Tag: Evangelism
7 Ways to Live Missionally in Everyday Life
by Ryan Benhase on Jul.16, 2009, under Christian Life, Living with Intention, Mission, Relational Evangelism
I know plenty of Christians who would like to become better “evangelists” but feel ill-equipped or incapable of sharing their faith with others. Some of these Christians have isolated themselves from the outside world; they live in a Christian “bubble,” so to speak, and have very few (if any) non-Christian contacts. Others have plenty of non-Christians in their lives but don’t know how to start conversations that allow them to preach the gospel. However, while the isolated Christian may be in a more extreme situation than the one who just doesn’t know how to bring up Jesus in conversation, I think both cases stem from a problem which is relational in nature.
What I mean by this is simple: both Christians who are sheltered from nonbelievers and Christians who simply don’t know what to say to the nonbelievers in their life lack sufficient relationships to effectively lead people to Christ. In the first case, this is obvious. In the second, it is less obvious but, in my mind, accurate; if you don’t know how to turn normal conversation into an opportunity to share your faith with a particular person, you probably don’t know that person very well. I’m not saying you should wait until you could write a biography of that person before you begin evangelizing. However, it is most helpful to build relational capital (which translates into credibility) with your non-Christian friends and get to know them in a way which allows you to effectively critique their personal idols and contextualize the gospel message in a way that they’re more likely to understand and marvel at.
I have found that gospel conversations happen rather naturally with people as I get to know them as close friends. On the other hand, I know plenty of non-Christians with whom I’m a little uncomfortable when it comes to talking about my faith; I’m not sure how to approach the situation or go about evangelizing those acquaintances of whom I know little. This doesn’t mean I avoid tough conversations, but it does mean that I would do well to get to know these people and form deeper, more meaningful relationships with them. But how? What are some practical ways I can get to know the nonbelievers in my life?
First, building meaningful relationships with nonbelievers requires quite a bit of time. A cup of coffee (or, if you’re like me, beer) every month or so usually won’t cut it. If I am truly trying to get to know someone and build relational capital with them, I want to come as close to living everyday life with them as possible. This may mean sacrificing my time, energy, and even money at times, but unless I’m willing to give a person a ride to work (even if I’d rather be at home watching movies) or feed them a meal (even if it means making an extra run to the grocery)—unless I’m willing to inconvenience myself for the sake of others—it is quite difficult to expect to have any significant impact in their lives.
With that being said, starting the process of building relationships with non-Christians isn’t as tricky as one might think. It requires a great deal of intentionality, but it doesn’t mean quitting your job and leaving the church just so you can spend time with nonbelievers. Instead, we should try to live missionally in everyday life; as we go about our normal, often mundane routines, we should always be thinking about the spread of the gospel. There are many practical things Christians can do to structure their lives in order to become more missional; with most of us, a few minor tweaks could make a world of difference. Therefore, without further ado, I’ve come up with a list of simple ways Christians can “tweak” their everyday lives to be more missional and build meaningful relationships with the non-Christians around them. If each of us did just one or two of these things, I think we’d be in much better shape when it comes to evangelism and mission.
Seven Ways to Live Missionally in Everyday Life
- Find a coffee shop close to your home (preferably within walking distance, if possible) and frequent it on a regular basis (at least weekly, if not daily or almost every day). Get to know the staff and other regular customers; sit down with your coffee and read the paper there rather than getting it “to go” if at all possible.
… - Join a club of some sort. It could be a gym, a parenting group, or an art class. Find something you love and you’ll meet plenty of non-Christians who share some of the same passions. Shared affinities go a long way in developing relationships.
… - When you have to run errands, invite people along. You’d be surprised what people are willing to do when they’re bored! Try shopping with a non-Christian friend as you get to know him/her; it may even turn into a regular event. Or, if you’re having a cleaning day at your home, ask a friend if they’d like to come over to help. You can have quality time with other people even if you don’t see room for it in your schedule!
… - Eat regularly at a certain restaurant or restaurants in your area; be consistent and do your best to go on the same night at about the same time if you can, trying to get the same server each time (and tip well, for God’s sake!).
… - Get outside; go to parks, go on walks, or spend time in the yard. If you live in the city, try to walk to nearby places as much as possible. You’ll be amazed at how quickly faces become familiar. People who are outdoors are often very sociable and friendly.
… - Attend neighborhood events and block parties whenever possible, even if you don’t know anyone else who’s going. If there aren’t any in your area, consider starting one.
… - Have your neighbors over for dinner. Sure, it will be awkward at first if you don’t know them very well, but it can be a great way to open the door to otherwise hard-to-reach people. There are plenty of folks you may not see out and about but could become good friends once you break the ice and get them to come out of their shell. Inviting people into your home and showing them hospitality is a great demonstration of the gospel, as well.
For introverts like me, getting to know strangers isn’t always easy, and I know that many of us have complicated lives with families and rigid schedules that only add to our difficulty. However, if we live with intention, to the extent which our lives allow, I think much hardship can be averted. I fear that sometimes we’re so obsessed with figuring out how we can turn a conversation into an opportunity to preach that we often forget the importance of meaningful relationships and neglect to invest in building them. However, if we were only better at making friends, perhaps we wouldn’t have to worry so much about coming up with sneaky transitions into evangelism. We need to lay off the bait and switch, knock it off with the marketing, and stop making excuses for our laziness when it comes to programming mission into our daily lives. I, foremost of all, have fallen far short in this respect and can do nothing but pray for the Lord to change my heart and resolve to commit myself more fully to the mission of God, only by his wondrous grace.
Churches and culture: understanding postmodernity and evaluating our methods
by Ryan Benhase on Dec.17, 2008, under Church, Church Planting, Culture, Postmodern Evangelism, Postmodernism, Seeker-Sensitivity
Many Christians jump to conclusions in regard to postmodernism; the word most commonly associated with it, in my experience, is “relativism.” However, this is a faulty understanding of postmodernism, and it has contributed to an ineffective strategy for engaging postmodern culture.
Culturally speaking, most churches follow one of two paths; either they do their best to cause conflict and boldly denounce postmodernism, or they simply blend in with what they believe is the norm for postmodernity. However, both of these approaches are flawed, as they fail to take into account what postmodernism actually is. No, it’s not relativism. It’s a different way of processing knowledge. Modernism has been interested in ontology, which postmodernism is much more interested in epistemology. Postmodernism does not deny the existence of absolute truth, but greets with skepticism any system of knowledge claiming access to such absolute truth. It is perhaps this skepticism or, as Jean François Lyotard famously put it, “incredulity toward metanarratives,” which fuels the popular misconception that postmodernism embraces relativism or rejects absolute truth.
With that being said, it is not as though postmodernism should be uncritically welcomed. In many respects, postmodernism is to relativism what agnosticism is to atheism; it does not entail a disbelief in absolute truth, but a general wariness of claims to absolute truth. Either way, it rejects the Gospel as a grand narrative. However, making the careful distinction between postmodernism and relativism is helpful in the way we go about evangelizing our culture.
Three-Dimensional Evangelism for the Postmodern World
by Ryan Benhase on Oct.11, 2008, under Postmodern Evangelism, Relational Evangelism
Let’s begin by evaluating the following (in)famous quote:
“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
- St. Francis of Assisi
Francis’ point was that our lifestyle and behavior should, in a sense, preach the Gospel. To this, I can say Amen; to put his argument in more modern terms, “you gotta practice what you preach.” However, even the slightest suggestion that words are not always necessary in preaching the Gospel should be cautioned against. Many people have taken Francis’ quotation and used it to justify a life devoid of verbal preaching; in their minds, good works somehow supplant verbal preaching and, because of this, good works become all that is necessary for evangelism. I’ve been over this quote many times. Yes, your life must embody the Gospel; however, you cannot avoid using words in preaching it. You don’t want to fall too far on either one end of the “Assisi spectrum.” Faithfulness to God requires preaching the Gospel in both word and deed.
However, in our postmodern culture, is this all evangelism takes? Surely a godly, upright man who decides to stand on the street corner and preach to passers-by is being faithful to God’s calling; he preaches the Gospel in both word (on the streetcorner) and in deed (in his holy lifestyle). But is this man being effective?
Of course, the Holy Spirit can use anything to bring about the will of God. However, I believe it is a matter of Christian responsibility to understand culture and pursue an effective means of evangelism. If we truly care about the lost, we will do our best to not only “win them over” and baptize them, but to do so in a way which disciples them and helps them continue to grow spiritually after their conversion. The man on the streetcorner, while perhaps completely faithful to God’s call, is probably not being as effective as he could be.
One of the problems with pragmatism, however, is that it can be easily absued. Faithfulness must always trump pragmatics. For example, the Crusades were a very effective way of converting people to Christianity—at least if you’re looking for notches in your belt—but were, at the same time, horrendously wicked and unfaithful to God. Let me be very clear, then, that faithfulness is what matters in God’s eyes.
At the same time, though, faithfulness to God should drive us to a certain level of pragmatic thinking. If we’re truly interested in advancing the Kingdom of Heaven, shouldn’t we want to become more effective in our evangelism? In this way, pragmatics can become an issue of faithfulness, as oftentimes they are neglected in favor of an easier way; if the man on the streetcorner is preaching in such a way to avoid investing his time and energy in other, more effective forms of evangelism, he is being unfaithful to the Gospel.
Therefore, with this, I suggest a third dimension to the “Assisi spectrum.” It is not necessarily an explicitcommand of Scripture, but I do believe it is visible in and wholly compatible with Scripture. Furthermore, I think our present postmodern climate calls for it. The “Assisi spectrum” included words and deeds. The third dimension we should consider is relationships.
Of course, I could talk about how Jesus didn’t just preach but called disciples, ate with people, travelled with people, and so on, but I assume most of my readers have an understanding of that. Thus, I’m going to talk about why relational evangelism is essential in the postmodern world; the problem of words without deeds (hypocrisy) or deeds without words (cowardice) is obvious; but what about when both of these lack relationships?
Words without Relationships
In today’s world, people think in such a way that there seem to be many ways to achieving truth. Therefore, “God” can mean a lot of different things; so can sin, grace, sacrifice, salvation, and the like. When we speak in these terms to Christians, we may have a common understanding of what it is we’re talking about. But to others, even these basic terms can very easily be misunderstood (not to mention the more complex terminology we tend to slip in, like “propitiation,” “total depravity,” and “parousia. “). Therefore, relationships provide the necessary means to define our terms; there’s much more time for question-and-answer, and confusion can more easily be ironed out.
Also, by having a relationship with those to whom we preach, we can use discernment as to how to preach. What idols can we tackle? Should we be gentle or more bold? What experiences has this person had which may influence their understanding of the Gospel? How much do they know about Jesus? What in their heart leads them to refuse the Gospel? Sun Tzu said “know thy enemy,” so that warriors would know how to strategically go about fighting. If we’re trying to conquer a heart for Jesus, we should consider the forces we’re up against.
Deeds without Relationships
I was once a part of a church that liked to hand out bottles of water and other random goodies to people who drove by after the service. It was a good deed, I suppose, but I always got the feeling that people were either creeped-out or annoyed by what we were doing. It’s not normal for a stranger to come up to your car and give you something. Who wouldn’t be at least a little hesitant to take what they give you? Furthermore, some people either don’t want to be bothered or see Christians as goofy.
Also, sometimes our good works and holiness can be seen as arrogance by others; without a relationship, people may assume we think we’re better than others because we behave certain ways but don’t take the time to get to know them (unfortunately, this is true of some professing Christians). If we have relationships with non-Christians, they’re going to come to understand why it is we do what we do or live the way we live, and in that way, our lifestyle will more effectively point to Jesus. Moreover, the way we relate to those to whom we are witnessing in itself has a part in preaching the Gospel. They may curse us, but we bless; they may persecute us, but we pray for them. We extend to them the love of Jesus, living in humility, and do not take advantage of them. We listen to them, we treat them as if they’re created in the image of God, and in doing so, the Gospel begins to be contextualized.
Difficulty with a Relational Approach to Evangelism
Our desire for faithfulness should generally drive us to a relational approach to evangelism, but we must not let those relationships we develop lead us astray; we cannot let our friendship with someone compromise our preaching or living out of the Gospel. In this way, relational evangelism can be very difficult and frustrating at times. It will be tempting to choose “niceness” over truth, to misrepresent the seriousness of sin, and to join nonbelievers in ungodly behavior. We will fail. But the Gospel is of supreme value, and it will restore us. It will be hard for us to get to know other people when it is usually easier to maintain the relationships we already have; for many of us, even the fact that we’re getting to know non-Christians may be awkward. But once again, the Gospel is of supreme value, and it should eradicate our lethargy. For we know the salvation the Gospel has brought to us, and we realize its need among others. As faithful servants of God, then, let us strive to bring about his Kingdom.
Evangelizing Ourselves
by Ryan Benhase on Mar.04, 2008, under Discipleship, Spiritual Discipline
The word “evangelism” may stir up all kinds of images for us. One person might think of overseas missions. Another might picture handing out tracts explaining the gospel. Still others may think of long, awkward conversations over coffee, or perhaps going through the Scriptures with an unbelieving friend. Surely, we all come from different places and, from our various experiences, have a wide range of ideas regarding evangelism. Yet if there is one thing we all have in common, it is the understanding that evangelism is about saving the lost.
Certainly, this concern for the lost is immensely important and commanded by Scripture. However, our church has lately been reading a book called Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis (IVP) which has been very provocative and beneficial. While reading the chapter about discipleship, I came across the following comment:
“We continue to ‘evangelize’ one another as Christians because it continues to be the gospel message with which we exhort and encourage one another. The good news that gives life is the good news that transforms, while the community that incarnates gospel truth for the sinner is the community that incarnates gospel truth for the saint” (110).
In other words, we, as Christians, should evangelize ourselves. The Greek root for “evangelize” is ευαγγελιζομαι, which literally means “I preach the gospel.” Therefore, it is not only something done toward nonbelievers, but toward Christians as well. As believers, we should be preaching the gospel to one another. This is the means by which we edify, admonish, and exhort one another to live a cross-centered life, stirring each other to good works. The moment we lose our focus on the gospel in favor of something we deem more “spiritual,” (whether it be a ministry program, social justice, an obsession with spiritual warfare or spiritual gifts, etc.) we have abandoned the faith. The Gospel is as spiritual as it gets; it is not entry-level Christianity, but the very fabric by which the Christian life exists.
By preaching the gospel to one another, we will prompt each other to change and grow; the gospel begins to shape each and every aspect of our everyday lives. The gospel comes to influence where we work, what we spend our time on, and how we handle our money; this happens gradually, nurtured within the context of a gospel-centered community as we evangelize one another. In this, we are sanctified through the gospel, by the work of the Holy Spirit. And even more, evangelizing ourselves leads us to evangelize others; by preaching the gospel to one another, we are driven to preach the gospel to those who have not received it. It is our own experience with grace which motivates us to share that grace with others. Therefore, to truly be effective in evangelizing the lost, we must also be effective in evangelizing each other.
But what does this mean?
It means talking less about theology from a philosophical standpoint and more about theology from a practical standpoint. How is the gospel being reflected (or not reflected) in our lives? If we believe what we say we believe, our lives should be marked by it. So, we must hold one another accountable, admonishing and encouraging one another with the gospel, and preaching it to one another, that we might share in the earth-shattering grace of God.
Evangelism, Anyone?
by Ryan Benhase on Dec.02, 2007, under Preserving Biblical Truth, Relational Evangelism
The topic of evangelism has been coming up a lot lately within the community at Grassroots, which has led me to ponder and reflect upon the subject in my own quiet time. Scripture makes it clear that all Christians are called to evangelize; this word comes from the Greek ευαγγελιζω, which literally means “I preach the gospel.” So, with the responsibility of preaching the gospel, how can we most effectively and faithfully evangelize in our world today?
I would like to lay down a few principles (as well as a few cautions) which I feel are relevant and useful in this regard.
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