Field notes on our life in God after Christendom
Last week I wrote about how evangelism in the way of Jesus expresses both a high degree of connection with others as well as a high degree of distinction from those same people.
Because it was more of a paradigm-shifting post than a practical one, I received a couple questions asking about the practical implications of doing evangelism in the way of Jesus. How do we actually DO this stuff?
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On a coaching call the other day we were discussing evangelism. Almost everyone on the call confessed an uncomfortable relationship with evangelism over the years (including myself!).
It’s easy to see why. Evangelism has meant “hard sell” techniques and questionable bait-and-switch tactics. Evangelism has also meant just being loose acquaintances with people and hoping they’ll accidentally fall into the kingdom.
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The other day a friend of mine who is planting a church in New York City tweeted this: “The most aggressive, disturbing and overall frightening people I’ve encountered in Manhattan have been the street preachers.”
Most disciples of Jesus rightly don’t want to be associated with people like that, but I think that’s also a big reason many of us struggle to actually proclaim the good news. We can be kind and serve others and demonstrate the love of Christ in many ways, but many of us become tongue-tied and quiet when it comes to sharing the content of our faith, mostly out of fear of being associated with those people.
When we train leaders and begin to focus on evangelism, we always start with the practice of identifying “Persons of Peace.”
This is the strategy Jesus seems to lay out in Luke 9-10, when he sends his disciples out with his authority to do the same stuff he has been doing (you know, “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons…” Beginner stuff 😉 ).
A Person of Peace is simply someone that God has prepared ahead of time to hear the message of the gospel through you. We recognize Persons of Peace as those who welcome us, like to be with us, and attempt to serve us in some way.
Which is all fine and good in theory, but as we’ve been working with people on this, we’ve noticed what we think is a key element to recognizing a person of peace, without which we will remain blind to what God is doing around us.
Early on in my explorations of missional theology, I remember thinking that this stuff was so brilliant that all people really needed was permission to do it, and it would take off. I figured all this missional energy was just bottled up inside everyone and they were just waiting for someone to release them and bless them in it. I thought the reason people weren’t doing it was because they didn’t know they were allowed to.
You probably know what’s coming. Excitedly I began giving people permission to live missionally, explaining why it made sense, illustrating the possibilities. And people basically nodded in agreement. Some even got excited with me. But nothing changed (including me). Even people who wanted to couldn’t find their way into a way of life that was naturally joining God in the renewal of all things as a matter of course. A deeper problem was manifesting itself, one that I was just beginning to understand.
[Read more…] about No Mission Without the Gospel of the Kingdom
