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“It’s easy to see without looking too far that not much is really sacred.” – Bob Dylan, It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding
Evangelization. The very word makes the smallest hairs on the back of my neck stand up and say “Well I’ll be damned.” Nearly.
Growing up in a Baptist church, I learned early on that one of the main things we do is, well, baptize people. We save souls from the fires of Hell and then dunk ‘em in water to make sure the flames are out.
Most of the time I felt like I wasn’t a real Christian because I didn’t do this. I wasn’t telling every single person I knew about any person of the Trinity, let alone all three of them. Some days the deepest my conversations ever got were “What’s the meat today at the cafeteria?” I felt like I wasn’t doing my “Christian duty” because I had never converted someone, or had them say the “sinner’s prayer,” or any other number of other human measures of spirituality (see Amercian McChristianity).
Hopefully this won’t sound arrogant, but I know I’ve had at least one positive impact on a kid who eventually became a Christian because I befriended him. Though he was always tailing me at the church, I hardly ever talked to him about “God-things.” I was his friend, or at least tried to be (people who know me know I’m not all that social). As it was, someone else “led him to Christ,” as the terminology goes. (Church terminology is an article in itself!) The falsity in that statement is that it was Christ that led this youth to Christ. Think about that one.
Of course there are Christians who literally annoy the hell out of a person. Round the clock cheerfulness can really ruin a grumpy person’s day. Eventually that grumpy person has to relent, but I digress.
I don’t feel bad about not evangelizing every single person I see or know. Should I have more compassion and love and empathy for my fellow human beings? Most definitely. Should I hope they know of God’s love? Of course. Should I feel bad if I never “evangelize” a person? Maybe, but I don’t think so.
First – God’s love is unconditional. That’s a broad statement. If I never “saved” another person (another false statement), God would still love me, would still have sent His Son to die for me. That doesn’t give me a license to do anything (see Paul’s letters), but it does lighten my religious burden. I no longer feel the pressure to measure up to Billy Graham (or measure down to Robert Tilton).
I’m suggesting a new paradigm for “evangelization,” which is actually an old paradigm.
We live in America (duh). Christianity and America were inseparable words a few decades ago. That’s not so much the case anymore, but it’s close. Christianity has invaded the culture. This is a good thing, right? Just yesterday I heard “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever” over the speaker system at Best Buy! I see television ads for “Worship Songs,” the whole 520 CD set, yours for only $19.95!
We were told to spread the gospel, but we sure do lay it on thinly.
American Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep. It’s McChristianity. Drive in on a Sunday. Grab a handout from your McPastor, super-size it please. Get your fill. Give your offering. Drive off till next week. Same McTime. Same McChurch.
Ever since Jesus said “Go and do likewise,” we supposed He was talking about all that baptizing stuff. And since those two sentences were linked together as the last words He said before He ascended, I guess that’s the right interpretation. Or is it?
Ever since He left in bodily form, Christians (the “strong” Christians…another false description) have been trying to evangelize the world. Wars have been fought because of this stuff. Isn’t that ironic? Don’t you think? Remember those Crusades?
“Convert or die” doesn’t seem much like an exercise of free will.
Nowadays it seems that the motto is “Convert or I won’t be your friend.”
But I digress…again, and not for the last time either.
So Christians have always been looking for ways to get the most number of people “saved” in the shortest amount of time. (Hmmm…that doesn’t sound like fast food at all now does it?). First was the Gutenberg Bible, then radio much later on, then television, and finally the internet, the piece of technology that virtually encompasses the globe.
(Quick thought, more irony – the reason televangelists have such a bad rap was because of sexual escapades. What’s a more popular search on the internet? Christianity or sex?)
As it is, Christians with good intentions (they probably grew up in a traditional, if not a Baptist, church) decided that people needed to be “saved,” and quickly. So they do their business (isn’t it a business?), people are “saved,” their flames are doused. Then what?
I think the church has forgotten to issue fire-retardant suits to everyone. Or maybe too many people have these suits. (Digression is an A.D.D. writer’s best friend.)
C.S. Lewis once said that if we’re not making forward progress in the Christian life, in essence if we’re complacent, then we’re inevitably falling, slipping, sliding back, as if falling down an inclined plane. He said it much more concisely than that though.
Too many churches leave too many people sliding. Once they’ve got their “fire insurance,” they’re good to go…to Heaven. I once read that people with this “fire insurance” don’t realize the benefits of the whole policy. The church, for the most part, has decided to keep these things in the small print. God wants to help me with my every day problems, even my finances, my teenagers!? No way. He really cares? Dude!
Churches are focusing on “discipleship” now. Making sure that the people who get through their doors and get dunked in their waters become Christians with deep beliefs and who daily experience incredible intimacy with God. I don’t know how they do this. I know there’s a number of techniques or Bible studies or programs that these people yearning to grow may go through. But how about this?
Instead of getting the pastor or the “top dog” in your congregation to do all of the “evangelizing,” why not do it yourself? WHAT? Didn’t I just say that God still loves me even if I don’t do this? Yes, but…
What if you only felt responsible for one person? Or a few in your lifetime? Instead of seeing fifty of your acquaintances come to know Christ on a superficial level (which could be more harmful for them and you in the long run), what if five of your very closest friends knew God in such an intimate way that you, the long-time Christian, learned of God’s depths from them, instead of vice-versa? And since they have such a close relationship with God, they’ll want to bring their closest friends into the fold of God’s care. And their friends, and on, and on. Maybe then our churches would really be families of God, not acquaintances who put on a smile and shake a hand when the pastor gives the cue.
The image I see is that of a factor tree. At least that's what I think it's called. Instead of the pastor "evangelizing" 100 people in a year, why don't you "evangelize" two, simply by your relationship with them? Then these two "evangelize" two more, and then those two maybe four more, and on, and on, and on into eternity.
This is what Jesus did, right? He started out with 12 close friends, as well as “mass evangelism” for His time. But He had a core group that knew Him very well, and they carried Christianity to the rest of the world.
Not much is really sacred anymore, and it’s not too hard to see that. We’ve diluted Christianity in order to get a larger following. Sometimes we disguise our motives (more people means more money for the church, right?) and we fool ourselves into believing that we’re following God’s plan. He told us to do it, right? So we do it. But why? Do we want people to always be frustrated with their relationship with God and other people simply because they only experience God on a shallow level? Or do we care enough about our friends to help them along to a much deeper intimacy with our Creator?
If you eat too much McChristian food, you’ll have no room for the feast that awaits.