evangelism: reasons of the heart · rick richardson, evangelism outside the box: new ways to help...

Evangelism: Reasons of the Heart

4 Suggested Reads on the Topic

of Evangelism

- Building Bridges -

- Finding Your Conversational Approach -

- Starting the Conversation -

- Listening to Their Questions -

- Doing Life With Them -

- Praying With and For Them - - Belonging Before Becoming -

- Building Bridges - STEP ONE: Believing that God is the author of salvation, and

therefore the main cause of successful and meaningful evangelism. That building bridges to our non-Christian friends and families didn’t begin with our desire to reach them but His.

“…the Triune God is the author of salvation. And, inasmuch as He has

executed in time the eternal plan of salvation, has revealed its execution in

the gospel, and has ordained the gospel as the indispensible means of

salvation, it is no less clear that the Triune God is the author of salvation.”

R. B. Kuiper, God-Centered Evangelism

- Building Bridges - STEP TWO: Acknowledging the danger of finding the satisfaction

of intimacy inside the church so appealing that we no longer have life investments with the lonely & broken people outside her walls. While also realizing our need for that intimacy.

“To put it another way many Christians churches

these days are like a ghetto in one of our big cities –

a community of immigrants in a foreign country,

clinging together for warmth and understanding, and

surrounded by a society that does not understand or

seem to care. When churches have become like

this, their biggest need is to get out of the ghetto

and to put to rest forever their ghetto mentality. We

have got to build bridges.”

Michael Green, Sharing your faith with friends and

family

- Building Bridges - STEP THREE: Building bridges by first acknowledging where we are

in relation to the world. If we’ve left it years and years ago, or just emerged from within it, or wake up beside it each morning. Acknowledging where we are is vital.

“Your neighbors door is not a Billy Graham shaped door but a you shaped

door. You are the best person to reach your neighbor in a non-artificial

manner where they can see the gospel is for real people too. But the

question remains who is your neighbor…”

-Anonymous missionary

- Building Bridges - STEP FOUR: Seeing your weaknesses as a point of contact

rather than a reason not to believe Christ could use someone like you to reach others with his Gospel.

“Faces were smiling and several hands reached out for

the pamphlets. I know that they were able to take them

instead of retreating in suspicion because they had heard Rose Marie and me confess many of our weaknesses.

We have made a conscious effort to move with humility into the lives of other people, to love them from below,

rather than from above. Our weaknesses have become

our point of contact, and this openness and vulnerability causes people to open up to us in return.”

-Jack Miller, A Faith Worth Sharing: A lifetime of

conversations about Christ


- Finding Your Conversation Style -


“God knew what He was doing when He made you. He did! He

custom-designed you with your unique combination of

personality, temperament, talents, and background, and He

wants to harness and use these in His mission to reach this

messed-up world. That means He wants to use you in a fashion

that fits the person He made you to be. God doesn’t call us all to

spread His truth in the same way. Instead, He built diversity into

the fabric of His body of believers And until we realize that, we’ll

find ourselves needlessly imitating each other’s outreach efforts,

wastefully duplicating some approaches while harmfully

squelching others.”

Bill Hybels, Becoming a Contagious Christian

THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY:


CONFRONTATIONAL ~ direct, bold, and right to the point kind of approach, demanding action immediately

INTELLECTUAL

~an inquisitive type who enjoys working with ideas and evidences, someone who not only declares the gospel but also defines and defends it kind of approach

TESTIMONIAL

~focuses more upon the individuals journey with God, re-telling the drama of how you moved from religion into relationship is a common part of this approach

INTERPERSONAL

~enjoys having long discussions over coffee with others, enjoys bringing people into the web of your life, places friendships before ‘witnessing’ kind of approach

INVITATIONAL

~you constantly are widening the circle of people involved in your activities, and you have a natural knack for getting people to come with you, you are good at drawing people out – kind of approach

SERVICE

~you find it relatively easy to serve others, & if meeting peoples needs is what you find to be the most compelling witness, then this is your kind of approach

IDENTIFYING YOUR CONVERSATION STYLE:


“…nobody fits perfectly into just one of these styles. In fact, you’ll

probably find opportunities to use all of them. The point is that God

designed diversity on His team; and each member is stronger in some

styles than in others. You might come up with style number seven or

eight, and that’s fine, too.”

Bill Hybels, Becoming a Contagious Christian

THE RELATIVE WORTH OF LABELING YOUR CONVERSATIONAL STYLE:


Valuing dialogue instead of monologue

Being real with them means being yourself

Beginning the conversation within yourself: Understanding what the gospel is, and isn’t.

Starting the conversation with in the right tone


Beginning the conversation with a reminder: Understanding what the gospel is, and isn’t.

“The gospel starts by teaching us that we, as creatures, are absolutely dependent on God,

and that He, as Creator, has an absolute claim on us. Only when we have learned this can we see what sin is, and only when we see what sin is can we understand the good news of salvation from sin. We must know what it means to call God Creator before we can grasp

what it means to call God Redeemer.”

J.I. Packer, Evangelism & The Sovereignty of God “One part of providing clarity when we share the gospel, sometimes missed by earnest

evangelists, is the willingness to offend. Clarity with the claims of Christ certainly will include the translation of the gospel into words that our hearer understands, but it doesn’t necessarily mean translating it into words that our hearer will like. Too often, advocates of relevant evangelism verge over into being advocates of irrelevant non-evangelism. A

gospel that in no way offends the sinner has not been understood..”

Mark Dever, The Gospel & Personal Evangelism


Being real with them means being yourself

“There is no surefire way of going about evangelism, or of adopting a Christian approach. Be yourself. Be true to your own nature [not sinful nature, but rather your personality], your own way of expressing things, your own special relationship with that friend you are trying to help.”

Michael Green, Sharing your faith with friends and family


Valuing dialogue instead of monologue

“Because of all the baggage and lack of trust in our Post-Christian world, people need to be engaged in dialogue. Few people are interested only in a monologue.

Creating a culture of dialogue requires us to walk in the shoes of the other person. To consider how it feels to be an “outsider” to the faith; desiring to understand, but not having a clue; wanting to ask questions, but afraid to offend; needing to fit in to explore, but not sure of the rules.”

John Burke, No Perfect People Allowed

- Starting the Conversation - Starting the conversation with the right tone

Start by Asking Questions: It diffuses their assumptions that we’re only interested in giving them answers to questions they may not even be raising. It makes our conversation with them a two-way street.

Speak with Modesty: The world is too full of brash people, trying to sell you something at any cost. We’re not selling Jesus to our friends, we’re sharing his love with them.

Speak with Confidence: We may not always know what we believe but we know who we believe. And he is the King of all Kings, He has answers for them.

Speak with Enthusiasm: Our conversations should be marked with celebration, after all we’ve found Jesus, or better put he’s found us!

Speak Naturally about Him: Jesus is both God and man, he’s approachable, don’t make your conversation about him feel like a bad Televangelist crusade on TBN.

Speak in Understandable Language: Whether we realize it or not we’ve learned ‘Christianese’ well, we need to be careful about what we assume they understand in our language. Learn the ‘local’ tongue & translate in it (contextualization)…

Speak in Prayerful Timing: Be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading, asking the Lord whether or not its time to take them further into the message of who and what Christ has done, and demands.


“Real conversations, the ones that connect hearts and transfer understanding, need breathing spaces. We don’t have to jump in with words as soon as the other person pauses. In fact, we need time to hear and digest what has been just said before we jump in with the next thought that comes to mind. Training our hearts to be silent precedes our mouths’ doing the same. By doing so, we can develop the self-control we need for sharing the Good News-both with and without words.”

Randy Newman, Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did

- INVOLVES VALUING SILENCE -


“Actual conversations with other human beings rarely follow a script. So resolve now to be OK with interruptions, awkward pauses, rabbit trails, and even bursts of anger. Keep your agenda to love, but drop your agenda for how the conversation has to play out.”

Walter Henegar, “Evangelism for Dummies: The surprising gift of stating the obvious”

- INVOLVES KEEPING YOUR AGENDA TO LOVE -


“Peter Berger captures the style of witness that is dead for most people today: “A peculiar mixture of arrogance (‘I know the truth’) and benevolence (‘I want to save you’) has always been the chief psychological hall mark of missionary activity”. People can smell this combination of arrogance and benevolence a mile away. At the first whiff they will fly away-miles away.”

Rick Richardson, Evangelism Outside the Box: New ways to help people experience the Good News

“The primary reason outsiders feel hostile toward Christians, and especially conservative Christians, is not because of any specific theological perspective. What they react negatively to is our “swagger,” how we go about things and the sense of self-importance we project.”

David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons, UnChristian: What a new generation really thinks about Christianity…and why it matters

- INVOLVES PUTTING ASIDE THE AIR OF ARROGANCE & BENEVOLENCE WE OFTEN DON’T REALIZE WE HAVE -


“Once he had absorbed Athenian culture through listening and observing, Paul compared and contrasted Christian beliefs with those of the Athenians. I call this skill dual listening, which is like holding the Bible in one hand and a screenplay, script, lyric sheet, book, magazine article, or newspaper in the other. Holding the two side by side, the culturally savvy Christian engages in dual listening by assessing, comparing, contrasting, correlating, analyzing, evaluating, understanding, synthesizing, and conceptualizing in order to interpret faith in light of cultural insights and to interpret culture in light of insights from our faith. Dual listening requires both biblical and cultural literacy.”

Dick Staub, The Culturally Savvy Christian: A manifesto for

deepening faith and enriching popular culture in an age

of Christianity-lite

- INVOLVES BOTH BIBLICAL & CULTURAL LITERACY -


“Let’s be honest, evangelism is not very cool these days. The word

‘evangelist’ conjures up for many people a slick, oily-haired man in a dark

suite and tie, smiling out of a TV screen, Bible in hand, with the phone

number for donations at the bottom of the picture. Most evangelists I know

are as far removed from this caricature as Brad Pitt is from the Queen of

England, but mud sticks. Like it or not, the word carries negative rather than

positive overtones for most people outside (and often inside) Christians

circles, and the image remains.”

Graham Tomlin, The Provocative Church

MEANS REDEEMING THE IMAGE OF EVANGELISM:


“I was learning to let others into my life. Mel could see me studying the

Bible and finding something there that changed and satisfied me. That’s

why h wanted to study the Bible, too. And I lived close enough to John to

be fed up with his sins – and to let him know (less than perfectly) how

they affected me. There at the boarding house, the men could see that I

had the same sins and needs as they did and that my God had helped

me. The Holy Spirit did the rest.

So wherever you “cook breakfast,” there is your classroom for learning to

share your faith. The people you encounter daily are the ones Jesus

wants you to share the gospel with. But make sure that you are

understanding and loving the gospel more each day yourself or you will

not be able to love and understand the friends at your “breakfast table.””

Jack Miller, A Faith Worth Sharing: A lifetime of conversations

about Christ

INVOLVES LETTING THEM INTO YOUR DAILY ROUTINES:


“[Gospel] communication sees through a person’s name, position, reasons, and arguments and tries to reach the real life’s problems. It involves meetings, but meetings filled with love. We recognize ourselves in the other person…Missionaries are not annoyed by the “stupidity” of the “natives,” at their “primitive” behavior. This personal involvement with others determines the pastoral dimension of our work. Bearing the balm of Gilead, and not patent medicine, we are motivated by the heart of the shepherd.”

Harvie M. Conn, Evangelism: Doing justice and preaching grace

REQUIRES THE TYPE OF PASTORAL CARE THAT CAN ONLY

BE APPLIED IN RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM:


“The New Testament church does not escape the obligation of doing justly for evangelism. We are marked as those who hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matt 5:6). And that righteousness, as Herman Ridderbos points out, is not righteousness in the Pauline sense of imputed forensic righteousness. It is the kingly justice that God has promised for the salvation of the oppressed and the outcasts. It is the kingly justice that God has promised the Messiah would bring. We live in a new day, the day of the promised King. And His coming was to be a coming on behalf of justice for all, “fairness for the afflicted of the earth” (see Isa. 11:1-5). The Old Testament promise of the Messiah’s jubilee year meant justice and freedom for the oppressed, the broken (Isa. 61:1-2). In Christ the jubilee year of restoration for society has begun (Luke 4:17-21). [It will not be finished until Christ returns and consumates all creation being regained.]”

Harvie M. Conn, Evangelism: Doing justice and preaching grace

INCLUDES SEEING THEM AS BOTH SINNERS, AND THE

SINNED AGAINST; IN OTHER WORDS IT MEANS ‘MERCY’:

- Belonging Before Becoming -



“Always before, well-meaning people had told me that I just had to have faith. Well, I didn’t have faith, so their answer never did me any good. But Jim didn’t respond that way. He had thoughtful answers to my questions. He admitted when he didn’t know something. He seemed to be taking me seriously. I felt listened to and cared for. And my heart began to open up. As I watched Jim, he seemed to know who he was. He seemed to feel a sense of belonging wherever he went, and he gave other people that sense. He was at home with himself, and I felt more at home with myself when I was around him.”

Rick Richardson, Evangelism Outside the Box: New ways to help people experience the good news

KNOWING WE HAVE A ‘HOME’ INSIDE OUR LOCAL

CHURCH BEFORE WE INVITE OTHERS IN


“…most people assume they will not be accepted until they change, not by God and definitely not by church people. So we must tell them the truth over and over…Instead of acceptance that draws them into relationship and says “I’m for you,” non-Christians pick up an “us versus them” mentality from many Christians. It is subtle but deadly.”

John Burke, No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a come as you are culture in the Church

WE NEED TO REALIZE WE MAY NOT BE AS WELCOMING

OR ACCEPTING OF OTHERS AS WE THINK


“…the Christian turns both from the world and to the world. He turns

from irresponsible sin to responsible service… the evangelist, on

the way from Jerusalem to his city-wide crusade in Jericho, will not,

in passing, toss a tract or decision card to the man who has fallen

among thieves, but will stop and minister and care for him.”

Will Metzger, To Tell the Truth: The whole gospel to the

whole person by the whole person

HELPING SOMEONE BELONG BEFORE BECOMING MEANS

TURNING TO THEM IN RESPONSIBLE SERVICE AND

OFFERING THE ONE THING NO ONE ELSE CAN OFFER – ACCEPTANCE BASED ON THE TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL!


“First, notice that many of these outsiders were former insiders. And, second, realize that what they see from Christians creates their ideas about the reality and authenticity of following Christ. By our words and actions, are we boosting the reputation of Christianity, or are we unwitting accomplices in presenting an unChristian faith to outsiders?”

“In asking about how Christians come across to people, we interviewed Steven, a thirty-four-year-old who moved to New York from Phoenix. During the interview, he described his initial excitement when he met a peer in an unfamiliar city. “A young guy approached me in a subway station once, friendly, full of questions, interested in talking. He seemed really nice, and I couldn’t believe a New Yorker was being so, well, nice! We exchanged numbers and said we’d hang out sometime. Next time I heard from him, he invited me to a Bible study, and that was all he wanted to talk about. When I said, ‘No thanks,’ I never heard from him again.” Rather than being genuinely interested in people for their friendship, we often seem like spiritual headhunters.”

David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons, UnChristian: What a new generation really thinks about Christianity…and why it matters

BEGIN THE PROCESS OF HEALING THE WOUNDS OF THOSE

WHO’VE BEEN DEEVANGELIZED OR DECHURCHED.

- Praying With and For Them -



“John and I were sitting in the café, I was anticipating a good hardy breakfast as well as some deep conversation about mission and evangelism since John was one of my seminary professors who taught in that area, and then it happened…Out of the blue John introduces me to our waitress and says, “Hello, his name is Tony and he’s a pastor, how can he pray for you.” Well, at that moment I was praying but it wasn’t for her it was for me, the embarrassment and out-of-placeness I was feeling. Then something amazing happened, she just opened up her entire life to us and what she was struggling with. After praying for her I realized that sometimes the best witness I can give for my faith is a praying witness. Being willing to pray with them on the spot…”

A testimony from my own spiritual journey while at Westminster Theological Seminary. John Leonard Dr. of Missiology was the John in this story.

- Praying With Them -


“Prayer for others is the supreme God-ordained method in evangelism. Unless God changes a person’s heart, nothing lasting will be achieved. Prayer is a means of raising the dead sinners to life!...Until we see the incapacity of sinners and our helplessness to save them, we will not commit ourselves to pray; prayer is pleading our helplessness before God.” Our prayers should be marked by expectancy and longing.

Will Metzger, Tell The Truth: The whole gospel to the whole person by whole people

- Praying For Them -






- Praying With and For Them - - Belonging Before Becoming -

evangelism: reasons of the heart · rick richardson, evangelism outside the box: new ways to help...

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