At Community Christian Church one of the things that regularly happens if you are a part of a small group or serving team is we hold each other accountable to share our faith. Once every few weeks in small groups we will ask “the grace question”. In different forms the question is basically “How are you doing at sharing God’s message of grace with people in your world?” We encourage people to identify the folks God has put in their world that are lost and to pray for them, serve them, invite them to come with them to church, etc. In short, do what you can do to tell the people in your world that they need a relationship with Jesus for assurance of eternal life.
The trend among many of my friends who are believers and in many churches is that we need to “show” our faith in Christ and not worry about “telling” others of their need for Christ. I believe the Bible would say we need to do both. In addition to that, there is the pervasive thought, among many christians, that we should not try to convert anyone. The idea is that it is arrogant to think we are right and they are wrong and that grace means everyone will be okay no matter what.
With that in mind I offer you this video. I just had a friend send me this video. It blew me away. Penn Jillette of the comedy/magic team of Penn and Teller is a very outspoken atheist. He makes no bones about it and openly challenges our belief in God. This video talks about a Christian who shared his faith with Penn. In this video Penn talks about the guy proselytizing (that just means to try to convert someone).
My favorite quote
I don't respect people who don't proselytize. If you believe that there's a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, and you think, 'Well, it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward'... How much do you have to hate somebody not to proselytize?
How much do you have to hate someone to not proselytize? Wow! That man can preach.
2 comments:
This is just the way I see it. Proselytizing is more than just beating someone over the head with a Bible thou. I am a believer that actions speak 100000000000000 times louder than words. Anyone can talk about God's love. It takes a lot more to actually allow yourself to be the hands of Christ and get down and dirty and help people who truly need it. One of the blessings of this economy is that there are tons of ministry opportunities out there that do not simply involve shouting scripture at people. The best way to open the door to proselytizing is to help someone in need. Telling someone who is hungry that God loves them is just giving them words and leaving them with an empty stomach. Feeding someone who is hungry and enabling them to feed themselves long term show them that God loves them and opens their heart up to learn more about God's love. Love is an action not just a mushy feeling. The body of Christ needs the hands in order for people to care about and actually listen to what the mouth is saying.
This is just the way I see it. Proselytizing is more than just beating someone over the head with a Bible thou. I am a believer that actions speak 100000000000000 times louder than words. Anyone can talk about God's love. It takes a lot more to actually allow yourself to be the hands of Christ and get down and dirty and help people who truly need it. One of the blessings of this economy is that there are tons of ministry opportunities out there that do not simply involve shouting scripture at people. The best way to open the door to proselytizing is to help someone in need. Telling someone who is hungry that God loves them is just giving them words and leaving them with an empty stomach. Feeding someone who is hungry and enabling them to feed themselves long term show them that God loves them and opens their heart up to learn more about God's love. Love is an action not just a mushy feeling. The body of Christ needs the hands in order for people to care about and actually listen to what the mouth is saying.
Post a Comment