Thursday, July 27, 2006

re: the individual

When I think of what I’ve been taught in what it means to “share faith,” one of the passages that quickly comes to mind is Romans 10:14-17. If you’re not familiar with it, you can click on the link or you can read. Paul is basically setting up the importance of preaching the word. If one does not hear of Christ, then logically, one cannot believe in Christ.

Far be it from me to argue against the scripture.
What I do argue against, however, is the form in which many view “sharing faith.”

The change in me has been brewing for years. Part of it is the struggle against feeling as if inaction is wrong. Part of it is the struggle against feeling as if the action in its processes and intentions are wrong.

The form in which I have learned to “share faith” is such that it boils everything down to a particular problem that all of man kind is struggling with – namely, death and hell. So then, we write out a few verses proving that man indeed does deserve hell and draw a bridge showing the way out.
What has really jettisoned me out of that presupposition (that all men fear hell and therefore want to seek Jesus) is reading about Christ’s life through the book of Mark. I have been given the opportunity to teach with 4 other guys in our “Young Couples Community,” this summer (which may be another blog all in itself) and I just finished my last week of teach. We have been skirting through the book of Mark. What Mark tends to communicate about Jesus is that what Jesus did to and for people was never the same.

You might call that active listening, in a sorts.

Christ met individual needs. He saw that different people had different problems and would help those people in such a way as to communicate, “you are special, and you are different.”
What has really gnawed on me, then, is that the form by which I have shared my faith so often in the past does not communicate that. There are times when it may well affect another person. By and large, however, people don’t worry much about hell (I do, but many don’t).

People are afraid of being alone.
People are afraid of being unsuccessful.
People are afraid of global warming.

Most people fear something. Most people’s fears aren’t the same. That being the case, Jesus would never talk to me as if I were you – as if you and I had the same question.

The times that I have been able to share Christ, lately, have sort of come out of nowhere. One such occasion was talking to a woman I worked with at a hotel. One of her best friends had an abortion, and she said that Christians that she knew hated her friend for it. The brief of it is that she asked me whether or not I thought the Christians’ hatred was right and whether or not her friend’s actions were wrong.

How does Christ answer to that?
He meets the specific need with compassion and understanding.

How did Gene answer to that?
I said that both of them are wrong and I took some time to explain how Jesus is the friend of sinners.

Thank God that He is.

1 comment:

Rick said...

I agree with ya, dude. It just reminds me of that old phrase that says, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

I'm almost convinced that this so-called "cold turkey" evangelism (as opposed to relational) needs to be something that is done by God's leading, not where you go out once a week and give people the gospel and leave (not that God can't use that). I think people really want to be known and to share their struggles and fears, like you were saying. It's hard for me to believe that people really feel loved when you go and share the gospel with them and say, "Alright, welp, see ya later."

I remember one time when Heather Johnson told me how she was learning that ministry is 80% non-verbal and 20% verbal. I haven't forgotten that, and I believe it.