Evangelism Tip #2: Go to Their Things

This blog is designed to give people an inner look at a devotional life. Taking a pause to spend time with the Lord. The hope is if you travel on this journey with Rev. Jacob Shaw, and as a result, you may be more inclined to spend time with the Lord on your own as well. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or question, as long as it is offered in respect and humility.

Today's devotional is taken from: Chan, S. How to Talk About Jesus (Without Being THAT Guy): Personal Evangelism In A Skeptical World, Zondervan Reflective, 2020. Evangelism Tip 2 

What The Text Brought To Mind: When Chan opens this chapter with his memory of celebrating Australia Day at a rock concert and then articulating the opportunity that engaging in their friend’s event gave them for evangelism reminded me of some of my days in seminary. My friends from school would often go to the pub for lunch or in the evening for some fun. It was inevitable that we would eventually start talking about theology. Often in the moments of those conversations, people at nearby tables would catch a word or two and begin to eavesdrop on our conversation. And from those moments, people would often come and ask to talk to us about God, religion, or, something. One time, my now wife and I were out with friends celebrating our recent engagement, and at one point we start talking theology, as a result, two fellows asked me to join them at their table for a moment. Turns out one of the two had recently gone through a divorce and was wanting to talk about God, meaning, and forgiveness. I ended up spending half my engagement party on the patio with a stranger who just needed a friend. I thank the Good Lord that He gave me such an understanding and patient wife.

For me, evangelism has to be a lifestyle change to a point where you are ready to connect with people at all times. In Chan’s case and for this chapter, he expresses that we should be willing to go and engage in events that are important to our non-Christian friends because it will birth opportunities in multiple ways for us to engage in healthy evangelism, but these opportunities might also arise between tables in your local pub or being kind to someone on a message board online. I believe Christ wants our hearts to be so overjoyed with the Gospel, that we can't help but have it at the ready, and we need to be always ready because you never know when the Spirit is going to call you to share the Good News.

Now, the man I met that night did not come to Christ out there on the patio of the pub. However, what I hope I left him with was a positive depiction of what the Gospel is about, what a Christian who is striving to live it out looks like, and ultimately leaving him more open for God to light the fire in his heart. Evangelism in a way is a group effort, every interaction a Christian has with a non-Christian ideally should help to build the alter in the heart of a person outside the faith, but if we avoid non-Christians or are unwilling to meet them where they are, or might be, then we will be nearly impossible to witness to them.

Opening Prayer: Lord, we give thanks for the tips found in this text from Chan. For those looking to develop their skill sets, hoping to bring people to faith. Engaging with these tips and ideas from another, helps us to exercise skills of curiosity, openness, and humility, all gift from You we need to exercise to become effective evangelists. Bless this time of learning and ongoing engagement with Christ’s commands. Amen.

Scripture: Luke 19:1-10 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. So, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Reflection: Chan rightly points out that Jesus associated with people which were often disregarded or looked down upon in society, a tax collector is just one example. Jesus would go into the home of people of these classes or descriptions and share in meals and celebrations. It is in these exchanges we see one of the characteristics of the evangelistic spirit which we need to work with. We are not just called to share Christ with those who happen to walk into our churches or study groups, we are called to take Christ’s message to them; including to people and places that may not be normally welcomed by religious groups or societal masses.

Now before I get too far, something else I would like to bring to focus is that Chan also notes that “we are not Jesus.” As Christ is the source of the moral standard, he is not corruptible, we can rest in that, but we still have to be cautious not to fall prey to the people or places we evangelize. There could be mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual dangers if we are not cautious about where we are going. This also doesn’t mean that we limit our ministry to where it is safe, on the contrary, it means that if we truly feel called to minister and evangelize in a riskier situation, we need to use our heads, network with others in faith who may be more versed in that sort of ministry, and never go it alone. Also, know your limits, if for example, if you are a recovering alcoholic, a pub ministry may not be the best option for you, you need to know your healthy limits. (Though, I can also say I have seen former addicts running incredible on sight ministries too.)

With that disclaimer out of the way, I want to focus on the main point of Chan’s second tip. Chan describes a social exchange where the Christian willingly attends events, outings, groups, or programs run by their non-Christian friends or communities. This becomes an intentional decision to be present in the lives and communities to whom you wish to evangelize and minister to. The idea is that by engaging with the non-believer’s life, they will be willing to engage in yours which will include your faith community. You go to their child’s baseball game to show support; they might come to your church’s Easter events. There are a few reasons why I feel this tactic is so valuable. First, the more you engage in the lives of your friends and family the more you understand them; the more you come to appreciate what makes them tick.  Second, the more you’re present with them, the more they will see you as a whole person, faith included. When people just see faith or the person it can be hard to reconcile the two things as hand in hand, by engaging frequently and in good manners, you allow them to see a person of faith lived out in their setting. It then becomes less threatening or shocking to switch to join their Christian friend in a faith-based setting. Thirdly, reciprocity is one of the building blocks towards trust, if you become a reliable presence in someone’s life, they will be more inclined to reciprocate, and if they do, it gives you stepping stones to have a deeper conversation about faith in an atmosphere of trust. People are more open to understanding the ideas and opinions of someone they trust versus someone more removed.  

At one point in Chan’s work, he speaks about a time when his wife was pulled into the PTA.  She was the only Christian in the group, but instead of fighting it, she got involved and became a very valuable member, it gave her a level of trust in the community to begin reaching out in different ways. Chan basically says if you are being invited out to something, or asked to get involved, “Don’t fight it. Embrace it.” Thinking back on my early adult life, I always noticed that my evangelical friends were always more willing to help and be involved in my life. They took time to have an invested interest in me and what I was involved with. Now I don’t believe this was solely a tactic to bring me to faith, mostly because I already shared the faith, rather, I understand their willingness to evangelize and recognition of the skills needed had shaped their personalities for the better; they had become more proficient in having genuine connections with new people.

When Chan offers the mentality of embracing opportunities, it reminds me of when Paul and his companions in the Bible are traveling trying to bring the Gospel to people, he and his group are being guided by the Spirit, and they try to go to some areas, but the Spirit ultimately directs them somewhere they did not expect. Evangelism often involves following God’s plan by trusting the Spirit to present opportunities to evangelize. If you are cut off from your community and the people in it, you won’t be opening yourself up to Spirit-led opportunities. Now this means that we need to exercise our social skills. I know some of you, if you’re like me, prefer to stay at home and have a quiet night. I’m personally introverted in many ways, but some elements of faith involve pushing against our comfort zones. Don’t worry there are many challenges in faith life for the more extroverted too. No matter what side you're closer to, the more you practice any skill the easier it gets, and with this particular one, if you rest in the Lord and follow the Spirit, you will find yourself on a journey that God has selected for you and taking you to people he is waiting to light the fire for.

In combination with the efforts to invite your non-Christian friends to join in with your Christian friends found in Chan's tip #1, engaging in the lives of your non-Christian friends will give you two great pillars in your day-to-day exchanges in your community to begin to develop of the pool of people to begin planting the seeds of faith in.

 Challenge for the Month: Think about who and what you're involved with outside of your Christian circles and your church life. Make a plan to find out what your non-Christian friends with your involvements are up to, see if you can find an opportunity to join them and support them (if appropriate), and begin building relationships where you could feel comfortable inviting them to something that you're involved with, like a church program or one of the social gatherings you may have with your Christian friends.

Prayer for your week:  Thank you, Lord, for gracing us with the Spirit. We ask you to have the Spirit guide us to where we are called to share the Gospel, help us to see the opportunities in front of which we are being summed to be an echoing voice and mimicking hand to the work and ministry of Jesus. We thank you for the blessing, which is evangelism itself, sharing the Good News of Christ Jesus. Amen.

Final Thought and Picture: Back to the pub. Two of the outreach ministries that I greatly enjoy are Pub-ministries and Halloween-ministries. There are a number of reasons I love them, (partly because beer tastes good and there is a lot of fun to be had in costume and giving a good scare) but more so I enjoy them because it creates spaces for Christian life and the outside world to collide, not everyone is comfortable going to church or even opening a Bible, but they may find themselves curious if they hear a group of Christians casually talking about faith or church life at the next table in the pub, or willing to attend a Halloween community event hosted by a church because Halloween may seem so drastically different then what they assume church people would be involved with. Because it doesn’t feel like their preconceived notions about Christianity or church, they drop their defenses and just engage with you more openly. Now the pub ministry or Halloween ministry may not be for you, and that is okay, but there is a ministry out there for you that God is calling you towards, you just need to be open to trusting in the Spirit to direct you where you need to go to share the Gospel.