“Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” – Francis of Assisi
In a world where Christians used words more than deeds this was a needed pendulum swing. As the pendulum swings to the other end and Christians rarely use words in public faith proclamation, instead hope that a life well lived will speak volumes for Jesus, I believe we might find that it is more and more necessary to use words. Lifestyle evangelism is powerful and effective in opening doors but it can never by itself (apart from teaching/words) bring someone to faith in Christ. Lifestyle evangelism is like general revelation…just as the stars in the sky can proclaim the existence of the Creator, they still cannot tell the specifics of the Jesus story. That is why God put us here, to proclaim specifics about Jesus to those who need to hear a better story.
So let us live our lives for Jesus and let the world take notice. When the door opens, which is what lifestyle evangelism does, we should be ready to speak.
5 Responses
This is the first time I have heard the term “Lifestyle evangelism”, but it does seem to be the predominate method of trying to convert others. Although the “pulpit preacher” will often tell the laity they need to talk to others about Christ, it is hard to talk to others about Christ when we don’t often talk to each other about Christ within and outside the walls of the church. It is both created by a fear we will say something wrong and a fear we don’t know enough. We depend on the preacher to teach us and also teach the world, after all they are the pros. Most of the preaching to the lost is done to the saved within the assembly, so it is no wonder the world doesn’t hear it. So it is not only “lifestyle evangelism”, but programmed, institutional thinking that accomplishes very little in the real world.
Jesus wasn’t mentioned in the church. How would anyone know how to talk about him?
The irony of having grown up in a very conservative church is that a conversation around the kitchen table of many church members about Jesus, not New Testament authority mind you, but about Jesus himself, would have been met with looks of embarrassment; while most of those I have met over the years who are considered liberal discuss Jesus as easily as they do that morning’s news.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/12/19/white-christianity-is-in-big-trouble-and-its-its-own-biggest-threat/?hpid=hp_regional-hp-cards_rhp-posteverything%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.a5fd40917851
This article says a lot. It goes along with Matt said.
Matt,
I did not find a place to send anyone a message on Wineskins. The message I thought I needed to explain was that I was trying to click on author Bobby in the drop down to see other posts and it always defaulted to Dan. Tried this many times, others seemed to work ok.