Airline Evangelism

I’ve heard many speakers at evangelism seminars talk about wonderful conversations about God and the Bible with passengers in neighboring seats on long flights. However, check out this story for tips on what not to do while discussing the Bible on a plane.

Here is my list:
1. Never get so engrossed in discussion that you refuse to let the other person go to the bathroom.
2. Rampant Bible quoting is not only viewed as overwhelming or condemning, but may also get you kicked off the plane.
3. Try to avoid discussing volatile topics (e.g., the Antichrist and the end of the world) while 30,000 feet above the ground.
4. Do not take rejection personally.
5. Biting is never an appropriate measure in spiritual warfare.
6. If airport police get involved, seriously reconsider your evangelism method of choice.
7. Always fly Southwest.

Hospitality

Jesus was set up. This time it was in the house of a Pharisee named Simon. This religious leader invited Jesus to dine in his home, but he was only looking for a mistake, or an inconsistency, or anything that would allow him to rationalize his fear of Jesus and His teachings.

A “woman of the city” let herself in. Everyone knew she was a sinner. Perhaps her reputation preceded her. Maybe she just dressed the part. But, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she was a sinner.

Lovingly Evangelize

So far, my most popular post has been Simply Evangelize. This is encouraging to me because it seems like Christians are genuinely interested in spreading the gospel. I hope the practical suggestions have been helpful.

The ideas in that post were from a variety of experienced evangelists. But, I thought it would be good to hear from Scripture…straight from Scripture…about evangelism. Below is a series of passages presented in paragraph form. I have done my best to do two things: to keep true to the context and original intent of each passage; and to clearly portray God’s ideas for evangelism. If we get all of the practicalities and methods right, but miss the intent behind Biblical evangelism, then we miss the point altogether. Spend some time with these Scriptures, and feel free to comment with your own ideas and passages.

Thank You, Jack

Jack was the name C.S. Lewis preferred that his friends call him.  Here is a quote from Lewis that has become my favorite non-scripture quote.  I think it is appropriate as we consider the walls we build and maintain, and as we consider our job of evangelism in general.

More Persistent Walls

I better stand on my soapbox a little longer before someone starts beating me over the head with it.  I feel compelled to bring up another wall that is not recent, but has taken on a new look.  If you haven’t read my previous post about walls, then I recommend doing that first.

Sometimes we maintain walls that we think we have good reasons to maintain, when, in fact, we do not.  For instance, for many Christians the problem with illegal immigration is not so much that it is illegal, but that it is immigration.  Illegal immigration is used as a convenient avenue to express what really amounts to fear of the unknown.  We hear people talking in languages we do not understand, and we fear that they are talking about us.  Our fears are confirmed when they laugh, because we know they are laughing at us. (I hope my sarcasm is obvious.)

So, Christians make statements like, “All immigrants should have to learn English if they are going to come to our country.”  All the while, maybe they do not realize that the United States has no official language.  And, they make comments within the confines of a discussion about illegal immigration since “illegal” means we can take a moral stand on the issue. But this is not even the real problem.

Why the Walls?

Robert Frost wrote, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it and spills the upper boulders in the sun, and makes gaps even two can pass abreast.”  It wasn’t walls in general that Frost wrote about, but walls that seemed to put barriers where no barriers were needed.  After his neighbor recites the old adage, “Good fences make good neighbors,” Frost replies, “Why do they make good neighbors?  Isn’t it where there are cows?  But here there are no cows.  Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out, and to whom I was like to give offense.”

What are your walls?  Who or what are you walling in or out, and why? There could be any number of answers to this question.  And, if you thought about it long enough, you could probably divide walls up into the kind that you put up based on your convictions, the kind that remain simply because of tradition or culture, and the kind that you may not be able to express reasons for, but you still act accordingly.  There are walls that you put up, and there are walls that your parents left standing for you.  There are walls that protect, and walls that just divide.

Perhaps the most obvious walls are ethnic.

Church Politics

An awareness of the political scene brought on suddenly by the impending presidential election has got my gears turning.  As a preacher, and simply as a Christian, I am aware of the moral status of the United States (and the world in general).  I am aware of the fact that bills are entertained and passed that conflict with, or at least display a sort of active indifference towards, God’s laws.  I am aware that many “Christian,” “conservative” groups, including churches and church leaders, make it their aim to uphold God’s laws and subvert these bills by attempting to influence the voting public, or by attempting to influence the elected officials. 

However (bet you knew that was coming), I wonder if a lot of time and resources are spent trying to influence in the wrong ways.

Simply Evangelize

I want to refer you to an excellent article on Dwight Whitsett’s site about why we are not fulfilling the Great Commission. You can read it here.

I also want to make a few observations about how we can start fulfilling the Great Commission now. Before I do, I think some explanation is necessary. It may be that when you read these suggestions you might think that they are too simplistic. You might argue that the problem is more complicated than I am giving it credit for. You might focus on the fact that God expects us to go into all the world, and think that the suggestions I give can only scratch the surface of the problem. And, you might be right. But that is no reason for us to sit back and wait for the perfect plan to come along, all the while failing to do the simple things that make an eternal impact.

The point is, you don’t have to be an expert to evangelize. You don’t have to have the “gift of evangelism” to evangelize. There might be wonderful programs just waiting to be discovered, but there are also things you can do right now, every day, to help fulfill the Great Commission. There might be complicated strategies that address all the needs of all of the people while giving them every spiritual answer they want, but you have talents and abilities to address some of the needs of some of the people while giving them some of the spiritual answers they want…and all of the spiritual answers that they need.

I am simply encouraging you to simply evangelize in the simple activities of everyday life. Here’s what you can do:

Expectations

I’ve been listening to the newest cd of one of my favorite bands, Caedmon’s Call.  There is a song on the album called Expectations that has really struck me.  The song describes a young man’s struggle after “church” turns out to be different than what he thought.  With lines like, “And he heard that Jesus would fill him up.  Maybe something got lost in the language.  If this is full then why bother,” the young man’s thoughts are brought out as he recalls what attracted him to “Christianity” in the first place, and where all that has left him now.

The chorus is especially meaningful: “This was not the way it looked on the billboard: Smiling family beaming down on the interstate.”  Apparently the young man wanted to be part of a family, to belong somewhere, to be filled up by Christ, but “the reaching of the steeple felt like one more expensive ad for something cheap.”  The song ends in suspense, telling us that the young man “dressed up nice for the congregation scared somebody’s gonna find him out through the din and the clatter of the Hallelujahs, and stained-glass Jesus scenes.”

I suppose the point of the song is that we need to be careful to live up to the image we portray.  Or maybe it is that we need to make sure no one slips through the cracks, going unnoticed and untaught while we go about our “churchy” business.  But, I think the problem, generally speaking, is much deeper, and much worse.

Does the church you attend have this problem?