This morning we had a session on evangelism… what a way to start a day. I was a bit skeptical going into the session and as it turned out I had to bite my tongue quite a few times because I didn’t feel like my thoughts were well thought through enough to not sound rude. I understand that I don’t know the exact context that this man was coming from and I understand that he’s from a different generation than I am but I really didn’t agree with a lot of what he had to say.
He told us that he learned evangelism from a man who used the four spiritual laws. That immediately sent up some red flags in my mind. Also, he didn’t seem to imply that a technique like that was out dated. He talked a lot about talking to people on the street and “winning souls”, he kept mentioning how he wished we could go out into the highways and byways and try it ourselves. The whole group pushed back against a lot of what he was saying but it didn’t seem to slow him down any.
He told us story after story about how people brought others to the Lord through tracts and conversations… Sally May has saved eight million people that way. Anytime someone is keeping count of how many people they’ve “saved” is a huge problem. It’s reducing a person’s identity to another notch on a spiritual belt.
He didn’t say anything about mutuality and when I brought up the word it seemed like something foreign to him. Personally, I don’t see where people get the audacity to knock on someone’s door and tell them that they’re not living well. It takes a relationship, it takes trust… you can’t just get someone to say a sinner’s prayer and then walk away without the intent to disciple them.
2 comments:
laura laura... i know exactly where you're coming from. it's a weird feeling having somebody thrust the four spiritual laws at you when you don't want anything to do with them.
we connected with another mbmsi group in durban, who was there specifically for door-to-door stuff, and i almost went into hysterics learning about "how to evangelize." there were tears.
i'll be thinking of you, and praying that god shows you a way you can transcend the four laws and winning soul equation as you speak to people, and instead be relational with them. i'm sure you will. subvert the system! : )
Oh my gosh, that sounds incredibly frustrating. What is somewhat encouraging, though, is that it seems like our generation of Christians is really backlashing against the notch in the belt kind of soul-winning. I think we've heard enough altar calls to know that there is something more to the story of Jesus in our lives, and in how we invest in the lives of people around us and show them His love.
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