Gospel Good News

Paradigm Shift:

A paradigm shift was, for a time, a popular phrase to encourage people to see something familiar from a very different perspective, hopefully to better see or understand a thing or to find a better, more effect way to do a thing, such as bringing the lost to Jesus.

Why are you a Christian? Why am I? What convinces us to believe in and trust God? What can I say to a person who is skeptical or perhaps has had no background in either Christianity or religion? What about those who have had a negative experience with Christians or the Church? What are the attitudes, behaviors, and/or ways of “sharing” that should be avoided?

I am not a fan of TV evangelists, professional or celebrity mass evangelists speaking to stadium-sized crowds, or preachers who present evangelistic sermons to Sunday morning church audiences. I neither criticize nor condemn them; they don't serve me, and I didn't call them to their works. I am not an advocate of gimmicks or so-called evangelistic tools like printed tracts or brochures or canned spiels to “sell” the gospel. Partly I feel these supposedly “effective” methods of outreach overrated, needlessly costly, and often alienating in themselves. More importantly they encourage ordinary Christians to believe that sharing Christ and the Gospel are beyond most of us, when in fact, we are the greatest evangelistic resource created by God!

a) The context of sharing Christ is love. It is not enough to think, “Of course I love them; that's why I'm doing evangelism!” Paul plainly tells us that anything done without love is worthless and useless, and that includes evangelism. If a person attempts to share the gospel in a manner that is rude, pushy, condescending, dismissive of present beliefs or associations, impatient, or simplistic, as if we don't have time or the interest to answer questions or explain thoroughly, then we will likely fail. We may alienate those we supposedly seek to win. If we think to “win points with God,” that won't happen either. Long before, perhaps, we even consider talking about our faith, we will probably need to demonstrate our interest, kindness, willingness to help, a genuine desire to get to know them and their heritage, before we think to attempt to change what they believe or don't. Our task isn't to change them; it is to invite them into the family of our loving heavenly father. How does a professional evangelist convince a crowd or TV audience that he truly loves them? How well does an anonymously distributed tract bring authentic human love to someone who reads it? If our love is genuine, then those we love must recognize that love and have the chance to appreciate being loved by you as a taste of God's love.

b) We must learn to engage in “pre-evangelism.” Many have grown or are growing up in non-spiritual, non-Christian, highly secular households. Others may have come from entirely different cultures and religious backgrounds. Either group may have totally erroneous notions of what it means to be a Christian, some unfortunately fostered by certain groups and individuals, not just anti-Christian antagonists but also misguided, secularized, or carnal Christians (that is, Christians living immorally or materialistically . People will likely be unfamiliar with “church jargon,” commonly used terms that even the users may not truly understand. We need to be prepared to admit we don't know the answer to a valid question and then do some research or chat with a pastor to find a complete and thoughtful answer. We need to be careful of our own ignorance about other faiths and cultures and interact humbly, especially with those we do not know well.

c) Arguing is not a useful tool for outreach. Debate may be helpful in a formal setting, but less so in a personal conversation. A process of Q&A is generally preferable as a way to learn what another person believes, what their concerns and needs may be, what interests them, and what they care about, while being accessible to answer humbly questions they may have about us and our beliefs. We would want to discover and correct their misconceptions, fears, and doubts. Our goal is to intrigue and entice them, not pressure or threaten. Avoid hot button issues, as much as possible, what Bob Briner called “Deadly Detours”. If we must address such an issue, especially one we feel passionately about, be honest but humble and gentle. Often, misguided believers become angry, critical, accusatory, and dismissive; their tone alienates others and is not an effective way to change people's minds, but it is an excellent way to drive people away. A friend told me about visiting a dorm room where a campus group had visited and mostly criticized the students for drinking alcohol in their room; needless to say, they had no positive impact and were not invited to return. What a shame! Did they mean well, or were they just focused on condemning their sin. Most of all, what we should really want is for them to see our loving acceptance, unconditional love, and genuine comp assion and learn that our love is a pale reflection of Jesus' love and compassion.

d) Pray, not as a step in a process, except as a process of becoming an intercessor: “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people”. Pray for their welfare in the broadest sense; pray for their needs, known as you become aware of them, and unknown that God knows even if you don't. Of course, pray for their minds and hearts to become open to the true and the living God, to Jesus who gave his life for them, and to the Holy Spirit's ministry and prayers, “the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” 

Pray also for yourself to love, be kind, accepting, and willing to listen and get to know the people around you, even those you may think you already know. Seek wisdom to recognize basic misunderstandings of our relationship with God and other believers so we may clarify. Ask the Lord to help you not to argue, especially if you are prone to do so. Pray to be clear yourself about God's plan for doing good, that you never forget it is the outworking of love and obedience (but not a part of saving yourself). Seek God's perspective on sharing the gospel as a basic part of your daily Christian walk and for help in remembering your own first steps of faith. Pray to be sensitive to the right time to seek to introduce a person to Jesus.

e) Be available when the time is right, a need becomes evident, and the Lord says now! Can God make a way to reach out to a perfect stranger? I'm sure he can, but that's the rarity. We...you are called to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Our efforts and prayers to that end prepare the soil to plant the seed, when planting season comes. In other words, your interest, acceptance, kindness, helping service, and humility establish you credibility and trustworthiness so when a need reveals a ready mind and heart, you may share how the Lord met your need and can meet their need. A part of the time of preparation is learning to see a need that will likely be differently perceived that your own was. People are almost infinitely different, so while your need may have been the inconsolable grief in the loss of a dear loved one, your friend's need may be anxiety or near panic in the face of the Coronavirus or, alternately, an almost entirely intellectual doubt regarding the meaning of life matched with a deep hunger for real meaning. The “time of preparation” is a time for you to get to know and care enough to be able to recognize what aspect of God's deliverance might be the most attractive and compelling to your friend.

f) The gospel is not religion and does not require good works for salvation or to maintain salvation. Webster defines religion as, “the service and worship of God or the supernatural,” “a commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance,” “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.”  Notice all of these focus on the religious person's actions. Our task is not to reform people's lifestyle or behavior. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so different as to suggest that it is not religion in this common usage. One passage makes this perfectly clear: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” No rites or rituals, charitable works, or acts of kindness or love pay for our redemption; only the work of Jesus dying in excruciating pain on a cruel cross made our salvation possible, and only God's love, grace, and mercy make it so. What we could not earn by paying, we cannot keep by our own effort. Even our often tiny faith didn't do it. God did it as a free gift, operating through our meager trust in him, our awesome God. We must never lose sight of this.

g) Never forget who you are? You are a sinner saved by grace, not a nice person, not a perfect specimen of a holier-than-thou saint (You are a saint made holy by the work of Jesus, not your own awesomeness). Your humility based on never forgetting your own failures and gratefully remembering God's rescue is what your imperfect friend needs to see. Remember that the Apostle Paul referred to himself as the “chief of sinners.”  We must never forget that we are no better. John tries to help us: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us.”  This is not an evangelistic text but rather a spiritual maintenance and growth text. John writes to the fellowship of believers to encourage them to walk in the light and confess their sins for cleansing and purity. Being hypocrites, especially with believers, won't impress them; it will merely make them feel unworthy or, more likely, make them lose respect for you and what you claim.

h) Use what you know, what led you to trust Christ as your savior. You aren't trying to be slick salesperson. You don't need to memorize a spiel. Are there some who are especially gifted for sharing the gospel? Perhaps. What about evangelism programs or classes? Some may find them helpful, but I fear many just end up feeling like square pegs in round holes. Just remember that ultimately, outreach is a natural reproductive process. Mature believers bring baby believers into the family. It is an adoptive process where loving parents bring lost children home to their father. However, be careful to remember that, just as in the physical world children are not identical to their parents, in the spiritual those we seek to reach cannot be pressed into your mold. Use what you've learned, what you've experienced, what you know, but watch our for disinterest or a reaction that indicates your friend is his or her own person. Avoid being like the pastor with an internship program where all his trainees ended up looking and sounding like him. God has made and gifted us to be individuals, and we should never attempt to work against his design and plan.

i) Get help if/when you need it. Pastor, Internet, books, or even a Christian friend can help you answer questions that you cannot, on you own. The Internet is great in offering direct Bible exploration; just do a search (I like www.DuckDuckGo.com, which avoids anti-Christian bias), or a good Bible website like https://www.biblegateway.com/, where you may look up texts, keywords, or topics. Among other things, the Church, the family of God, our brothers and sisters, and you and I are meant not to work alone; we are a team. Besides getting ideas and information we need, we are to be praying for each other, the people we are involved with, and the challenges we and others are facing. Evangelism isn't a competition to see who can win the most points, but a shared effort to love serve God and his people, present and future. Avoid anything that tries to force sameness or similar activities. Just keep in mind that, while God made everyone of us in his own image, he nevertheless made each of us unique; called us to be Christ-like spiritually with regard to love, godly character, and holiness. I have always liked the idea of “attitude of gratitude” to offset worry and lust; I think I may like an “outlook to outreach” to remind each of us not to dismiss our duty to the lost as someone else's job.