about . . . spiritual friendships and evangelism

It is an amazing honor to be participants with God in the promulgation of the Christian gospel. A large part of our call involves reaching out and sharing the love and grace of Jesus with others. Unfortunately, Christians have not always done a good job communicating the truth. Far too often, our brand of Christianity has been mean, condescending, hyper-critical, and pushy. Indeed, many believers have been guilty of trying to force-feed the truth (or their version of the "truth") to people. As a result, many non-Christians have (understandably!) gotten a wrong impression of God’s message for mankind. Sometimes, in fact, the church has assumed that the world’s criticism is merely a mark of rebellion and a sign that we (the faithful followers of Jesus?) are simply being persecuted for our faith. While it is surely the case that faithfulness to God can lead to opposition and misrepresentation, it is also true that at least some of the criticism leveled against the church is warranted.

This is why we should desire, without compromising God’s Word, to eliminate any of the unnecessary stumbling blocks to the gospel. In order to avoid error and increase our evangelistic effectiveness, the best thing we can do is to continually return to the Scriptures, asking God to speak afresh to our hearts and lives. To the degree that this occurs, our outreach will look less like a salesman’s approach and more like the wonderful, honest, authentic style that we find in Jesus and the early church.

If we want to be a blessing to others, it is imperative that we get to know them, rubbing shoulders with those who come into our lives, and treating them as fellow travelers along the way. Though this should be obvious, all too often the church has fostered a separatist approach that comes across as "holier than thou." Of course Christians are to be different, and Jesus is suppose to make a difference in our lives. And this can sometimes force us to make clear the distinctions. However, the main way in which we are different is not one of superficial matters like geography (where you go or don't go) or where we/they come down on various issues (though these things can matter). The real difference (among the similarities) is that we ought to embody love and grace, mercy and compassion, zeal and truth, and we should desire to share ourselves and God's love with people. In order to accomplish this, we must develop authentic (not forced or fake) spiritual friendships with those who have yet to experience the life-giving grace of Jesus.