has set his love upon us." (Thielicke)
God is holy. (Hab.1:13, Dt. 4:24) His love makes him
hate everything that could harm us. His love keeps us away from
the fire of his holiness until we allow him to enter by
his Spirit and give us life. His Spirit cannot die. So we become
eternal beings, able to be in God’s presence. He wants to
reproduce his holy character in the diverse personalities of his
children. His laws are valid for all time. They are not
arbitrary. They are not to fence us in but to keep danger out.
They are the Manufacturer’s instructions for how we can
function best physically, mentally, socially and spiritually.
Emphasize God’s holiness to the self-righteous and
complacent, and his love to the guilt-ridden.
The second word is PEOPLE. They were created by God in
his image, so they have worth, dignity and meaning. They were
created for himself to find their purpose in fellowship with him
(Col. 1:16). But they rebelled (Rom. 5:12, Is. 53:6). The result
is separation from God–spiritual death. They are cut off
from their only source of life–the living God. A sawed-off,
toppled apple tree may look as green and fruit-laden as the
upright one growing next to it. But it is only a matter of time
before the toppled tree will reveal its deadness.
So human beings are not just spiritually needy, but
spiritually
dead, unless God makes them alive (John 5:24). Their deadness
shows itself in active or passive rebellion against God. Sins
are the symptoms of sin–the fatal disease of
independence from God. Legally all people are already under
God’s condemnation (Rom. 3:23, 6:23). There is no neutral
place from which to make a decision. Even kind, moral people need
conversion. The question is not Are they good or bad? but Are
they dead or alive? Is God’s Spirit in them?
The third word is JESUS. He is both God and man.
He
is the second Person of the Trinity who was active
throughout the Old Testament era, sometimes as "the Angel of
the Lord." He became man as Jesus Christ, to restore the
broken fellowship and give us new life. (Col. 1:19-20, John 5:24,
1 John 5:10, 11). He lived a sinless life as his friends
and his enemies attested (1 Pet. 2:22). He died a voluntary
death–he could have called 12,000 angels! (Mt. 26:53,
54) He chose the moment for his arrest and his crucifixion and
the moment to give up his spirit to the Father. He died as our
substitute, paying our penalty (Rom. 5:8). He was buried. Muslims
claim that Jesus never died because at the last moment God
provided someone else who just looked like him.We must insist
that he died and was buried.)
Jesus arose bodily to live forever (1 Cor.
15:3,4)–a resurrection, not a mere resuscitation. His
followers became convinced by the empty tomb and by his personal
appearances during forty days. (See The Evidence for the
Resurrection, J.N.D. Anderson.) That Jesus lives today we
know from his Word, from history and from our constant personal
and collective experience with him. (Rom. 5:1ff.)
The resurrection proved God was just in saving the O.T. saints
on credit (and the N.T. saints prepaid. Rom.
3:25,26) It signified Jesus’ triumph over all his enemies,
human and non-human! (Col. 2: 13-15). He sat down on the throne
at the Father’s right hand and received all power and
authority! Now he enters his followers by his Spirit, multiplying
himself many times over, and goes into the world through them, to
win rebels in every tribe and nation to himself. He will
return to judge the world, to sentence many and to reward the
faithful.
These three terms–God, people and Jesus, indicate
the minimum to believe. But math student Jose Manoel in Portugal
made a commitment the day he learned Jesus would return to earth!
Two Vietnamese girls asked me about "the Christian
heaven." The best Bud-dhism offers is total loss of identity
in a nebulous Nirvana. I told them Jesus will reunite us forever
with all our departed family members who loved God! Our new
bodies will never be less than those we have now, but more, and
our planet will never be less than it is now, but it will be
transformed into much more. Even the plants and ani-mals groan,
waiting for their transfor-mation when we are glorified! (Rom.
8:18-24)
Belligerent Bob at the University of Oregon responded to the
kingship of Jesus Christ. He heard I was on cam-pus and asked me
to debate him before a large roomful of fellow athletes. They
came to ridicule. So I gave an overview of history as a cosmic
war for control of the world, beginning with the devil’s
coup in Eden. I told how Adam and Eve betrayed God’s world
into the hands of his archenemy, how death entered the human
race, how God then visited our enemy-occupied planet, in Jesus,
to reconcile everything again to himself–to undo all the
damage of the coup. (Eph. 1:9, 10, Col. 1:19, 20).
I told how Jesus’ death and resurrec-tion were the
decisive battle in this cos-mic war–that Jesus triumphed
over all his enemies, human and non-human (Col. 2:13-15). But it
is useless to take enemy territory unless there are troops to
occupy it. So till the King returns, we are commissioned to
occupy every nation. But not by force. We lovingly
persuade rebels to change sides–to turn against the imposter
and pledge their allegiance to the only rightful King. He is
patient because he loves the rebels, as he loved us while we were
still his enemies. He is not willing any should perish (Rom. 5:8,
2 Pet. 3:9). He will save all that he can!
Instead of presenting his arguments, Bob said quietly to the
men, "For the first time it all makes sense!" After
many questions, I had to leave. I do not know what happened to
them all, but rebel Bob surrendered to his new King a few days
later.
The fourth word is RESPONSE. We must act upon what we
believe. Con-version requires three steps: a) To believe the
gospel facts about God, people and Jesus. b) To repent of
our passive or active rebellion toward God and our resultant
sins. c) To invite Jesus Christ into our innermost being,
to be Lord of our lives, to manage us, our relationsips and
activities. To deny him this would be an insult.
We respond with faith. But this word needs
clarification–even Christians are influenced by popular
misconceptions. So before proceeding, I want to deal with
the question: What is faith?
4. What is faith?
Faith has no saving power in itself. People say
faith can save (or heal) if you have enough of it–like a
magic substance. Some years ago, my driving instructor said he
believed God would accept him as long as he had faith–in
something. I said, "Now Mr. Dixon, my faith could kill us
both if I believe I can race through the busy intersection
ahead." He said, "Slow down–I get your
point!" Faith can bring death as well as life. It is good
only if its object is worthy of our trust.
Faith has no value without action. Eternal life depends
on how we act on the facts we believe. "Even the demons
believe and they shudder!" (James 2: 17-24) We can believe
the identity of a person at our front door, yet not ask him in,
especially if he will stay forever and take charge! (Luke 6:46).
But if we really believe that Jesus loves us more than we love
ourselves, we will invite him in to take over. To ask seekers
only for mental assent to a few facts and a signature, is to
delude them, and to make them harder to win.
Faith is not against reason. People say if we
can’t know, we must believe. But faith that
is not based on facts is superstition! It is pretense. God
asks us to believe what we cannot see, but not what is against
reason. He made our minds and renews them and wants us to use
them. He doesn’t manipulate our minds with proofs, but
gives evi-dences so it is more logical to believe than
disbelieve. Faith is a gift–created in us by gospel
facts. (Rm.10: 17, Eph. 2:8-10).
It is logical to believe what God says because of who God is!
Saving faith is trusting God–acting on God’s
word.
So we must be prepared to answer seekers’ questions about
apologetics, our personal experience and the gospel facts, under
the key words: God, peo-ple, Jesus and response. We
will consi-der response further in IV. But first, how do
we bring seekers to that point?
III. Drawing seekers to God
The fishing approach we have de-scribed solves major obstacles
in evan-gelism by helping us fish out hungry people and initiate
conversations. But once we have begun a friendship with a seeker
and we know where he or she is spiritually, we can take more
initiative. We can ask our own questions to draw them to
Jesus Christ.
The most important activity by far is the investigative
Bible study. But consider four additional suggestions:
Focusing them on God; tuning them in to God; using information
resources and people resources.
1. Use a God-centered approach
Focus on who God is and what we owe him. The popular
man-centered approach focuses on people’s felt
needs–how to have a happy, fulfilled life. God’s love
is emphasized but his holiness neglected. Gospel facts are
selectively presented to attract buyers for quick sales. But the
gospel is no Band-Aid for personal or social inade-quacies, no
cheap insurance against problems, no guarantee of health or
wealth. Paul scorned the evangelists who packaged the gospel to
disguise its cost. He said, "For we are not, like so many, peddlers
of God’s word; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by
God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ." (2 Cor. 2:17)
To converts he wrote: "We told you beforehand that you would
suffer." (1 Thess. 3:1-4)
Jesus turned down volunteers who came on false premises. They
must put him first before family, possessions and personal
safety. If not, they would nev-er endure. The dropout rate would
da-mage Jesus’ movement. (Lk. 9:50ff, 14:25-35) His
conditions for disciple-ship do not contradict grace–undeserv-ed
merit. Salvation would be forever impossible except that God
offers it to us freely. How could anyone presume to buy what
it cost God his own Son to provide for us? God’s love is
uncondi-tional, but our acceptance by God is not. No one has to
receive God’s gift of salvation, but whoever does, must
accept its obligations with its privi-leges. It is like marriage.
Two people freely enter into the relationship, but both have
rightful expectations of each other.
So we aim to please God by our love-motivated obedience (Jn.
14:21, 23, Lk. 6:46). Paul defines evangelism as bringing people
"to the obedience of faith." We do not obey to gain
life, but because we have it. We do not focus on a legal code.
But in pleasing God we inadvertently fulfil his law (Rom. 1:5,
16:26). Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments as loving God
wholly and loving people as ourselves (Mk. 12:29-31). (This verse
has nothing to do with self-esteem, but with unself-ishness.)
To invite Jesus Christ is to put our lives under new
management (Rev. 3: 20, 21). To eat together depicts a shar-ed
life–confiding, seeking the other’s highest good,
sharing common goals.
Although people’s felt needs matter, a
God-centered approach begins with God as our Creator, to whom we owe all we are
and have, and whom we have offended and insulted by our active or passive rejection. He owes us nothing.
Yet he has provided salvation for us at great cost to himself.
He gives his Son. The Son gives his life. But many people have no
chance to hear the good news. Paul completes what is lacking in
the sufferings of Jesus Christ, by get-ting the word
out–spreading the good news, or else Jesus’ death would
have been in vain! (Col. 1:24) Paul cares about Jesus’
reputation in the world and for the salvation of people.
God-centered evangelism produces more disciples willing
to endure hard-ship, than converts who only care what they
can get out of God. Jesus’ clear command is for us to
make disciples.
2. Help seekers tune in to God
This is helpful because many seekers in this post-modern
period who dabble in cults and in the occult, look for spiritual
reality and fulfilment but they value experience over
beliefs. Here are four God-centered ways to bring them into
direct contact with God.
1. Turn the tables–remind seekers God has the
initiative. They think they do, so they postpone decision to
some day. But no one can come to the Lord unless they have a
chance to hear the good news (Rom. 10:17ff) and unless the Father
"draws them" (John 6: 44, 65). Rev. 3:20 says Jesus
stands at the door of each person’s life, gently knocking
and calling. But he may not always do so. "Now is the
day of salvation." (2 Cor. 6:2) God has no obligation to
save anyone. Let seekers begin to worry if God will receive them!
Two women students in Portugal told me, "We
invited Jesus in, but as we expected, nothing happened." I said, "Rev. 3:21
shows that the person you have ignored for many years is the King of Glory! He
never rejects a sincere
invitation that is without reservation. If he sees that you ean
this more than anything else in the world he will hear you."
(John 6:37) A few days later they knew he had come into their
lives.
2) Explain how seekers can recognize God’s overtures
to them. Luke 19:1-10 shows that Zacchaeus, the wealthy,
extortionist tax administrator in Jericho, had already repented
and was busy cleaning up his act, before Jesus arrives in
his city. When Jesus comes, Zacchaeus makes enormous effort just
to get a glimpse of him, not expecting more. But Jesus comes to
his house, and this seeker for Jesus learns that this
Shepherd-King had come to Jericho seeking him! All
seekers, when they are found, discover Jesus has been actively
seeking and calling them.
How does Jesus gently knock on the door and call to seekers?
When their thoughts turn to ultimate questions it is always
God’s prompting. He also gives good gifts, hoping they will
thank him and repent (Rom. 2:4, James 1:17). He allows suffering,
hoping they will call for his help (Psa. 119:67, 71). He sends
the good news via literature, TV, radio, even Internet! He sends
his people. Since he indwells his messengers, these are his own
personal visits to them–more important than visits from
angels. (2 Cor. 3) None of these messages are accidental, but are
special signs of God’s love!
Last week in southern California an auto mechanic named Mike
realized that. My car battery died on Saturday and my repair shop
was closed. I found another one–and Mike. We chatted. I
said, No, I had never been to Hawaii, but I lived overseas for 21
years. He asked what I did there and I said, "Missionary work." He made no
comment and I did not intend to reopen the conversation. But he came back full of questions. (He had needed
a bit of time.) When I left he said, "I know God let your
battery die today so you would come here to talk with
me."
Have seekers ask themselves about daily events, "What may
God be saying through this?" In Sao Paulo, a few days after
a Zacchaeus study, a Jewish atheist student came to say he had
an awed feeling as he played violin. Was it God? I said, "It
could be. He loves you and wants your attention." People
begin to suspect God speaking everywhere. Be-cause they are listening
for God, he speaks to them!
3) Get seekers to converse with God over the texts of the
Bible, to tune in to God through Bible reading. Encourage
even atheists to read Mark or Luke, a few paragraphs a day, and
to assume God is speaking through them. They must interact
honestly with him. They may say: "I want You to know I
cannot believe this verse. Why does this story make me
uncomfortable? This story is beautiful–but is it true? What
does this verse mean?"
God begins answering, often from the Bible–maybe a few
verses down. This can be startling! He answers through
circumstances, people or books. Invite the seekers to bring you
their questions on what they do not understand.
Becky Pippert adds a step. She asks seekers to try
to obey
every instruction as soon as they can. Obeying predisposes them to more light.
It is a good tactic–post-modern seekers are concerned about doing. An agnostic friend, whom Becky led to the
Lord in my apartment later called these exercises her former
"pagan Quiet Times!"
4) Show seekers how God answers prayer. This
fourth way to tune seekers in to God works best if they mention problems.
Ask if you may pray for them. Pray aloud briefly. Even skeptics
are touched. God may give an un-mistakeable answer. Tell seekers that God may
answer Yes or No or Wait awhile, but he always hears and cares. Seekers in this
post-modern period, and especially adherents of non-Christian religions often
show more interest in a demonstration of Jesus’ presence and power than in the
truth claims of Christianity. Prayer shows God in action.
You can pray briefly for friends as you give thanks before a
meal. I tell guests it is my custom and would they mind. Then I
say, "Thank you Jesus for this food and for my new friends,
Yusef and Sulema. Amen." Or "Help Gudrun prepare for
her anatomy exam." The guests are often visibly moved. I
pray also in restaurants if it will not embarrass my friends.
(Muslims pray in pub-lic on prayer rugs five times a day!)
You can pray for God to heal some-one’s cold or
headache, or reduce pain or give sleep. You will know that all healing is
ultimately from God. But the healing may occur in a way that convinces the seeker God has intervened. You do not
have to be a healer, nor use a healer’s methods.
Simply pray. But it would be counterproductive to ask God to give
instantaneous sight to a blind person. Pray what you can believe.
Use prayer wisely in your evangelism.
In addition to these four tactics, we must use Christian
materials.
3. Use information resources
Make sure each seeker has a modern language Bible, or N.T.
with Psalms. In a hostile country start with a tiny pock-et
gospel they can hide in a pocket or purse. Or a magazine format
gospel with pictures. An excellent N.T. in easy English is Good
News for Modern Man (TIV). Bilingual N.T.s–with English
opposite the local language– are popular even with
non-believers, as an English-learning aid.
My favorite book for seekers is John Stott’s
Basic
Christianity (125 pages), now in 50 languages, with
translations in progress in 22 more! Evangelistic Bible study
guides are available in quite a few languages. Look for
attractive evangelistic booklets for various kinds of seekers.
In other countries make sure the literature is culturally and
spiritually appropriate. If you cannot read the language, ask
someone you trust to evaluate the material you wish to give out.
Ask missionaries, or the leaders of the Christian campus
ministries in your new host country. Avoid tracts that look like
cheap pro-paganda. (See Bibliography.)
People more readily read a book if it is small and you lend
it. They know you will ask their opinion when they return it. You
can give it to them then.
Many tentmakers use videos. English teachers find that even
secular videos raise issues for evangelism. An English teacher in
China used Fiddler on the Roof. Christian videos are
available, too. The excellent Jesus Film (and video) is
dubbed into 394 languages, with 200 more in progress! In a North
African country, an enterprising Muslim discovered it could also
be lucrative. He made illegal copies and sold them all over the
city! He inadvertently did for the gospel what no tentmaker at
that time dared to risk!
Thousands of sermons are available on audio-cassettes in
English and in other languages. Gospel Recordings makes cassettes
in tribal languages, especially for the illiterate.
Young people learn English through popular
music cassettes. A tentmaker in a strict Muslim city could hardly believe his ears,
when the music blaring from the public square loudspeakers gave
way to "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me
so!" It could be played only because it was part of a
Whitney Houston album!
Discover when Christian radio and TV programs transmit in your
new host country, and encourage people to tune in. Then discuss
the content with them. TWR has announced that TV satellite transmissions have
now begun in the Middle East from the new Christian Sat-07! Ninety percent of
Middle Easterners have TV!
In sensitive countries tentmakers find seekers who have been
made thirsty for the Lord by Christian radio. Then they see the
gospel lived out by the tentmaker. So our Christian aerial
forces and our ground troops work together in this cosmic war for
human hearts.
The gospel is already being transmitted all over the world
through the Internet! Even backward cultures leap directly into
the 21st century, so learn how to make the best use of this new
resource.
Just as important as using media resources is involving your
Christian friends in your evangelism.
4. Use people resources
Introduce seekers to your Christian friends. Take them to
larger group activities. Note four of the benefits:
1) The larger group more fully demonstrates the gospel.
Francis Schaeffer said true Christian fellowship is our most
compelling evidence for the truth of the gospel, because everyone
longs for it and the devil cannot duplicate it. In John 13:34,
35, 17:18ff, Jesus prayed for unity and love among his
future disciples, because it would guarantee their survival, and
compel the belief of outsiders. An individual cannot demonstrate
Christian interrelationships. To see Christians love one another
(1 John), be patient and forgive one another (Col.3:9), help and
comfort one another (1 Thess. 4:18), or trust one another (Rom.
12:10)–you must have a minimum of two together!
Larger group contact is important, because post-modern seekers
yearn for community, because many come from dysfunctional
families, where there is little understanding and security. But
people from almost any background seek love and acceptance.
Take Marisa, in Barcelona. She finally agreed to come to a
meeting in my apartment so Ana Maria would quit bugging her. But
she was surprised that the GBU students seemed to love each other and seemed to
care about her–a stranger. She had to find out why. It was the love she sensed
that kept her coming to Bible studies until she understood the gospel and received Jesus
Christ. She became our first IFES staff worker in Spain.
Rodolfo, from Madrid, was amazed at the mutual
trust of Christian students. His first contact with them was a week-end camp on
a Spanish beach. He said he could hardly believe his eyes when they left their
books and clothes and even their handbags and wallets out in the open–unguarded!
A group can demonstrate Christ in a way individuals cannot.
2) The larger group exposes seekers to more Christians.
The
Lord ex-presses his character through our diverse personalities.
A seeker may ex-plain away one believer, but not a dozen! A
seeker may relate more comfortably to someone other than you. I
could not win my college friend, Lois, because I knew nothing
about Catholicism, but my ex-Catholic friend, Marie, won her
quickly.
In the larger group, Christian men can refer female seekers to
women members and take over the evangelism of the men–while
all remain friends. The spiritual and the emotional are easily confused. It can
be devastating if a seeker and a believer of the opposite sex have different
expectations for their friendship. Some seekers cannot sort out the spiritual
from the emotional in their decision. Christians should refrain from any romantic
involvement with a seeker or new convert, since seekers
should be free for a time to focus only on their relationship to
the Lord. (To use a romantic relationship to lure someone into
God’s kingdom is despicable, and usually backfires.)
3) The larger group may help you reap. If six Bible
study leaders bring eight non-believers each from their small
groups to hear an evangelistic speaker, expect good response.
This is not the typical meeting of mainly Christians with a
handful of merely curious, first-time visitors. Your audience
contains 48 prepared, partly evangelized seekers! It will be
easier for some to commit to Christ in a large meeting where
others are doing it, too.
4) The larger group helps you fish out new
seekers. In this case, advertise widely. It is like casting a net. Your audience
may include some who are indifferent, curious, hostile or intensely interested.
At the end of the meeting offer a printed copy or audiocassette of the lecture.
Have people leave name and address so Christians can take the items personally,
to gauge their interest, and maybe invite them to an IBS.
(You should charge a little. To give things free arouses
suspicion. Students in Latin America suspected subversive foreign
organizations to be behind high quality color handouts, so we
used poor campus quality paper and printing. )
Large group activities can take many forms. When Billy Graham
came to Sao Paulo, our ABUB student movement had him speak in a
rented auditorium on Peace with God–based on his book in Portuguese . Hans Burki lectured on topics like
Human
Dignity and Sexual Ethics and Samuel Escobar on Dialogue
between Jesus and Marx. Dr. Ross Douglas spoke on Bible
and Science. We did a book discussion on Bertrand
Russell’s Why I am Not a Christian, when it was hot
in campus bookstores. In Barcelona, Os Guinness led us in a
discussion of the Ingmar Bergman movie Seventh Seal. We
went to see Jesus Christ Superstar and discussed it. At
Christmas we listened to Handel’s Messiah and
explained the words.
We took seekers to concerts, fun nights, picnic outings, camps
and one-day social work projects in the slums, like getting sick
people to free clinics, and children registered in schools. Some
students started literacy pro-grams for campus hired help.
Today social work projects appeal to post-modern young people,
many of whom genuinely wish to do good–to help solve social
problems.
So larger group activities can give a fuller demonstration of
the gospel, ex-pose seekers to other Christians, fish out new
seekers, and facilitate decisions for Jesus Christ.
IV Encouraging commitment
How can you know a seeker is ready to invite the Lord? You can
damage a harvest if you reap too soon or too late.
1. Helping seekers to decision
A few people will invite the Lord the first time you
meet–if others have sowed and watered. When I told Dutch
folk dance star, Lientje, to think it over for a few days, she
said, "Oh, can’t I do it today?" Other people need
months.
Why do I not pressure people for a decision?
For a time I did, and my converts did not stick. I want to be sure the Holy Spirit
has them ready. But if I think someone has understood and is
delaying for wrong reasons, I stress that postponement can be
dangerous.
Seekers’ questions, comments and even body language show
when they are ready. GBU students, leading Bible studies on a beach in Spain,
were finishing a section in Romans. As I passed
by one group I saw first-time visitor Pilar lean forward, her
perplexed face suddenly brightening. The study ended and I asked,
"Pilar, did you understand what St. Paul said about
justification by faith?" She said, "Oh, yes!" I
had her explain it to me, and then asked, "Do you think
Jesus’ death provides this justification also for you?"
She said Yes, so I asked if she had thanked God for this. She
said, "No–I never heard about it until today–but I would like to thank
him." We prayed, and two hours later she was in a sidewalk cafe answering the questions of strangers!
You can also test readiness by asking key questions. Often
when I visit a campus a Christian introduces me to a friend from
his IBS group. I ask, "How are you enjoying the Bible
studies?" And then, "At this stage of things, what do
you think is the most important rea-son why Jesus
died?" My question allows for several correct answers–I
am not giving an exam.
If the student says, "Jesus died for my sins," I ask
if he has invited him into his life. If he says Yes, I ask for
details. We pray, thanking God, affirming his new life, and then
make sure the group welcomes and disciples him. It is damaging
to be left out because no one knows about the conversion.
But when I asked Karl about the crucifixion he said,
"Jesus died to give us an example of love." I agreed,
showing him where Peter says Jesus left us an example so we
should follow in his footsteps. (1 Pet. 2:18-25) But then we
concluded that the footsteps were so big no one could ever follow
them. I said I was glad Peter added v. 25–that Jesus also
died as our substitute, to pay for our sins. No other
passage com-bines these two ideas so well.
When seekers understand Jesus’ death I urge them to
invite him in. But if they are reluctant, I explain how they can
do it later. Catholics often feel insincere unless the
atmosphere is right and the moment deeply felt. I ask them to
tell me when they have made this commitment. I want to affirm
them.
If seekers are willing to make a decision, I explain a
promise like Rev. 3:20, 21 or 1 John 1:11, 12. I do not say a
prayer for them to repeat since I do not want to put words into
their mouths. The Lord will understand their hearts. But the
seeker may ask, "What shall I say?" Suggest the 3-part
response–what he believes, and his desire for forgiveness
and his invitation to the Lord. A sentence is enough. But a good
prayer would be:
Lord Jesus, I thank you for dying on the cross in my place to
pay for my sins. I am sorry for my rebellion against you and for
my sins. I invite you to come into my life to forgive and cleanse
me and be my Lord forever. Help me obey you. Amen.
When they have prayed aloud–usually a shorter
prayer–I pray, thanking God that he keeps his promises. I
ask him to receive and reassure the seeker.
Most often, new believers are filled with joy
and wonder. But not always. I do not tell seekers, "Now you are a Christian." A
decision is not a new birth–though they may coincide. Only God’s Spirit knows if
they have under-stood and are sincere. It is he who must give assurance. But I
repeat Jesus’ promises and remind them he keeps his
word regardless of our feelings.
Watch the people in your Bible study groups. When I see a new
glow on a participant’s face and a hunger for God’s
word, I suspect we have discipled one more seeker into the Kingdom. I ask a few questions to verify this and to affirm the
person. In Sao Paulo, after a John 3 study, Isabel prayed aloud
for the first time, "Oh, thank you, God, for showing me
today that I can be born again!" In Barcelona, medical
student Pablo mistakenly invited class-mate Juan, to a meeting on
how to help seekers take this crucial step. But at the end, Juan
prayed for the first time, saying, "Thank you, God, for
finally showing me how to receive you!"
Should you ask new converts at the same time to take a second
step and invite the Holy Spirit? Many Christians do this
regularly in conjunction with the Four Spiritual Laws. It
is very bad theology and confusing to the converts. When they
receive Jesus Christ they have received the Holy Spirit because
he is the Spirit of Jesus! If any do not have the Spirit, they
have not received Jesus. (Rom. 8:8, 9, 1 Jn. 5:11, 12)
In fact, genuine new converts are filled with the Holy
Spirit! He pours the love of God into their hearts! They often
feel great joy and peace and purity. After that, the Spirit will
never leave them, but he can be grieved. They must daily confess
their sins and be-come filled again. New believers need
instruction on the Christian life.
2. Caring for new believers
How can you know if a seeker has been really
born again? Good signs are peace and joy and a hunger for God’s Word. But Jesus
said initial peace and joy can be snatched away by the evil one or crowded out
by cares or pleasures. When this happens you
know the decision was based on an inadequate understanding
of the gospel (Mt. 13: 18-23). Jesus said the mind is
important in conversion. Spiritual birth, like physical birth,
is a process, which may begin with a decision, but may need
completing during follow-up.
1) Meet the convert regularly. De-sign a good plan of
prayer, counseling and Bible study. Give immediate first
aid–verses on assurance, with varied metaphors, like
John 3:16, 5:34, Rom. 10:9.10, Phil. 1:6, John 10:28, 1 John
3:1-3. Tell them sins may take away their joy but not their
salvation. Ex-plain how to receive daily forgiveness–1
John 1:9, Psalm 51, 32, 103.
Tell them God will speak to them mainly through their
Bible
reading, as it relates to their thoughts, prayers and
circumstances. (Psalm 1; 119:11, 24, 103-105; Acts 20:32; 1 Pet.
3:18; 2 Tim. 2:15.) Prayer is how they talk to God. (John
16:24, 15:7, James 1:6,7, 1 Pet. 5:7, 1 John 5:14, 15, Heb. 4:15,
16.) Pray with them. Help them start a small prayer notebook.
Their faith and love must be shown by their obedience
to the Lord (Lk. 6:46, John 14:21, 23) and by their witnessing
to others. (John 15, Mt. 10:32, 33, Col. 4:5,6, 1 Pet. 3:14-16.)
I like to give them a copy of Quiet Time to read, and
then take them through the study guide, Christ in You
(both IVP). Navigators who popularized the follow-up concept,
have a 13-week Bible study guide–Growing in Christ,
complete with perforated pages of memory verse cards.
New converts may not immediately look and act like Christians.
We should resist giving them a list of do’s and
dont's. Study passages that teach Christian conduct,
so their changes are inner-motivated and for right reasons.
2) Should converts tell friends and family?
They should tell a few Christian friends. But parents may interpret their
child’s words as judgmental. They can be hurt or offended by
the implication that in the most important area of life they
have failed their child. Too often a great wall builds between
the new believer and the parents, which makes it exceedingly
difficult ever to win them. Parents may even ridicule the new
Christian for any lapse in conduct. It is usually better to wait
a few days or weeks until the parents see a difference in
the son or daughter and ask about it. By then the new believer
will have a better idea how to lovingly answer. Rosa said to her
parents, "Thank you for bringing me up Catholic, or I might
never have loved God, and I would not have been open to this
wonderful new experience." Her gratitude freed her parents
to want to share her new life instead of feeling guilty and
judged.
3) Continue to nurture the new converts in a
Bible study group. Re-mind them that Heb. 10:23-25 says fellowship with
Bible-studying, praying believers is not optional. When they
are willing, invite them to church.
4) Baptism is an important public declaration of new
life. Apart from its deep meaning, the fact that it is a ritual
makes it attractive to many converts. But if parents object, it
is usually wise to honor them by waiting awhile. When Juan told
his mother he wanted to be baptized in an evangelical church, she
became physically ill, even though she had not been a practising
Catholic for some years. But his postponement of the baptism let
her know he loved her and gave her several months to under-stand
and appreciate his new life.
On the other hand, a dear, illiterate old woman in my church
Bible class in Spain said that when she went ahead with baptism,
her husband and grown sons mistreated her. But in the end it was
her costly obedience that brought them all to Jesus Christ.
5) Encourage converts to share their experience with
non-believing friends. They can invite them to the IBS. It is
ideal if new believers win and then disciple their own converts
exactly as they are being discipled. Spiritual parenting hastens
spiritual maturity–our goal for every convert (Col.1:28).
Of course, what you do will depend partly on the seeker’s
background, and this may vary greatly.
V. Noting kinds of seekers
Seekers are as different as their finger-prints! Millions of
immigrants with non-Christian religions present us at home with
many of the same challenges missionaries and tentmakers face
abroad. Expect superstition–maybe even some demonism.
Whoever you seek to evangelize will have a spiritual
history–some kind of religion or cult, or the absence of
them.
Remember that nothing–no religion– can ever satisfy
a person’s deepest need, except Jesus Christ!
We will consider only a few kinds of seekers you may fish out,
and there may be overlap among them. (See GO Papers and
bibliography.)
1. Nominal Protestants
One in three American adults claims to be born
again and read the Bible and share their faith, according to a Gallup poll. But
the terms are used loosely and even many cult adherents answer Yes. But a great
many who consider themselves Protestants, are Christians in name only. Many were
baptized as babies and sent to Sunday school, but dropped out in their teens. Or
they were from churches that do not preach the gospel. Some made childhood decisions, which are valid if reaffirmed as understanding grows.
But many adults who wandered away still count on their childhood
decision and the teaching of eternal security–that
"once saved is always saved." This reassuring doctrine
is in the Bible. But so is its opposite–that you can be
lost. Which is true? Charles Simeon, a godly professor in
Cambrige University in the 1800's, gave a satisfying answer. He
said the truth is not in either extreme, nor in the middle, but
in both extremes at once. Congregations usually have tares along with the wheat. (Mt.
13) All who live in obedience and fellowship can rejoice in
eternal salvation. All others must consider if they are just out
of fellow-ship (dangerous) or if their early experiences were
inadequate for salvation.
Other nominal Christians are the product of bad evangelism.
They made a decison to receive Jesus as Savior, but not Lord.
They had wrong information or wrong motivation. Some become
socially conditioned by the church, but have no life. They may
not be worried because they see others like themselves there.
They may be called "carnal" Christians. The Bible
recognizes their existence, but does not allow us this option.
"He who refuses Jesus as Sovereign may not have him as
Savior." Many church members are rightly con-fused about
their spiritual state.
Two daughters of a pastor in Sweden told me
they did not know if they were born again, and they wouldn’t dare ask their
father. The idea that a pastor’s daughter, baptized in infancy, might not be a
Christian would be scandalous. The sisters came separately, not revealing their
doubts even to each other. I said, "Why not tell the Lord you are uncertain
about the past, but today you invite him in for sure?" Both did, and found new
assurance and joy and began to help each
other.
Some find the Lord for the first time when they attempt to
rededicate their lives, or seek the fulness of the Holy Spirit.
Robert Munger’s My Heart, Christ’s Home (IVP)
can help.
Many nominal Christians who leave the church in their teens
return when they marry and have children. I recently heard a prosperous
businessman say that for several years he and his wife dropped their children
off at Sunday school. But one Sunday, when they went to get them the daughter
came to the car, but the little son did not. Finally, he arrived. His teacher had said
that any who were not sure they would go to heaven if they died,
should stay and talk. He said, "I wasn’t sure, so I had
to stay. But now I am absolutely sure." The father said,
"You can’t be sure–you’re only 9 years
old!" But he was so deeply convicted that he drove home
slowly, fearful to risk a fatal crash. On Monday, he knew exactly
where to get help. He would talk to his co-worker Bill–
whose life he had long admired. Because Bill had been tactfully
putting out bait, he could now introduce his colleague to Jesus
Christ.
But other nominal Christians remain hostile and are
exceedingly hard to win. Quite a few very anti-Christian writers
and philosophers grew up in church–like Herman Hesse,
Nietsche and John Paul Sartre.
2. Catholics and Orthodox
There are many Catholic and Orthodox factions, so learn what
each seeker believes. Not many know God because most were
forbidden to read the Bible, and few are encouraged to do so
today. Find out if the devout ones trust Jesus, or if their
devotion is to Mary or the Church. Some say they have always
loved Jesus. To question their claim can be damaging. If they are
moving toward God as their Bible knowledge increases, you may be
able to disciple them into the kingdom. In a Bible study group in
Spain, Mercedes said, "I told you I had God in my heart, but
I think I did not even know what that meant until we studied John
3."
Bible study groups are essential for drawing Catholic and
Orthodox seekers to God. In Bible study, many of us avoid
cross-references because they can confuse newcomers. But we must
use them with Catholic and Orthodox participants because their
priests claim that we make the Bible mean whatever we wish. We
must show how we let Bible passages interpret each other.
Many Evangelicals insist that the seekers must renounce the
Pope and Catholic beliefs about the Virgin Mary before they
invite Jesus into their lives. But it is better not to attack
their doctrines. You can win all the arguments and lose the
individuals. Do not take away their beliefs, but give truth and
more truth, and it will replace doctrinal error. But if they ask
what you think about one of their teachings, show them what
God’s Word says.
I had never argued with Roberto, a young Spanish policeman who
met God in my apartment. After a few days he came to ask what I
thought about praying to the Virgen Mary. But almost immediately
he said, "Of course, I do not need Mary – I have
Jesus." It reminded me of C.S. Lewis’s answer to a
Catholic couple he won: "If you do not have a lot of extra
time for praying, it is faster to go directly to the
Almighty."
When I lived in fascist Spain it was illegal to
proselytize–as
in many countries. That is, to get people to change religions (often with
material inducement). Good evangelism is not proselytizing. It was liberating for me not to aim at getting
Catholics out of their Church, but to help them find God, as
Catholics. Once they have his Spirit, he guides them whether and
when to leave. All but one eventually left. But most needed time.
Some attended both Catholic and Evangelical services and soon
felt more at home in the latter. Don’t rush them.
The initial testimony of new converts can be powerful in their
Catholic families, churches and social groups. Paul advised
converts not to make hasty changes in their situations (1 Cor.
7:17-24). God has established new beach-heads on enemy territory.
The convert should not short-circuit God’s plan for the
larger circle. (1 Cor. 7:17-24)
Christians in Spain told new convert Josue that his old
friends were not suit-able companions, his job was unethical
(advertising) and his recreation was worldly (skiing). His family
was distressed. Later he longed to win the old friends but found
himself cut off.
In Portugal, engineering student Cesar, found God and started
a Bible study in his Catholic church, using our study guides. The
parish priest was de-lighted to see so many young people! Then he
began listening in and stopped it. Cesar joined an evangelical
group.
Meanwhile, in this intermediate period,
continue to nurture the new converts in your group. Show them Heb. 10:23-25. Oddly,
Catholics interpret this passage to mean you must never leave the
Catholic Church. But show them it really says that fellowship
with other praying, witnessing Christians is not optional. We
need each other. (See GO Paper: Evangelizing Catholics and
Orthodox.)
3. Atheists and agnostics
Most secularists have given their dogmatic positions little
thought so we can evangelize them with confidence. A former
chaplain at Harvard, George Buttrick, said students would come
into his office and announce they no longer believed in God. He
would say, "Sit down and tell me what kind of a God you no
longer believe in." He then said he could not believe in
such caricatures either, and proceeded to tell them how God
really is.
Some secularists raise the God of the gaps argument,
that science is pushing God into a corner. As remaining miracles are explained
he will become obsolete. But informed Christians
know God is just as active in the phenomena that can be explained
as in those not yet understood. Jesus Christ who made everything
sustains everything! (Col. 1:15-17, John 1:1-4.)
Some explain away miracles, like the Hebrews crossing the Red
Sea. The parting of the waters was no big deal–there are
plausible explanations. True. But none explain why the waters
part-ed the moment Moses lifted his rod and rolled in again when
he put it down! (Ex. 14:21-29.) Many Bible miracles are in the timing,
not the mechanisms. It would seem strange indeed if God
never used forces he invented–as though he did not know
about them!
Here are three tactics to try.
1) Have them defend their position. Show the
devastating implications of their beliefs. If there is no
personal Creator, then people result from chance and have no
meaning, right and wrong become a matter of preference and this
world is an illusion. Becky Pippert relates that her biology
professor insisted human beings are just protoplasm. But then he
confided that his 13-year old daughter had run off with an older
man and would be forever scarred. Becky reminded him quietly that
according to his belief system protoplasm could not scar. He
said, "Touche. But I could never regard my daughter as mere protoplasm. I can’t push my beliefs that far."
2) Back them into a corner. Gently. If people say they
are atheists, I can hardly resist the urge to pounce! I talk
about something else and then say calmly, "It is hard
for me to believe that an open-minded, thinking person like you
could say there is no God–it seems a bit arrogant." I
respond to their surprise by saying, "To assert there is no
God, you would have to know every fact there is and ever will be.
Or else some fact out there could be God."
Then they always say, "I guess I am an agnostic." I
say, "Oh, that’s better." And I squelch another
urge to pounce. After a bit I say, "I think
"agnostic" is a word Huxley invented for someone who
believes it is impossible to know if there is a God nor not. Isn’t
that correct?" (Be sure to repeat Huxley’s definition.) Then I say to the now wary new agnostic, "This
is also a difficult position. To assert honestly that God
cannot be known, you would first have to make every effort to
find him–do Bible study, read books, interview Christians,
etc. Besides, there is a Catch 22. God says, ‘When
you seek me with your whole heart, you will find me.’
(Jer.29:13) But unless you make this risky search, you can only
say that you don’t know because you don’t
want to."
Backed into a corner, you can get some to start this search.
Martin, from Scotland (whose mother held seances in their home)
was studying in Spain. I finally got him to read Stott’s Basic
Christianity. That is, 40 pages. Then he held the book out to
me, saying, "Here. I am now convinced there is a God. Some
day I’ll read the rest." I said soft-ly, "Martin,
you coward!" So he read the rest. A few days later, Junior
Year Abroad student, Becky Manley (Pip-pert), who lived with me,
helped him make a commitment to Christ. (See her excellent books
in the bibliography.)
3) Take the shortcut to God–Jesus Christ! Jesus
tells us he is the way–the only way to the Father! (John 14:6) He is both God
and man, teaching and demonstrating
what God is like, how he would act in our situations. As seekers
accompany the man Jesus in the gospel narratives they
realize he could not have been just a good man. He claimed to
be God! So either he was a liar or a lunatic (both
highly implausible), or he was, and is, the Lord of the
universe!
Remember the three L-words–liar, lunatic or
Lord. There is a fourth L–for legend. Is the record true? Credible legends cannot form while eye-witnesses are still alive
(1 Cor. 15:3ff). But do not raise the issue of a fourth L
unless the seekers do. Assume they accept the gospel records. No
ancient literature has nearly so much attestation as the New
Testament! There are more than 5000 partial manuscripts and a few
complete ones! A few fragments date to the time of the apostles!
Also, Jesus was so far beyond human imagination that it would
take a Jesus Christ to in-vent a Jesus Christ!
But remember that secular atheism is not irreligious.
Secularism is a religion, complete with its set of beliefs, its
literature, and its resulting secular humanism. Some even have meetings and
their own hymns. Several of my college profs repeatedly argued against Christian beliefs. I know now that it
is a sure sign they are not comfortable in their professed
atheism. Those who really do not believe in God tend to be
indifferent to the subject.
Do not fear secular atheists or agnostics, nor their
post-modern counter-parts, who seek spirituality, but with-out
Jesus Christ.
4. Post-modern, New Age cults
God made human beings as religious creatures, and when they
reject him and his truth (to be free to sin), delusions rush in
to fill the vacuum. God gives them up to believe what is false.
(2 Thess. 2:9-12, Rom. 1:18-32). For example, the movie star and
New Age guru, Shirley MacClaine, grew up Southern Baptist. New
Age is an eclectic movement–a wide variety of cults lumped
under that term. Most of them promote Jesus, but falsely. They
say he lived, but was not uniquely God, but a spiritually evolved
human being, an example of spiritual advancement, a master or
guru or yogi or avatar–along with Buddha, Krishna or Lao Tze. Like the ancient Gnostics, they separate Christ from the
Jesus of history and refer to him as an impersonal Christ
Principle. They say we are all "manifestations of Christ
consciousness" and can tap into cosmic power, as he did.
They reject him as the supreme and final revelation of God. He
was only a son of God as anyone else can be. They exploit, but do
not worship him. If he died, it had nothing to do with human
need. They reject the idea of sin and an ethically perfect God.
They deny his resurrection and ascension or spiritualize it.
They also spiritualize his second coming–all the enlightened are God and part of the Second Coming. But Acts 1:11 says,
"This same Jesus who you see going into heaven will come
back in the same way as you see him go. . ." New Agers
believe in re-incarnation instead of final judgment.
Doug Groothuis says, "In the New Age, Jesus is understood
apart from biblical moorings and placed in an alien intellectual
and spiritual atmosphere. Jesus, the Christ-conscious Master, is hailed as our
prototype for spiritual discovery and power. He
is a Christ without a cross or physical resurrection, preaching
a gospel without repentance or forgiveness, before an audience
of equals who have no sin and are in no peril of perdition. Is
this the genuine Jesus, obscured by the church and orthodoxy?
" (Unmasking the New Age, p.10, IVP.)
New Agers make selective use of Bible proof texts, but do not
consider them better than extra-biblical sources. They refer to
Gnostic texts found in Egypt, to a Gospel of Thomas, a Gospel
of Peter, both banned by orthodox Christians long ago. They
refer to The Unknown Life of Jesus, a fiction writ-ten by
a Russian in 1894, about "the lost years of Jesus"
between the ages of 13 and 29. They identify Jesus with the
Essenes, but disregard what those ancient Jews taught. They claim that a
3-volume set called A Course in Miracles was
written by Jesus himself, even though it denies most of what he
taught in the N.T. They accept mes-sages supposedly from departed spirits
through channeling. John wrote to believers in his day,
in a similar atmosphere, "Do not believe every spirit, but
test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many
false prophets have gone out into the world. . . " (1 Jn.
4:1). He says that all are false prophets who reject the biblical
Jesus, as the unique, divine-human Son of God.
New Agers reject the Bible, even though there are at least
5,300 partial or complete Gospel manuscripts, several of them
dating to the time of the apostles! They reject 2000 years of
field testing–the testimonies of church fathers and many
ordinary Christians who knew and loved Jesus Christ.
But if you ask New Agers to validate their sources, they
cannot. Evidences do not exist.
But we can approach them on the basis of their felt needs.
William Dyrness, dean of Fuller Seminary’s School of
Theology, lists several of the main concerns of New Agers. They
seek spiritual reality, but value experience over beliefs and
distrust institutions and leaders. They stress personal
fulfilment yet yearn for community. They want to see goodness
done. They are apprehen-sive about the future. ("Can
Americans Still Hear the Good News?" in Christianity
Today, April 7, 1997, p. 33.)
We need not be afraid of New Agers. They distort the concept
of Jesus be-cause they are biblically illiterate. Many do not
know more about Jesus than a little girl who was asked the
meaning of Easter. After a pause, she said, "Every year on
Easter Jesus comes out of the grave, but if he sees his shadow,
he crawls back in again."
An investigative Bible study group is an ideal way to
evangelize New Agers. They do not need to believe the
Bible is true. But honesty requires that they at least examine
the Christian source books before rejecting them! The IBS is the
best way to introduce them to Jesus, allowing them to observe him
in action and hear him speak in the Gospels, and then listen to his early followers testify about him in their letters. Show how
he fulfilled at least 60 clear O.T. prophecies.
This association with Christians gives New Agers a chance to
see the reality of Christ in our lives, and to find it
themselves. In Jer. 29:13 God says: "You will find me
when you seek me with your whole heart." Knowing him
will allay their fear of the future. Their association with
Christians can give them a taste of genuine community. As to
their desire to see good done, most probably have little idea how
much individual Christians quietly do for others, and the
enormous social work evangelicals do in the U.S. and around the
world. (Our spiritually hostile press does not report these
things.) In our student work we sometimes included seekers from
our Bible study groups in our one-day social work projects.
But in the Bible studies let them note what Jesus says about
himself and his deity and about his Father. The impersonal New
Age deity–an amoral Force, a Principle or Vibration, appeals
to no one. But we all yearn to be accepted and loved by a
heavenly Father.
Note that Jesus did not view human beings as
deities needing to discover themselves, but as guilty, and spiritually dead.
What good news that we can be forgiven and made alive for all
eternity!
Jesus said he was the only way to the Father, the only truth,
the only life–Jn. 14:6. Peter said no other name under
heaven can give salvation. Acts 4:12. He said, "Come to me,
all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. .
." (Mt. 11:28).
Some Christians believe that in this post-modern age with its
dabbling in the occult, we should be using more power
encounter. What is power encounter?
It is demonstrating God’s power in action. It is dealing
directly with Satan and demons. His tactics are much more overt
in cultures where the gospel has barely penetrated, or where
demonic religions predominate, like the voodoo in Haiti and
Africa. It can be important to demonstrate that God can heal and
do greater miracles than the witch doctors or spirit mediums.
Where there are many Christians, Satan more often presents
himself as an angel of light, and his tactics are more subtle.
But today many Christians in the U.S. are fascinated with power
encounter be-cause large immigrant communities have brought their
pagan religions with them and because our neo-pagan New
Age groups are fascinated with super-natural experience.
Eph. 6:10 says we must be aware of the devil’s tactics.
He takes advantage of even seemingly innocent items to capture
people–like ouija boards, horoscopes, palm
reading–even fortune cookies. Of course, all dabbling in the
occult is forbidden by Scripture.
A friend became concerned when her family’s fun with a
ouija board turned sinister. Some neighbors could no longer make
decisions without consulting the board. So she walked in on one
session, and asked, "Is Jesus Christ the Son of God?"
The answer was an emphatic No– and a curse. They were all
terrified and threw the board into the trash.
But many Christians have developed an unhealthy preoccupation
with the demonic–another fad. To attribute everything to
Satan is to run the risk of practising the presence of Satan, as
we practise the presence of Christ. They even speak to Satan. If I sense his presence, I prefer to resist him by asking the Lord
to oppose him for me. (James 4:7-10)
Many Christians find it more interesting to
participate in a prayer walk, or a healing or exorcism meeting than to do basic
evangelism. I spoke to a pastor’s wife who considered all her new neighbors demon-possessed. Her attitude will make it
impossible to develop healthy friendships with them. Many
American Christians may never meet a possessed person in their
lifetime.
It is important to distinguish between ordinary
physical and mental illness and that which results from direct demonic
activity. The N.T. makes that distinction (Mt. 4:24). The victim
often knows if the problem is demonic. God heals and exorcises
evil spirits through some Christians. It may become a major part
of their ministry. I have a friend in Brazil who has seen
remarkable breakthroughs that have changed whole communities. If you become
convinced a person you are evangelizing is under
demonic control, seek the help of an experienced Christian. No
Christians should ever do this alone.
But we must not exaggerate the value of
healings, exorcisms and miracles for evangelism. Jesus and the apostles used
them to catch the initial attention of crowds in a new area, and maybe to
predispose some people to believe the gospel. But all who did not want to believe just explained away the super-natural!
The Jewish religious leaders had to acknowledge
Jesus’ power was super-natural, because he did things no Jewish leader
could do. But they did not want to attribute his power to God, so
they said he acted with the power of the devil! Mt. 12.
Even people he healed did not put their trust in him. He
healed 10 lepers, but only one sought a personal relation-ship
with him, while the others did not even stay to thank him.
Jesus’ story in Luke 16 is significant. The rich man and
the beggar, Lazarus, had both died, and were in separate parts of
Hades – the temporary place of the dead. The rich man begged
Jesus to send Lazarus to warn his five unbelieving brothers
about hell, because such a miracle would convince them. Jesus
says, "Even if some one goes to them from the dead, they
will not re-pent. . . . If they do not hear Moses and the
prophets [the Word of God], neither will they be convinced if
some one should rise from the dead."
The other problem is that all healings and miracles and even
resuscitations from the dead can be counterfeited by the devil
and his human accomplices. Healings have long occurred in places
like Lourdes in France, and Fatima in Portugal, etc. Voodoo and
other kinds of spiritism are all-pervasive in Brazil, and I have
seen massive, public healing services conducted by
spiritists–healing by satanic power. How many
non-evangelicals on TV talk shows, news-papers and magazines
today, claim to have died and returned to life! They describe
their out-of-body experiences. All this diminishes the
value of power encounter in evangelism.
But Dr. Francis Shaeffer said rightly that in our post-modern
day there are only two supernatural evidences that Satan cannot
counterfeit. The first is a Spirit-filled believer, because
God reveals his character in our uniquely different personalities
in the ordinary activities of everyday life. It takes more spiritual
power to live a consistently attractive, caring, holy life
than to do healings and miracles. This is evident from all the
televangelists who claim exceptional powers, but whose moral
lives are bankrupt.
The second is a spirit-filled community of believers.
Jesus
prayed just before his death that succeeding generations of believers would
demonstrate unity and harmony, and love for each other–because this would convince outsiders that the
Christian faith is genuine and that Jesus is the Son of God! (John
17:18-23.)
So we should know about power encounter, but
not allow it to distract us from basic evangelism. It is no substitute for
sharing the gospel.
Rick Love, U.S. director of Frontiers, learned how
valuable power encounter can be in Indonesia. But he says that truth
encounter and moral encounter are more important. What
matters is Christian character.
So winning seekers among New Agers need not be much different
from winning other people, except that the bait may vary a little
and some of their questions will be different. In fishing
evangelism you let their initial questions show you what they
feel and believe and what you need to tell them.
But we must consider one other factor. The influence of New
Age and post-modern relativism is seen in their strong social and
political agenda–the politically correct agenda they
have sought to impose by force, especially in educational
institutions.
They have caused a dramatic shift from the Judeo-Christian
absolute moral system that enabled Western Civilization to
flourish, to a new moral code that is rapidly eroding our
society’s ethical consensus and giving rise to our present culture
wars. These new ortho-doxies are epitomized by radical
feminism, aberrationism, extreme environmentalism (a religion),
statism and historical revisionism – the falsification of
history. They are pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, and pro-euthansia
and assisted suicide.
In our increasingly pluralistic society, intolerance is
considered the greatest of sins–that is, intolerance of their
views. They are highly intolerant of any other views, using
neo-fascist methods to impose their politically correct agenda
on both our public institutions and our private consciences. They
focus on schools, the government, the media and the business
world. They are openly anti-Christian, aggressively seeking to
eliminate from public view any expression of Christian belief.
In many ways we now have less religious freedom than many
countries in the world!
Many Christians who are strongly feminist or environmentalist,
actually advance New Age agendas, and hurt the Christian cause.
We must be sure that we hold a biblical feminism and
environmentalism, and that we promote them in a godly way that
makes clear that we disassociate ourselves from the post-modern
agenda.
This culture war is part of the cosmic war for
control of God’s world. Many public school teachers must work and witness in an
acrid environment, under New Age restrictions. In some schools they can be fired
for any Christian reference, even at Easter or Christmas. Opting out of
neo-pagan milieus is not the answer. Christians must infiltrate, participate in
discussions, get into leadership, and reclaim whole sectors for
Christ. Veteran missionary to India, Leslie Newbigin, says we
must not forget that missions is not only winning individuals to
Christ, and planting churches, but also engaging cultures!
But in this paper we must limit our-selves to winning the
individuals. We must fish out seekers among New Agers, as with
any other group, and lovingly let them know there is a cosmic war
on and they are on the wrong side, but there is still time to
unconditionally surrender to Jesus.
5. Other sects and cults
The two words mean essentially the same thing, but some people
refer to groups that distort Christian truth as sects, while
groups that have little or no connection with Christianity as
cults. The distinction is not rigid.
But how do you spot them? Detectives who go after
counterfeiters, do not study every kind of phony money, but they
memorize genuine bills, so that they can immediately spot a fake.
The wide range of truly evangelical traditions regard only the
Bible as their supreme authority, so all teach the same central
apostolic doctrines. But groups may vary on peripheral issues,
like mode of baptism, gifts of the Spirit, the end of history,
etc. But if any group puts its peripheral distinctives in the
center, in place of the core truths, it verges on being a sect.
Many Seventh Day Adventists are true evangelicals, even when
they worship on Saturday and hold some dietary rules. But those
who focus mainly on the writings of Mrs. White, Saturday as sabbath, and dietary rules– are over the edge.
Most charismatic groups are genuine-ly evangelical, even
though many other evangelicals do not fully share their views.
But those who make tongues the central experience or who claim
revelations contrary to the written Scriptures, are borderline.
But the prosperity gospel–the health and wealth
gospel, is a heresy, even though some of its
proponents – TV evangelists – almost certainly know the
Lord. Some sects are subtle because they still contain much
truth, but they tend to become more extreme. Their basic
assumptions (like their dualism) are not biblical, but were
deliberately taken from Christian science. These are some of the
same Gnostic heresies of ancient Greece. The TV preachers use
proof-texts–only those Bible verses favorable to their
beliefs – and take them out of context.
The best antidote is to get their followers into Bible study
groups.
Sects are borderline Christian groups, but
cults are completely outside of historical Christianity because the Bible
is not their only authority.
Christian Scientists view Mary Baker Eddy’s
Science and Health with a Key to the Scriptures on a par with the Bible. They
have about 2000 reading rooms in the U.S. and 1000 elsewhere, but no pastors. No
one preaches sermons. Each
group has two readers, who read aloud from the Bible and
from Eddy’s book, but are forbidden to comment. In this way
the founder has protected her teachings from being critiqued by
members.
They deny materiality. Sin, sickness and death
are illusions. People are co-existent with God. Jesus never died nor rose.
Angels are important in their beliefs. Think of their adherents as victims
deceived by Satan and a false teacher. True Christianity is materialistic, in a healthy sense, because our
Creator made a material universe and then pronounced it good! He
gives us all things richly to enjoy! He promises new bodies
forever and a transformed planet! Show them Jesus’ unique
deity. Use Hebrews to show Jesus and his followers are superior
to angels.
Jehovah’s Witnesses revised the Bible to back
up their teachings. They do not accept the Trinity. They say Jesus is God’s son,
only as his highest created being. As mere man he died to ransom people from
physical death. There is no soul apart from the body. To be saved one must
believe their ransom doctrine, receive their baptism, live a moral life
and do many hours a week of door-to-door proselytizing.
They proselytize in pairs–one a leader, the other a
learner. I engage them in conversation in hope of persuading the
novice. Even the veterans often cannot continue their memorized
spiel, if you interrupt. They call God Jehovah (instead
of Yahweh.) Show them John 12:39-41, where Jesus says he
was the eternal King that Isaiah saw in his vision. But in Isaiah
6:5 this prophet says the figure he saw on the throne was
Jehovah. So Jesus was claiming that he and Jehovah are one!
Mormons say that all Christendom was apostate
for centuries until 1830 when Joseph Smith, and then Brigham Young,
produced three new revelations. These books are co-equal
additions to the Bible. People are all pre-existing spirits. When
they are born as humans, they have a chance to become
gods by heeding Mormon teaching. So Mormons do not believe
in one God, but in a vast hierarchy of ex-human deities. It is a
polytheistic religion–idolatrous. Jesus is not uniquely
divine. He is higher than we are only because he had a head
start. The eternal state is an earthly millennium. Jesus will
return to rule from Jerusalem and from Independence, Missouri!
Most people will go to one of three eternal kingdoms, depending
on their level of divinity.
I lent one young Mormon a copy of The Mormon Papers
(Harry
L. Ropp, IVP, 1977), which tells us how to convert them.
I asked him to read it and tell me if it is a fair critique of
Mormonism. I heard later that he found God and left the cult.
To learn more about cults, including newer ones like the
Children
of God and Rev. Moon’s Universal Church, see
bibliography for A Guide to Cults and New Religions by
Enroth, and books on specific cults–some you can lend to
cult adepts.
Regardless of the group, it will contain hungry
seekers, so fish them out and get them into Bible study.
6. Non-Christian religions
You need some understanding of each seeker’s religion,
but it is more important to know how they under-stand their own
faith. They may not know as much about it as you do! Find common
ground. All religions contain truth. Praise what is good.
Criticize gently. Their basic assumptions may impede their
understanding of the gospel. That was true also of pagans in the
first century Roman empire. Paul disparaged the idols. But mainly
he spoke of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion and resurrection,
so that is the best course also for us in our neo-pagan world.
Terminology is a problem. Do not ask non-Christians to
become Christians. They consider all Westerners to be
Christians because they were born into Christendom. They think
you want them to accept American capitalism or the moral
decadence in our movies! For one Saudi, becoming a Christian
meant freedom finally to drink whiskey! Rather, talk about reading God’s book,
believing God’s word and becoming
God’s child.
Muslims focus on external observance detailed
performance of five duties. They must recite the Creed, say rote
prayers in Arabic five times daily as they face Mecca, fast in
the daytime during the month-long season of Ramadan – even
though they party all night. They must give alms to the
poor–but only one-fortieth of income. They must make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in a life-time. But the only way to be
sure of Paradise is to die in a jihad–a holy war!
(Hence, the suicide bombers.) The rituals impose no moral
obligation on the people. For us heresy is wrong doctrine;
for Muslims, it is small deviations in the rituals.
Islam rejects the Trinity–God, Mary and Jesus.
It is blasphemy to call God "Father." Allah has 99 attributes, but love is not
among them. Islam is fatalistic – whatever happens is Allah’s will. Muslims
accept Jesus as a great human prophet, but Mohammad supercedes
him as the Koran supercedes the Bible. But their high regard for
Jesus gives us excellent common ground.
Muslims have the same deep needs of all people. A tentmaker
told us of a great-grandmother in a hospital who asked, "Why
am I so afraid to die? Why are my people so afraid to die? It is
because we have dirty hearts–we cheat and lie and
steal." He said, "Let me tell you how Jesus cleaned up
my dirty heart."
A fourth of the world has no know-ledge of Jesus! On an Oregon
campus I met a young Chinese medical doctor, just arrived
from China, before it open-ed up to the world. She shared a
dormitory room to improve her English. Students had just given
her a Jesus Book. She pointed to the title and asked me,
"Please–what is this word? Who is this
person?"
I could not start with Jesus’ deity. So I said,
"This is a man who man lived 2000 years ago." I patiently explained his claims
and actions and how his followers became convinced, against their wills, that he
was God! She looked skeptical. I explained how the Jewish political and
religious establishment then crucified him and how Jesus’
followers tried to deal with their disillusionment. How could God
die? But three days later, there he was again–very much
alive!
She said, "I am a doctor–I cannot believe
this." I said, "That is exactly how his closest friends
felt." Then I explained how they became convinced that he
really had risen to life!
Perplexed, she asked, "If he really was God,
why would he let people kill him?" Now I had to begin over again at Genesis, to
explain the one and only Creator God, a tri-personal Being, who made the planet
and entrusted it to the creatures he had made in his image. But they were
tricked, and they betrayed
God’s world into the hands of his treacherous archenemy.
Death, already in the plant and animal world (fossils), now
entered the human pair. So all their descendants inherited death!
People were alienated from God, from other people, from their
environment and from them-selves. We are all damaged people in a
spoiled, enemy-occupied world.
I explained how God the Son became man, died to pay for our
sins and rose to life so our Righteous Judge could forgive us and
become our Father. Now he restores us to life, and gives us new
bodies to live forever on our remade planet. I told her how we
talk with the living Jesus and the Father, and how they answer.
With tears, she said, "It is beautiful–I wish I could
believe it." A few days later she did believe!
After our first conversation, I was surprised that her
Jewish
atheist room-mate, on a bed behind us, had been listening for a
couple of hours. She had brusquely refused a copy of the Jesus
Book, but now asked me for one. If I could have talked more
with her I might have shown her O.T. prophecies about the
Messiah, who would descend from David and be born in Bethlehem.
He would be more than man, would be crucified by his own people,
but would rise again. Daniel 9 says all this would happen just
before the destruction of Herod’s temple in 70AD. Who could
it be except Jesus? He fulfils 48 specific messianic prophecies!
The odds are highly unlikely that this could happen. I might have
told her about a Jewish professor in Israel who requires
his students to read the New Testament, because it is the best
historical source of information available about the Jews of that
day.
I heard quite different questions from two Hindu men
from India who were sitting next to me on an international
flight. I told them that most people in Christendom are not real
Christians–that no one can be born a Christian. They
expressed surprise because the only way to become a Hindu is to
be born one. Converts can never rise to a higher status than
Hindu outcasts.
They asked, "How then can anyone become a
Christian?" I told them what people must believe about Jesus and how they must
respond to him because he lives! They seemed touched when I said Jesus died for
Hindus, too, and loves them as much as he loves Westerners."
Hindus have no objection to adding Jesus and the Father to
their pantheon of 33 million gods! One Indian who did this was
hoping for forgiveness from Jesus. A Christian asked what he
would do if Jesus did not forgive him. He said it was no problem
because he would just find himself another god who would do so.
When Hindus decide for Jesus, we must verify if they have
"turned from their idols to the living God"–or no
new birth occurs. God does not share his glory with any other
deities. As Paul said, idols are nothing–but behind them
lurk demons.
Watch for Hindu seekers. During my brief ten days in India, I
looked up two IVCF students doing a short term in Delhi. John and
Ed had both been ill and were discouraged. I suggested they take
a day off and go with me to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. As we sat
down for the 2-hour train ride, an Indian man came to occupy the
fourth seat in our compartment–a university Hindi language
professor. He said the advantage of 33 million deities is that
you have so many from which to choose a few favorites! But it
became clear the professor was critical of his religion and soon
we were answering his questions in a Bible study.
In the evening, after an enjoyable and spiritually refreshing
day, as we settled into the same train seats–here came the
professor! We felt we should not push more religious
conversation. But he was full of questions!
He said he had often tried to read the Bible, but had trouble
understanding the Old English of the King James Version. (So he
had been a seeker for some time!) I bought him a Bible in modern
English and a New Testament in Hindi. After I left, John and Ed
continued to study with him. The professor has since written to
say he has found God and is evangelizing his family and students.
See bibliography for more on each religion.
When you evangelize and disciple people you set off ripples
that never end, as new converts win others and they win yet
others! Many Christians miss out on this joy because they do not
know how to fish. Many others do not even try to evangelize
because they misunderstand the three basics below.
VI. Getting started
1. WHO should fish? Many Christians, including
missionaries and tent-makers, think they are off the hook
be-cause they do not have the gift of evangelism. Our GO
application form asks, "How is God already using you
in evangelism?" A frequent answer is: "I am a good
discipler." It implies evangelism is not going well.
Witnessing has more to do with our essence than with
gifts. In Mt. 5 Jesus said we are light and salt–although
we can fail in these roles. In John 15 he says we are his
witnesses, like it or not. Once our names are linked to his,
we either ruin his reputation before our associates, or we exalt
him. He takes an enormous risk!
The New Testament contains few exhortations to
evangelize, but Jesus said, "Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will
also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before
men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." (Mt. 10:32,33. See
John Stott’s Our Guilty Silence.) Jesus promises to make us fishers of men if we let
him (Mk. 1:19) We need training, but we learn by doing.
Paul says God gave the church pastors and teachers to
equip
every member to make Jesus Christ known to outsiders (Eph. 4:10). Yet almost
every book on mobilizing lay Christians aims to get every member on a church committee.
Instead, a congregation with 300 members should have 300 ministers, all working
and witnessing in the lost world around them! A pyramid
style each-one-teach-one program lets experienced members
encourage and teach others in the workplace.
Lesslie Newbigin says missions is not only winning individuals
and planting churches, but engaging culture, challenging its
wrong assumptions and giving it truth. This must be done by lay
people. Jacques Ellul says the world is in desperate condition and the church
has the remedy, but it is silent. It is silent because it can speak to the world
only through its lay people. But few of them receive any encouragement or training from
the church, and the few who are effective witnesses in the
workplace find little recognition or affirmation from church
leaders.
Some people say the Great Commission was just for the
apostles. (Mt. 28:18-20) But look at Jesus’ final promise:
"And lo, I will be with you until the close of the
age!" That means us–2000 years later, when this age
of grace may be drawing to a close!
2. WHEN should we fish? Paul tells Timothy to
evangelize whether it is convenient or not. (2 Tim. 4:1, 2) Peter
and Paul insist on evangelism as a life-style, not an activity or
project. There are no ON and OFF switches, no vacations, no retirement. When I
first went to Peru, I made myself a daily schedule so I would use my time
wisely, but there were constant interruptions. Then I realized the interruptions
were my ministry! It was the people who mattered! I learned to
fit the rest of my life into the little spaces around the people.
Satan will use every device to keep us from
evangelizing–making us too busy or even tempting us to sin.
But we can foil his attacks. In Spain a cab driver mistook me for
a tourist and began a circuitous route. I angrily scolded him,
then remembered I had come to Spain to win people like him. But
how could I now witness to him? Immediately, I said to him,
"Forgive me. I have Jesus Christ in my life and he must be
dis- pleased with how I just expressed my anger." The driver
asked, "What do you mean–you have Jesus Christ in your
life?" My apology began a significant conversation the devil
almost ruined.
We must be alert for opportunities to witness. Jesus said,
"As you go–about your life and work–make
disciples."
3. WHERE should we fish? In this cosmic war for control
of the world, every believer is already assigned–to where he
or she already is. Your Jerusalem is your immediate
family, your extended family, your neighborhood, and your place
of work or study–be-cause of the hours you spend with many
of those people. (Acts 1:8).
God cares about where you serve and does not
leave it to chance. (See Packer’s Evangelism and the Sovereignty of
God, IVP.) You did not get where you are by accident. If you
could map your community–every house, business, factory and
school, and draw an X for every Christian, you would see God has
chosen his own evangelism teams that cut across national, racial,
denominational, generational, social and other affinity lines. He
chooses your team with members who complement each other.
Round up the Christians at work and form them into a team that
meets for prayer, Bible study, and mutual help in evangelizing
your workplace. Form another team in your neighbor-hood. Are
there believers in your club? Many Christians who do little
individually become fruitful in a team.
Thousands of little student teams meet regularly on secular
campuses. I have spoken to faculty groups that meet one noon a
week, to engineers in an aeronautical firm who bring lunches once
a week, and to nurses groups. Even Pizza Hut employees meet!
You are assigned to your present spheres of
influence until God moves you–to a new job in your homeland, or maybe to
Austria, Laos, Kazakhstan, Mali or China! An ocean full of fish awaits! But in
whatever location, God will always assign you to a pond or two at a time, where
you can fish out seekers. Your faithfulness, not your success, determines your next assignment! (Mt. 25:
23) Why promote someone who is not faithful where he?
Conclusion
We must evangelize prayerfully, tact-fully, honestly,
confidently, humbly, patiently and kindly–there is so much
at stake. "Evangelism is no hobby!" Whenever we speak
to people about God they are forever changed–drawn closer to
God and closer to eternal damnation. In each encounter we
signify life to some and death to others. (2 Cor. 2:4-17)
We should speak with joyful urgency and excitement. The gospel
is so extra-ordinary that if we talk in a mundane way, no one
will believe we believe it!
Yet we take our salvation for granted. How can
we keep alive its wonder? Maintain worship, fellowship and Bible study. Keep a
diary of answered prayers – things don’t "just
happen." Re-cords remind us how constantly God intervenes in
our lives.
View the gospel from the vantage of people who have never
understood it. I watch their eyes so I will not miss the moment
they grasp the truth! I try to imagine how a seeker will look and
act after finding the Lord. I recall Marisa’s hard little
face and how it softened soon after her conversion–how she
radiated the love of Christ!
Evangelism itself renews our awe and wonder, motivating and
enabling us to win yet others. I wish for you–a long life of
joyful fishing!
–Ruth E. Siemens
Note: Global Opportunities offers job search
assistance,
missions counseling and training ser-vices to help
missions-motivated Christians become tentmakers in needy
countries.
GO Papers by Ruth E. Siemens:
Why did Paul Make Tents? Biblical Basis Investigative Bible
Study Groups Inductive Bible Study Preparation
Evangelizing Catholics and Orthodox
Request a complete order list.
Bibliography: (* Good
for some seekers.)
J.N.D. Anderson, Christianity and Com- parative Religions.
Downers Grove: IVP, 1984, 126 pp.
J.N.D. Anderson, The Evidence for the Resurrection. *
Downers Grove: IVP, 1966. 28 pp. Convincing!
J.N.D. Anderson, The World’s Religions. Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972. 208 pp. Explains the major religions.
Mark Ashton, Absolute Truth? * Downers Grove: IVP, 31
pp. About relativism.
Gordon Bridger, The Man from Outside.*
London: IVP, 1969, 190 pp. Evangelistic studies in the Gospel
of John.
F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Docu- ments: Are they
Reliable? * Downers Grove: IVP, 1960, 118 pp.
Michael Cassidy, Christianity for the Open Minded.*
Downers Grove: IVP, 44 pp.
Kelly Clark, Quiet Times for Christian Growth. Downers
Grove: IVP, 48 pp. 40 studies for new converts.
R. D. Clements. God and the Gurus.Down- ners Grove:
IVP. 64 pp. Hare Krishnas and Transcendental Meditation.
Robert E. Coleman, Master Plan of Evan- gelism. Old
Tappan, NH: Fleming H. Re- vell, 1973, 126 pp. How Jesus trained
his disciples.
Charles W. Colson, Why I Believe in Christ.* Downers
Grove: IVP, 32 pp. Excellent!
Douglas Connelly, Deceived by the Light* Downers Grove:
IVPm 32 pp. Popular New Age ideas about death.
Robert Crossley, The Trinity.* Downers Grove: IVP,
1977, 43 pp.
Michael Green, Evangelism and the Early Church. Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970, 280 pp.
Doug Groothuis, Are all Relgions One?* Confronting the New
Age,* Revealing the New Age Jesus,* Unmasking the New Age.*
All are 32 pp. Downers Grove: IVP.
Charles E. Hummel, The Prosperity Gos- pel: Health and
Wealth and the Faith Movement. Downers Grove: IVP. 1991.
32pp. Dangerous heresy mixed with truth.
IVCF Staff, Christ in You.* 32 pp. First Mornings
with God.* 30 studies. 23 pp. Downers Grove: IVP. For
converts.
Daniel C.Juster, Jewishness and Jesus. Downers Grove:
IVP. 35 pp.
Cliffe Knechtle, Give Me an Answer. Downers Grove: IVP.
165 pp.
Ada Lum, How to Begin an Evangelistic Bible Study,
and Jesus
the Life Changer. 8 evangelistic studies in the Gospel of
John. Luke, 26 studies in 2 parts. Down- ers Grove: IVP.
Josh McDowell, Evidences that Demand a Verdict, More
Evidences that Demand a Verdict, and More than a
Carpenter.* Wheaton: Tyndale.
John Montgomery, History and Christian- ity.* Downers
Grove: IVP. 1965. 110 pp. Great historical evidences!
Robert Munger, My Heart–Christ’s Home. *
Downers Grove: IVP. 32 pp. For nom- inal Christians to deepen
commitment.
Navigators, Growing in Christ. Colorado Springs:
NavPress, 1984. 71 pp. A study guide for converts, with memory
cards.
J.I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God.
Downers Grove: IVP. 1961. 126 pp. Motivating!
Larry Peabody, Secular Work is Full-Time Service. Ft.
Washington: CLC, 142 pp.
Rebecca Manley Pippert, Out of the Salt- shaker and into
the World. Downers Grove: IVP, 1979. 188 pp. Great!
Rebecca Manley Pippert, Pizza Parlor Evangelism.
Downers Grove: IVP, 1976. 29 pp. Be natural and honest.
Rebecca Manley Pippert and Ruth E. Siemens, Evangelism, a
Way of Life: A Life-Guide Study. Downers Grove: IVP, 1985. 30
pp.
Harry L. Ropp, The Mormon Papers. Downer’s Grove:
IVP, 1977.
Leith Samuel, The Impossibility of Agnos- ticism.*
Downers
Grove: IVP, 30 pp.
Francis Schaeffer, The God Who is There. Downers Grove:
IVP. 191 pp. Philoso- phical questions in evangelism.
Bruce L. Shelly, Why Baptize? Downers Grove: IVP. 32
pp.
James Sire, Program for a New Man,* Downers Grove: IVP,
1973. 32 pp.
James Sire, Scripture Twisting. Down-
ers Grove: IVP. 180 pp. How cults mis- read Scripture.
James Sire, Universe Next Door. Downers Grove: IVP,
1976. 246 pp.
James Sire, Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All?
Downers
Grove: IVP. 220 pp.
John R. W. Stott, Basic Christianity,* Downers Grove:
IVP, 1971. 142 pp. I keep a supply. The last 2 chapters are
available also as booklets–Becoming a Christian,* 15
pp., and Being a Christian.* 29 pp, In 50+ languages.
John R. W. Stott, Our Guilty Silence. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans. 120 pp.
Ken Taylor, Can I Believe Christianity?* Downers Grove:
IVP. 32 pp.
Donald S. Tingle, Mormonism. 32 pp. Islam and
Christianity. 32 pp. Downers Grove: IVP.
Masumi Toyotome, Three Kinds of Love.* Downers Grove:
IVP. 17 pp. God’s in- spite- of kind of love.
(The IVP catalog lists many other titles. Build your own
mini-library!)
Copyright 1997 by Ruth E. Siemens
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