Evangelism: A Manifesto

Evangelism

What a loaded word. For some it brings a feeling of intense fear/embarrassment, for others there is a sense of guilt surrounding it, and still for others a sense of pain or simply annoyance.

The whole thing is really just sharing our faith with those we know and love... Seems simple enough.

Shouldn't evangelism be something we are as opposed to something we do? Our entire lives should be emanating the light of Christ. Shouldn't we simply live lives that clearly illustrate the Gospel of Christ rather than memorizing cheesy slogans/diagrams and handing out condemning tracts on street corners whenever we schedule it into our week/month/year?

One of the women from the church I work at said:
"It's like we build it up to a whole huge thing and we get so scared of messing something up or not knowing something that it gets to the point where we're so terrified of the idea of discussing faith that we avoid it all together..."

I think there's a lot of validity in that statement... We don't need to deliver a certain number of truths or a specific doctrine in a clear organized manner to be sharing Christ's love with someone...

Doesn't a simple act of service speak louder? How about a genuine conversation that contains no trace of condemnation or judgment? How about allowing the passion you have for Christ's work in this world to find its place in your regular interactions throughout the day, rather than awkwardly trying to fit cheesy cliches and loaded questions into those interactions...

Now at the same time I don't want to encourage sitting around doing nothing... I've heard that message... "Preach the Gospel, use words when necessary!" And in some ways that's exactly what I'm musing about here, but I'm fearful (because it has been the case in my own experience) that clinging too tightly to this can become an excuse for laziness and timidity.

I can't always find that balance, and definitely can't find that for you...

Maybe you are that taxi driver who asks every person who enters their cab if they know Jesus Christ, not because you are filling a quota, but because you are so legitimately excited about Christ's work in your life that you can't help but let that enter the conversation...

Or maybe you are the mom who won't let your kids friends sleep over at the house on a Saturday night unless the kids join in going to church the next morning because "as for you and your house you will serve the Lord"

Or maybe you are that college student who visits the same pizza place week after week and as you get to know the guy who works the counter at the same time every week you begin to share more and more of each others lives...

Either way, the Glory of God is not something we can suppress, smother, or snuff out... We must allow our lives to speak of His wonders and make His name known in this world.

Wheeeeeee!!!

I haven't actually posted anything in quite a while... I've got some posts in progress that I never got around to putting up, but I felt inspired... I'm back...

So I'm on the tail end of a slide...

I have less than 3 months of my Trinity Christian College career left.. wow...

I feel as though I am on the tail end of a slide at the playground. You know how you start out and it's kinda scary, and you are hesitant at first, but once you go for it you pick up speed and pick up speed until the slide levels out and ends?

I'm about to level out.

Life is flying by faster than it ever has before, and I am just trying to get the most out of each day...

This means that my Academic life is suffering, and my wallet is continuously growing thinner and thinner, but at least I am enjoying the company of people and trying to make myself available rather than cloistered...

All in all I am excited about what is going on so far this semester... I have been taking more and more time to enjoy life and avoid responsibility (probably not a great thing) and I have been learning to keep my eyes open a bit more for God's hand in my presence...

So in conclusion (I'm a senior now, so I have finally learned that every paper has to have a clearly identified conclusive statement)... I'm doing my best to say WHEEEEEE!!! as the slide starts to level out and I prepare to go flying off into the mulch to get my butt dirty...

Kiss of Betrayal

I've been working my way through the book of Mark for about 2 months... This is depressing... It hasn't taken me this long because of the depth of my reading (though sometimes I really focus on small sections), but rather how intermittent my scripture reading has been (I am reading other stuff... but I have been guilty of spending more time on books about the Bible than the Bible itself which is lame and I'm working on it...)

Anyway...

I just read for the one hundred sixty third time the betrayal of Christ... and the kiss of Judas is really bothering me...

At the moment where Judas is finishing his whole brilliant plan of betraying the Master and Commander of the entire Universe, he doesn't point him out from a distance and then scurry away from the wrath that he should surely incur... Rather, he gets right up in the face of the man he is about to hand over, and kisses him...

Yikes...

The final step of the plan is one of the most intimate actions that occurs in a relationship (next to holding hands... but that is my own ridiculous rant that I will save for a more opportune time). He gets right up in there and pretends everything is normal.

Peter jumps up flailing a sword, and then later we see him betraying Christ in his own way...

So what about me...

I am quick to jump up and defend Christ or my interpretation of Christ's teachings in some arenas... But then how often do I betray him... Be it publicly or in my own personal struggles... And as I betray him how often do I step up and kiss him on the cheek... How often do I spend Sunday mornings praising him, and then spend the rest of the day judging people, gossiping, slandering, lusting, coveting, backing down or remaining silent in conversations with my extended family...

If I'm honest, I betray Christ so often it's just ridiculous... How lukewarm am I? I'm reading Crazy Love right now, and there's a whole chapter devoted to being lukewarm... it's crazy, scary, convicting, and depressing... I have spent the last week and a half repenting of who I have become...

I guess I am just trying to acknowledge that I need to change...

I have become self-absorbed, self-glorifying, selfish, prideful, bitter, insecure, bored, and jaded... I betray Christ constantly with my decisions, my attitudes, and certainly my actions...

Judas just helped me realize how even when I draw near to Christ, I am in danger of my intentions being more along the lines of trying to go through the motions of being close to God, while meanwhile I have so many other motives that I have no business even muttering the name of our Lord....

God Help Me...

True Confessions.. duh duh duhhhhhh...

Interesting experience... As swarms of trendy/artsy looking individuals and men that look like old washed up pastors looking for the next trend to latch on to scurry from session to session, I can't help but feel a bit out of place...

I'm not trendy... And I'd like to think I don't think I qualify as a person looking to hook up with the next trend (which will prove to be hollow as people attempt to replicate methods without genuine/authentic heart behind it, but that's a different post)...

So I'm stuck somewhere in the middle...

I find myself in this position quite a bit... I frequently don't feel like I actually belong or fit in... I know that almost everyone would say they feel like this so it's completely normal, blah, blah, blah, but I really am at a weird place...

I don't fit in at work/church... long story with lots of thoughts... I'll save it for later...
I don't fit in with my age group... I'm a college kid still... Often I feel like I'm surrounded by all these trendy individuals listening to music I've never heard of, wearing clothes I can't pull off, and using words I have to look up... I used to be cool... Now I'm old...
I don't fit in with friends. I feel awkward all the time (something I do to myself... and which I often take joy in...) and I often feel pretty lonely...
I sometimes don't even fit in with my family... How lame is that! I have an awesome family, but I've been at school for the last 3 years... sometimes I need to ask my brother where things are in the house because they've moved around... Sometimes my family has inside jokes that I'm not a part of (seriously lame!!!)...

It's a weird place and I don't like it... I've got a few things I'm trying to move past this, but I still feel a bit stuck...

I know I'm surrounded by people that love me... My family rocks, I have friends, and I have a little support at church/work (very little)... but I still feel like I can complain (a major failing in my life).

I don't know where I'm going with all this... It started as an acknowledgement of visible differences at this conference and ended in wollowing in self-pity...
But I guess there's always light at the end of the tunnel...
A savior that carries us through times that we feel alone...
Scripture littered with promises and prophecies...

And in the end, Jesus loves me, this I know...

Leaning Forward

We're comfortable...

We're comfortable with routine, we're comfortable with expectations, we're comfortable with the standard, and we're comfortable with sustaining...

In a recent conversation with a friend I was talking about the Praise&Worship ministry that I am a leader of at school... I was talking about a vision where rather than the community of worshipers leaning forward to and anticipating each Thursday night worship gathering, they would view it as an opportunity to lean back or "touch down"...

By this I mean that the community would be reaching out in this world and seeking out God's face in the hungry, the oppressed, the naked, and the voiceless, and then would take our worship gathering as a time to meet as a community that cries out to the Lord through song and builds each other up...

Too often I receive comments from people that make it seem that our gathering is the one hour they come to get filled up and then rather than spending the other 167 hours of the week pouring out the Love of Christ and being the hands and feet of God, they self-indulge and sit around waiting for the next week of "emotional pump up time".

I am far from adequate... I am selfish, prideful, undisciplined, jealous, reserved, and awkward... So I am by no means saying that I have got things under wraps, but I am currently trying to lean forward in my life, rather than always leaning back and then jumping to attention during Sunday morning or Thursday night "worship".

I don't know if this analogy works... It makes sense in my mind, but one of my failings is communication... so if this is nothing more than a giant rambling for you I am sorry, but it has helped me work a few things out... so maybe this post is just for me...

And that's all I have to say about that...