As I’m finalizing my preparations for the upcoming “Evangelism for Dummies” sessions at the Cheras Parish (a combination of a number of Lutheran churches in that area) the next four tuesdays and in BLC in November 5-7. I found these statements educational (via Off-the-Map eNewsletter Feb 2002). I thought about some stories I could tell as well … well let’s listen to other people first.
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One by one people made their way to the “wall” to write down some “evangelistic memory” they just as soon forget.
At the wall people were able to cleanse their evangelistic consciences and discover that they weren’t the only ones who had made bad evangelistic decisions for “all the right reasons”
Here’s what we found on the wall at one of our events:
# Some Christian friends and I surrounded a guy at school and told him God wanted him to come to an evangelistic meeting. He came and “prayed the prayer” but was so freaked out that whenever he saw me from then on, he would literally turn and run. I’m sorry.
# 1983-1988 were what I now think of as my “pious years.” During that time I told my Mormon sister she would go to Hell as well as many street people. I never saw one conversion. I’m sorry, Lord.# I slipped and got high with a guy I was trying to witness to, only to have him call me a hypocrite. Please send your word to him now.
# In an attempt to be open with a girl I was interviewing for a job, I asked several questions about her life. She described her very recent wedding that took place in a forest. “Cool,” I said. “What’s your husband’s name?” “Jill” she replied. My mouth dropped down so far, I think it hit my knees. I blew it and didn’t know how to continue.
# I dressed as a woman with balloons for breasts for some awful street drama. God forgive me for scaring so many people.
# I once asked a teen age girl to “pray the prayer” while her mother was present. The mom objected. I prayed with her anyway. God please forgive my abuse.
# I have prayed for the “lost” but I have not loved them, lived with them or invited them. Lord forgive me. I am lost!
# Praying for a girl who had real issues, and when she tried to get up and leave we physically restrained her from leaving. God forgive us.
# A group of us were going to go witness at a psychic fair after church. We met before church in a room adjacent to the sanctuary and proceeded to get in a big fight about how we were going to approach this project. The fight continued right through the service and our yelling got so loud that the pastor had to send someone in to quiet us down. Needless to say, our trip ended up a disaster. (Yes, we still went out and totally blew it.)
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Pretty amusing stories, but also quite telling of the ungrace that Christians sometimes show in their zeal to evangelise. Non-christians then become projects/objects to convert and the goal is saying the “prayer”, which in my opinion doesn’t constitute a conversion. Where is the grace and the love that Jesus examplified when he was on earth?