Today’s step was INVITE. You’ll never guess what it was all about.
Phillippians 2:1-11 was the text today, and focused on how our attitude should be humble and Christ-like when we are reaching out to our community. Look, to be super honest I had a migraine and didn’t really take much in today, but from what I vaguely remember it was scripturally sound. It was good to be reminded that just because someone refuses one invitation doesn’t mean that they will refuse all invitations, so keep pestering them until they tell you to stop.
It concerned me a bit that this step seemed to take us away from talking about Jesus and more into the realm of inviting people to events so that someone else can talk to them about Jesus. Which disappoints me, but maybe I missed something. Like I said, I was only half there. I think it would be really useful to keep a course like this focussed on teaching pepole to talk about Jesus clearly and accurately instead of letting people stay in the zone of thinking evangelism is inviting people to hear message. It can be that, sure, but it is probably more effective when people reach out in love to share the good news at a grass roots level.
"...I can't think of any other real purpose for which God has Christians on this planet other than to help bring his chosen ones into his kingdom through the proclamation of the gospel..." 
"...I have also been transformed in my thinking by the WOTM evangelism teaching and wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone. I enjoy sound doctrine and the occasional foray into apologetics." 
"...I have always desired to see people become Christians... I now know that I am being highly effective when I witness to friends and strangers because they are hearing the biblical gospel that can save them." 
Desiring God: 
Evangelism Action 
“It was good to be reminded that just because someone refuses one invitation doesn’t mean that they will refuse all invitations, so keep pestering them until they tell you to stop.”
Is that what they really said? That seems to me like it would border on harassment. Not saying that you would necessarily harass anyone, but that’s how it read.
Also, what do you consider being told to stop? Many people don’t like confrontation, so would “no thanks” result in repeatably coming back?
I do see what you mean Morse, however I am comfortable knowing that all of us doing the study are thinking feeling adults who are unlikely to robotically obey everything we are told without thought for the other person. No, the word pestering was mine. We are all able to tell when our friends have heard enough.
If you’ve had someone pestering you and they haven’t stopped, try respectfully telling them to.
I find it hard to do confrontation!
So my evangelism often suffers on the other end of the scale. I read their body language etc in the lead up to inviting, and pull out if they seem to be receiving it negatively. Which could end up equally as ineffective as a pester-er. I guess a healthy balance and a real genuine concern for the individual will help to make sure the mix of persistence and respect is right. I also think, that if we ask once (at least!!!) and then commit it to the Lord in prayer, we can often find that months even years down the track the person can come back, knowing that the offer will still stand, and take you up on it, when they have been worked on over time by the Holy Spirit, through their life and experiences.
Just thoughts.
🙂
Well, if what you want to do is ask once and then go pray on it, I have absolutely no problem with that! 🙂
If you did that you’d be much nicer than the evangelicals in my area.
Hi Chris,
Checked out your new atheism blog. Just a trivial question, (I know its your surname but) can you take/send Morse code? I had to qualify at 25wpm with 95% acc years ago when I was in the Navy.
Chris you’re right – being nice is important in human interactions, so we wouldn’t literally pester anyone. In following Christ we are continually reminded of our own sinfulness and need for God’s grace to work in our lives so we want to extend this to those around us. You seemed to pick up on the importance of ‘niceness’ in your post about Miller: “He does an excellent job of explaining evolution and debunking ID as a science, and he does both with kindness, intelligence and humor.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think being kind towards others is one of your strong points.
At ea we want to be ‘nice’ in our evangelism efforts. This is part of presenting the message of the gospel. If someone is offended, they should only be offended at the gospel itself. The bible even reveals that some people will be offended by the gospel.
Jesus himself was keen to not cause offence (Matthew 17v27) but people will be offended by Jesus:
Christ Crucified for sinners is what we have to share with you and others – this message will offend people – we are all rebels against God and we don’t like hearing this. We will do anything and everything within our power to resist this message.
Chris, I think I understand where you are coming from mate. I have spent quite a deal of time recently discussing ID vs BE. https://evangelismaction.wordpress.com/category/evolution/ Check it out if you have time.
Thanks again for revisiting ea.
What I was getting at with knowing when someone has had enough was that we can tell what kinds of events someone mght be interested in, so can ask them along with a genuine concern for them, but also the genuine belief that they will enjoy it. I was not espousing that we should necessarily wait until they are hiding in a cupboard when they see us coming to stop inviting them to stuff.
Like Georgie, I and almost all the other Christians I knoware way over at the other side of the spectrum, not asking people because we think they might say no. There is a healthy balance to be found in the middle. The word pester was a poor choice, Ididn’t mean to encourage some kind of evangelistic stalking, rather to suggest that most of us could make the effort much more often with our friends without risking goinf too far.
Dan,
Thanks for checking out my blog. I try my best to be a nice guy, at least when people are nice to me.
Morse, unfortunately, is just my surname. I have no facility in Morse code beyond SOS. If family legend is true I may be related to Samuel F.B. Morse, but that’s as far as it goes.
I’ll give your evolution posts more attention later, but there is one comment I wanted to make:
“Tom discussed the irreducible complexity of the flagellum motor on a bacterium.”
I would urge you, if you haven’t, to watch the Miller video. (I know, it’s long!) He does a great job of explaining how the flagellum motor can be understood to have existed through natural selection.
But that’s enough about evolution for now. If you want to debate or discuss, you know where to find me, and I’ll check back here occasionally.
Cheers!