I am hearing a lot about 'relationships' being the renascence of post, post modern evangelism. This emergent evangelism looks and sounds like this ....
'I know this guy named John. He goes to our church, he is a part of the fellowship; he even loves to serve in our soup kitchen. He is a Christian, just ask him, he'll tell you. I am not sure when John became one, you see we did not try to convince him of his need for a savior, we didn't want him to feel like we were telling him he was a sinner. We befriended him and just started building a 'relationship' with him. Eventually he just started coming on his own, and somehow God saved him. God is the only one who can do that, I can't change anyone, I need to just love people and let God change them if He wants.'
So, listen, relationships are key, Jesus modeled this, but there is a danger if we build relationships with folks and never get to the point where we share the truth of the Gospel. The truth that says, hey, look,"I know why you feel unfulfilled, or why you feel in bondage over something. It is because of sin, and sin is an evil that is destroying the world; just look around at the world. It is dying, and sin destroys our 'world' as well; we are dying in the same way, as a result of sin. Friend if you ask Holy Spirit to show you your sin, and know in your heart that you have not been living the way God intended, you can ask Him to forgive you. You can repent and believe that Jesus died for all the sins of the world, including yours, and that because of His sacrifice, we can be forgiven, and given a pure, clean heart. Lets look at some scripture to explain this."
I believe that these two models are in direct opposition, and in recent days I have been led to examine my own heart and motives. I have been convicted of buying into this 'relationalism' method of evangelism, and i have repented, and am asking God to fill, or re-fill me with His boldness to announce His truth, in truth. If I allow the relationship, with a pre-believer, to be the driving force in connecting them with Christ, than I am in danger of allowing the relationship to be the savior. Worse yet, I may be responsible for enabling a convert to be converted to a religion and religious practices - not radically transformed by faith in Christ, and a filling of Holy Spirit through Godly sorrow that leads to repentance. Now, true; relationship can lead people to this crisis point of repentance, but there is also a danger that we just allow the relationship to grow, and avoid the uncomfortable moment where we put it out there - the truth, that without repentance and faith in Jesus, we are all going to hell.
The best resource I know, and am re-integrating into my daily living and evangelism, is William Booths 'How to find God' pamphlet. This has been re-interpreted on goforsouls.com, and I would encourage a read. I would say this is one of the best websites for soul winning resources I have ever engaged. Here is the link for the pamphlet.
http://get-saved.org/archives/66
Now, I am not dogging anyone for trying to share Jesus; lets do it, in all ways, to all people. I am just sharing that there are some dangers in being so seeker sensitive that we forget to announce truth in the way Jesus did; even if it is uncomfortable I have failed in this, and at times relied on my own relational personality to bring people to Jesus; and avoided the uncomfortable moments. This is my challenge, and I encourage you to pray about it too. Don't commit the same sin as me, and be tempted to preach and teach comfortable messages, you know the crowd pleases. Let's preach with with boldness, Heaven and Hell; righteousness and sin; and most of all a saviour that can save us from sin through and through, and make us blameless in His presence.
Matt 4:17
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
NIV
Luke 13:3-4
... unless you repent, you too will all perish.
NIV
So, listen, relationships are key, Jesus modeled this, but there is a danger if we build relationships with folks and never get to the point where we share the truth of the Gospel. The truth that says, hey, look,"I know why you feel unfulfilled, or why you feel in bondage over something. It is because of sin, and sin is an evil that is destroying the world; just look around at the world. It is dying, and sin destroys our 'world' as well; we are dying in the same way, as a result of sin. Friend if you ask Holy Spirit to show you your sin, and know in your heart that you have not been living the way God intended, you can ask Him to forgive you. You can repent and believe that Jesus died for all the sins of the world, including yours, and that because of His sacrifice, we can be forgiven, and given a pure, clean heart. Lets look at some scripture to explain this."
I believe that these two models are in direct opposition, and in recent days I have been led to examine my own heart and motives. I have been convicted of buying into this 'relationalism' method of evangelism, and i have repented, and am asking God to fill, or re-fill me with His boldness to announce His truth, in truth. If I allow the relationship, with a pre-believer, to be the driving force in connecting them with Christ, than I am in danger of allowing the relationship to be the savior. Worse yet, I may be responsible for enabling a convert to be converted to a religion and religious practices - not radically transformed by faith in Christ, and a filling of Holy Spirit through Godly sorrow that leads to repentance. Now, true; relationship can lead people to this crisis point of repentance, but there is also a danger that we just allow the relationship to grow, and avoid the uncomfortable moment where we put it out there - the truth, that without repentance and faith in Jesus, we are all going to hell.
The best resource I know, and am re-integrating into my daily living and evangelism, is William Booths 'How to find God' pamphlet. This has been re-interpreted on goforsouls.com, and I would encourage a read. I would say this is one of the best websites for soul winning resources I have ever engaged. Here is the link for the pamphlet.
http://get-saved.org/archives/66
Now, I am not dogging anyone for trying to share Jesus; lets do it, in all ways, to all people. I am just sharing that there are some dangers in being so seeker sensitive that we forget to announce truth in the way Jesus did; even if it is uncomfortable I have failed in this, and at times relied on my own relational personality to bring people to Jesus; and avoided the uncomfortable moments. This is my challenge, and I encourage you to pray about it too. Don't commit the same sin as me, and be tempted to preach and teach comfortable messages, you know the crowd pleases. Let's preach with with boldness, Heaven and Hell; righteousness and sin; and most of all a saviour that can save us from sin through and through, and make us blameless in His presence.
Matt 4:17
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
NIV
Luke 13:3-4
... unless you repent, you too will all perish.
NIV
