Communicate, when necessary use words. Just make sure that you choose them and the order you put them in, carefully.

This post was inspired by the above cartoon I found at Wordsell. They’re sponsoring a little contest and so I might win a Nano. I might not, but anything that serves as inspiration for a post is a good thing. (Ed. note – the contest was in ’08)

So anyway, it got me to thinking about how we as Christians market our message. There seem to be two major means these days as far as the written word is concerned. The first would be the ubiquitous Christian tee. You know the kind I’m talking about, that say things like “Property of Jesus” or the ones that rip off a popular logo. They usually have some sort of scripture verse attached and occasionally that verse might even have something to do with the logo/slogan being put forth. There was a time in my life when little other casual wear existed in my closet. I thought to myself, “Now this, this right here is evangelism!” I honestly thought that someone would see my “Not Without Jesus” tee and immediately fall to their knees in repentance, or something like that. Surprisingly it never worked that way.

The other thing I’m seeing everywhere is the Church Sign. You know what I’m talking about. There have been a hoard of memes thanks to sites that let you create your own. In case you don’t though, in place of the typical Name of Church followed by the times of worship, you get pithy sayings like “Give God what’s right–, not what’s left!” or the ever popular “Make your eternal reservations now— ‘smoking’ or ‘non-smoking’?”. If that doesn’t make you want to veer into the parking lot and jump into the pew…

So what am I saying here? Are the signs or tees bad? No. I still have a few of those shirts left and if the sign is pithy enough I could see it drawing me in, of course I’m already a believer. I think what happens in most cases though is that if any thought occurs in the mind of the unbeliever that sees these attempts at distilling down the gospel into bite-sized chunks, it’s rarely a positive one.

If you really want to communicate the gospel to your community, I would recommend starting with your actions. When necessary, you should certainly use words. Those words need to be filled with love and wisdom and it may take time to use them to good effect. Sure it’s not as funny, but it is in fact What Jesus Did.

Communicate – When Necessary Use Words is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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In any event, Sid (always good for a barb) posited that it might be Evangelism. Both Mer and I reminded him that it was just the last decade that was in discussion. I think perhaps though he has a point. Evangelism, at least the way many folks do it these days, may well be the worst religious idea ever.

So let me paint a picture. I’m Mr. Happy Atheist sitting in my den, drinking vodka from a fifth, chain smoking, and unwinding after having just eaten a baby. Maybe I’m relaxing, trolling the internet looking to pick a fight when my doorbell rings. I throw on my bathrobe and answer the door in a blue rage at having been interrupted. There stand Billy and Bobby Baptist ready to share with me the Good News. They’re all clean cut and shining in their off the rack suits and wielding well worn Bibles in new cases. Depending on how crappy my day has been I might trigger the bucket of bat excrement I’ve been saving for just such an occasion, or I might tear their theology a new one with my ready wit and the knowledge I’ve gleaned from perusing the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible. In any case I am not ready, willing, or able really to hear what it is they’ve got to say.

Now this picture is painted mainly for humor’s sake and for the satirically impaired I know that atheists don’t actually eat babies. The fact is though, the door to door approach hardly seems to be the best approach. Does it work? I honestly don’t know. I don’t have any hard numbers. I will say, however, that I’ve been in Happy’s position after a fashion. We Christians don’t have flashing neon signs over our doors letting our brethren know that we’re in like Flynn. Even if we did though, that wouldn’t stop those from other denominations/religions/etc from knocking on our doors. When that happens my first thought, even provided my own reveries have not been interrupted, is hardly “Let’s have an open mind, shall we?”. I’m ready to either a) shuffle them off as quickly as possible or b) argue with the proverbial fence post. I’ve done both and neither party wins in that situation.

I do believe that we as Christians are called upon to evangelize. It is not optional. We are given a great amount of latitude as to the hows and wherefores. I think that stuff like what Mr. Hume gets taken apart for here:

is a bad idea. Not so much because he’s wrong in saying what he did (other than the thing about proselytizing), but because I can honestly see no clear reason for choosing that particular venue to do it in. He certainly wasn’t confronting Mr. Woods directly and he made a blanket statement about a religion with no person of that religion present to defend themselves. He then gets a little self-righteous about a negative backlash, indicating that it was to be expected. Yes, if you use your bully pulpit to demean another religion you’re going to get crap for it. It’s got nothing to do with Jesus Christ and everything to do with the way you used his name. So all in all, this is an “evangelism” fail.

If you’re going to share the good news with someone there’s a time and a place for it. Yes Jesus went about the country and spoke to the masses. In most cases, so far as I am aware, he did so in places where that was appropriate/expected (and in doing so… still got crap for it). He also talked to individuals, willing individuals. He didn’t harass anyone. He answered questions when asked and generally loved the people he came into contact with (provided they weren’t being jerks about their religion). I don’t think that he, or Paul, or anyone else in the Bible or in much of Church history walked up to random doors and handed out leaflets.

I think what you need to do is love the people you’re around. You put yourself out there in places where you will run into people that don’t agree with you. You make them aware of who you are and what you believe, preferably by your actions more than your words. Maybe you wait to bring up the subject once you’ve gotten to know them. Maybe you invite them to church. Or maybe you just ask them over for supper. God will open the doors that need to be opened. It’s not as “sexy” as walking on the beach and pestering people who are on vacation. It takes time. It’s hard work, the work of a life, not a Sunday afternoon or a Spring Break. I think that’s the Evangelism we’re called to do.

Now here’s the hard part for me. All of the above? I could be wrong. Maybe you’ve had an instance where this has worked for you. Maybe this works well and I’m just not seeing the why or the how. Please, clue me in. Let me know how this works for you and let me know how you spread the good news.

Worst Religious Idea Ever? is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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