Ever heard a presentation of the Gospel that went something like this? Or perhaps you have approached evangelism this way yourself?
“We all know who God is don’t we? He’s the Big Guy and you’ve been avoiding Him haven’t you? Allow me to latch onto some guilt feelings you’ve experienced. Let me call that ‘conviction of sin’. And now let me promise relief from those feelings if you’ll only return to the Big Guy and bring this speech with you. I guarantee it’ll work (becausetherewasthisthingcalledthecrosswhichyoudon’tneedtoknowaboutnow butIneedtocrowbaritinbecausethesewordsaremagic). Anyway, the ball is now in your court. It’s all down to you. If you’re up to the challenge, carefully repeat this prayer after me…” The whole paradigm is one in which “God” is taken for granted, Jesus is a helpful mechanism to fix the guilt problem but the real Name above all names is Decision before Whom all must bow in self-willed surrender. Almighty Decision towers above you, are you equal to His call?
I stumbled upon this blog post on Christ The Truth. I am convinced that evangelism is a responsibility of every Christian. The presentation of the Gospel message with a heavy handed call to a quick decision often sounds like a Tommy Mayes sales pitch for Oxyclean or Miracle Wax. There are some good reasons for changing our methods besides the obvious that they often turn people away from our message. And besides if we are successful that way are we really drawing people to Christ or simply creating a temporary fix for the twinge of guilt that we suggested?
When we focus instead on Christ and who he is there are some major advantages.
"Decision is dethroned. We don’t so much tell the world to believe in Jesus. Far more than this, we tell the world about Jesus such that they do believe (Steve Holmes). Because faith is a response to contemplating Christ. The spotlight does not fall on the listener and their willingness to summon up the necessary response. The spotlight falls on Christ Himself."
Read the post here on Christ The Truth
http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/christ-centred-evangelism/
“We all know who God is don’t we? He’s the Big Guy and you’ve been avoiding Him haven’t you? Allow me to latch onto some guilt feelings you’ve experienced. Let me call that ‘conviction of sin’. And now let me promise relief from those feelings if you’ll only return to the Big Guy and bring this speech with you. I guarantee it’ll work (becausetherewasthisthingcalledthecrosswhichyoudon’tneedtoknowaboutnow butIneedtocrowbaritinbecausethesewordsaremagic). Anyway, the ball is now in your court. It’s all down to you. If you’re up to the challenge, carefully repeat this prayer after me…” The whole paradigm is one in which “God” is taken for granted, Jesus is a helpful mechanism to fix the guilt problem but the real Name above all names is Decision before Whom all must bow in self-willed surrender. Almighty Decision towers above you, are you equal to His call?
I stumbled upon this blog post on Christ The Truth. I am convinced that evangelism is a responsibility of every Christian. The presentation of the Gospel message with a heavy handed call to a quick decision often sounds like a Tommy Mayes sales pitch for Oxyclean or Miracle Wax. There are some good reasons for changing our methods besides the obvious that they often turn people away from our message. And besides if we are successful that way are we really drawing people to Christ or simply creating a temporary fix for the twinge of guilt that we suggested?
When we focus instead on Christ and who he is there are some major advantages.
"Decision is dethroned. We don’t so much tell the world to believe in Jesus. Far more than this, we tell the world about Jesus such that they do believe (Steve Holmes). Because faith is a response to contemplating Christ. The spotlight does not fall on the listener and their willingness to summon up the necessary response. The spotlight falls on Christ Himself."
Read the post here on Christ The Truth
http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/christ-centred-evangelism/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment.