Second, a gospel that focuses only on fall and redemption also loses a sense of mission.Where is God leading the world? What happens after we get “saved”? All of these answers depend on what we think God is doing in the world now and where we think he’ll take it. Without this picture, Christians often don’t know what being with Jesus means for today. Our faith is often presented, unwittingly, as waiting to die to receive the faith’s benefits, instead of truly living an eternal kind of life today as well. Then Christians seem selfish, because they don’t care about the ills in the world, but just wait to escape it for their own piece of heaven. Again, this won’t sound like good news, but escapism. Thankfully, our Scriptures present a bigger story. It’s not a new story — if it’s new, then it’s probably heretical. It’s an old, old story. And if we lean more powerfully on the larger biblical story, then we’ll present something that will sound more like good news to people today.
JC: In reality, we are always doing evangelism.Whether or not we are actively talking about Jesus, if people know we are Christians, what we say or don’t say, do or don’t do, will inform their opinions about Jesus. If it doesn’t come from us, then they learn about Jesus through what Christians do in the media, and that often puts us in a bad light. Even our reticence to talk about spiritual matters with our friends — or evasiveness or lack of clarity when asked point-blank about what we believe — makes it seem as if we don’t have solid footing for our faith or we’re embarrassed about our faith. All of this speaks volumes about who we are and the Jesus others think we love and serve. So, the question is not whether evangelism is optional or essential, but whether we want to do evangelism well or poorly. Because we are always sharing our faith with someone, even when we don’t know it. Learn more at JamesChoung.net.
PRISM: In today’s postmodern culture, what are the most effective forms of evangelism?
Beyond Bumper Stickers
JC: This seems like a trick question, as if there were certain forms that work best in any given generation. There’s no tool — not even the Big Story! — that can overcome a script, some spin, or the sense of being someone’s project. Some aids can be helpful, but they are not silver bullets or magic wands that will automatically work every time. But if our genuine faith exudes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then there may be something in our lives that our friends might want. And if our church communities have concrete expressions of that kind of love and mercy, then inviting our friends to such things would be helpful. For example, the New England Region of InterVarsity hosts a Katrina Relief Trip each year. It asks college students to give up sunbathing in Cancun to pull out rotten floorboards and put up drywall for homes in New Orleans. All the while, they’re studying the Bible and learning more about God as well. Of the 200 or so that go every year, a third to a half are unbelievers.They love the sense of doing good in the world, and along the way they get a sense of a community that’s genuinely following Jesus in some of the hardest-hit places in our country. And they get interested in the God we love and serve. Things like the Big Story help when the time is right, but it’s always done in the context of relationships (even if they are brand-new ones) and where the Holy Spirit might be moving.
A CONVERSATION WITH DAN MERCHANT Dan Merchant thinks that America has become a bumper-sticker culture. “We’re way too comfortable with one-way communication,” says Merchant. “We like to tell people what we think, but we don’t like to listen.” To remedy this, Merchant hit the streets of Times Square decked out in a white coverall plastered with an array of worldview-distilling bumper stickers: God Spoke and Bang It Happened; God Wants Spiritual Fruits Not Religious Nuts; Overturn Roe v.Wade; Free Jesus; Real Men Pray; Get the Hell Out of My Way, I’m Late for Church; Who Would Jesus Bomb? You get the picture. Merchant’s suit — along with his open countenance and large microphone — drew out passersby and sparked countless conversations, all of which were filmed for his documentary, Lord, Save Us from Your Followers, and captured in his book of the same name (Thomas Nelson). Among the questions he asked were, “What is something Christians are known for?” and “What is something Jesus Christ is known for?” His search for honest dialogue was rewarded as people of all stripes shared
PRISM: Is evangelism optional or essential?
PRISM 2010
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