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Wednesday, May 11, 2005

10. We must allow time for people to process both intellectually and emotionally what they have heard and experienced.
Rather than pursuing a hot-sell, one-shot, close-the-deal approach, those seeking to share the gospel must be prepared to establish long-term friendships. Donald Posterski comments, "Too many over-zealous evangelists believe in microwave evangelism." We have to learn to become good "neighbours." Our neighbours are not simply, or even, the people next door. "Our neighbours are the people who normally intersect our lives in the natural flow of our days and nights." In evangelizing we have to distinguish between those who are culturally near, who will be affirmed in their commitment to Christ by family and friends, and among whom much of the message is already familiar, and those who come to Christ with little prior knowledge and in the face of opposition or ridicule from family and friends. The latter, especially, will need to be helped through the process of "post-decision re-evaluation," in which they become aware of the lifestyle implications of the commitment they have made.
In conclusion, as we evaluate the points addressed in this article, we must always remain open to the surprises of the Holy Spirit, while resisting a tendency to create a strategy out of a single "conversion" incident. We must never lose sight of the fact that the Holy Spirit can and does short-circuit procedures and act contrary to our presuppositions and sense of the right order of things.

Labels: mission, reinventing evangelism