Sharing our Faith
Acts 8:26-40
If you peruse the evangelism section in most Christian bookstores, it is easy to find all kinds of resources on the subject. Ways to hold tent revival meetings, outreach suppers, membership drives… it’s all kinds of gimmicks, it seems to be able to get people to come in through the doors. Many of these resources will tell you that if you just follow this particular plan, this specific set of instructions, then you will see unprecedented growth in your congregation… etc. etc. etc. The problem is, there is a multitude of these resources out there, but in practice, hardly any of them seem to work… particularly in our mainline protestant denominations.
The problem with these evangelism books is that they presume that everyone wants to do evangelism… so they tell us step-by-step how to do it. To be honest, research has shown that people would rather get a root canal then to even think about evangelism. Many of us have been raised that there are certain topics that you do not bring up in polite company… religion and politics… and to be honest out of those two we would probably pick the latter. Part of it comes out of not wanting to offend, part of it comes out of a discomfort of disclosing a very private part of who we are… and not wishing to be judged by others for it. There are a whole myriad of reasons for it, and in the end, the root canal without freezing often seems to be the more palatable option. We have a great deal of trouble articulating even the “why” about sharing our faith. Until we can even answer that basic question of “why” then no amount of books or revival efforts are going to make a difference… and we may even find them disastrously counter-productive. Our very culture is working against us.
We don’t particularly enjoy the image of people beating others over the head with lead-lined Bibles. While it is very much a caricature of what it is, the dark spots on our past like the crusades, the inquisition have not helped us any.
For a moment, let’s look at the story from Acts, Philip and the Ethiopian Court Official.
Tell the story from Acts… pointing out these differences:
1. When Philip encounters the Ethiopian, he doesn’t come in with guns blazing or Bibles flying.
a. What he does is sit down with the person after being invited to do so, to try and listen to where they are in life.
2. Note that Philip doesn’t have a Bible, or a scroll of his own. The Ethiopian official already has it, and has an interest and is already reading… and he already has questions of his own.
a. Philip tries to help him understand it by sharing with him his own understanding of Isaiah and how it relates to Jesus.
b. It is only when Philip is invited does he simply share his faith and his experience of his faith in Jesus.
3. The Ethiopian’s response is probably far more than what Philip expects, and points to a nearby water source, saying… hey, why can’t I get baptized now??
a. Notice that at no point does Philip coerce or compel the Ethiopian to make a decision about his faith. If anything it’s the Ethiopian who is moving ahead quickly on this.
A few lessons learned: Faith sharing is not about persuasion or coercion. It is simply that, talking about how we understand God working in our lives. It is not about compelling others to make a decision… but simply sharing what is good news, and how it makes a difference for us. Not once does Philip pull the Ethiopian to water… all he does is listen, and then share. Nothing more. It is the Ethiopian who responds by asking to be baptized… he is not pressured… he is not persuaded… he’s not browbeaten or pressured into making his own decision about his faith.
All Philip does is share his thoughts and his experience. That’s it. That’s all. At the leading of the Holy Spirit, Philip shares with the Ethiopian official… someone who is very much seen as am exotic foreigner and an outsider… an alien even… but Philip overcomes his misgivings, and through listening and having a conversation Philip helps him move into a deeper relationship with God.
If anything, we can describe “evangelism” as “anything we do to help another person move closer to a relationship with God, or into Christian community,”
But there’s another piece to that. We have been using Natural Church Development as a diagnostic tool for ourselves as a congregation since 2008. As a refresher, the basic idea behind NCD is that through research churches have discovered that there are eight quality characteristics that make for a healthy church. If a church is healthy in all eight areas, the church will naturally grow as God has designed it to. We have focused a great deal on Passionate Spirituality, because while we are doing quite well in five out of the eight characteristics, we suffer from “Presbyterianitis” when it comes to even talking about our faith, never mind sharing it with others. Closely linked to Passionate Spirituality is another characteristic called “Needs-oriented Evangelism.” Not surprisingly, the next area that may well need our attention will most likely be here.
But before we go searching for the root canal that we’d rather have, we need to pay more attention to the adjective… those words describing evangelism. A church that is healthy in evangelism is church that practices “Needs-oriented” evangelism. In other words, in order to share good news, in order to share our faith, it must be done by first taking into account the needs of the one that we are sharing with. If we don’t sit with, listen to, understand, and develop trust with those around us, then how can we possibly address their needs? How is that good news?
When Philip listens and then shares, I imagine that he was probably surprised by the Ethiopian’s immediate request to be baptized. He may not have been expecting such a rapid response… more than just “thank you, I’ll think about it…” but “what’s stopping me from being baptized now? Look! Water!”
What we learn from Philip’s encounter is that sharing our faith comes from building trust, and doing so even with people that are so completely alien to our experience. It comes from listening… and it is not about persuasion, it is not about manipulation.It is about being honest and genuine and open about our faith. How people respond to our sharing may be muted, it may be subdued, but it may also be enthusiastic beyond what we might think!
Amen.
If you peruse the evangelism section in most Christian bookstores, it is easy to find all kinds of resources on the subject. Ways to hold tent revival meetings, outreach suppers, membership drives… it’s all kinds of gimmicks, it seems to be able to get people to come in through the doors. Many of these resources will tell you that if you just follow this particular plan, this specific set of instructions, then you will see unprecedented growth in your congregation… etc. etc. etc. The problem is, there is a multitude of these resources out there, but in practice, hardly any of them seem to work… particularly in our mainline protestant denominations.
The problem with these evangelism books is that they presume that everyone wants to do evangelism… so they tell us step-by-step how to do it. To be honest, research has shown that people would rather get a root canal then to even think about evangelism. Many of us have been raised that there are certain topics that you do not bring up in polite company… religion and politics… and to be honest out of those two we would probably pick the latter. Part of it comes out of not wanting to offend, part of it comes out of a discomfort of disclosing a very private part of who we are… and not wishing to be judged by others for it. There are a whole myriad of reasons for it, and in the end, the root canal without freezing often seems to be the more palatable option. We have a great deal of trouble articulating even the “why” about sharing our faith. Until we can even answer that basic question of “why” then no amount of books or revival efforts are going to make a difference… and we may even find them disastrously counter-productive. Our very culture is working against us.
We don’t particularly enjoy the image of people beating others over the head with lead-lined Bibles. While it is very much a caricature of what it is, the dark spots on our past like the crusades, the inquisition have not helped us any.
For a moment, let’s look at the story from Acts, Philip and the Ethiopian Court Official.
Tell the story from Acts… pointing out these differences:
1. When Philip encounters the Ethiopian, he doesn’t come in with guns blazing or Bibles flying.
a. What he does is sit down with the person after being invited to do so, to try and listen to where they are in life.
2. Note that Philip doesn’t have a Bible, or a scroll of his own. The Ethiopian official already has it, and has an interest and is already reading… and he already has questions of his own.
a. Philip tries to help him understand it by sharing with him his own understanding of Isaiah and how it relates to Jesus.
b. It is only when Philip is invited does he simply share his faith and his experience of his faith in Jesus.
3. The Ethiopian’s response is probably far more than what Philip expects, and points to a nearby water source, saying… hey, why can’t I get baptized now??
a. Notice that at no point does Philip coerce or compel the Ethiopian to make a decision about his faith. If anything it’s the Ethiopian who is moving ahead quickly on this.
A few lessons learned: Faith sharing is not about persuasion or coercion. It is simply that, talking about how we understand God working in our lives. It is not about compelling others to make a decision… but simply sharing what is good news, and how it makes a difference for us. Not once does Philip pull the Ethiopian to water… all he does is listen, and then share. Nothing more. It is the Ethiopian who responds by asking to be baptized… he is not pressured… he is not persuaded… he’s not browbeaten or pressured into making his own decision about his faith.
All Philip does is share his thoughts and his experience. That’s it. That’s all. At the leading of the Holy Spirit, Philip shares with the Ethiopian official… someone who is very much seen as am exotic foreigner and an outsider… an alien even… but Philip overcomes his misgivings, and through listening and having a conversation Philip helps him move into a deeper relationship with God.
If anything, we can describe “evangelism” as “anything we do to help another person move closer to a relationship with God, or into Christian community,”
But there’s another piece to that. We have been using Natural Church Development as a diagnostic tool for ourselves as a congregation since 2008. As a refresher, the basic idea behind NCD is that through research churches have discovered that there are eight quality characteristics that make for a healthy church. If a church is healthy in all eight areas, the church will naturally grow as God has designed it to. We have focused a great deal on Passionate Spirituality, because while we are doing quite well in five out of the eight characteristics, we suffer from “Presbyterianitis” when it comes to even talking about our faith, never mind sharing it with others. Closely linked to Passionate Spirituality is another characteristic called “Needs-oriented Evangelism.” Not surprisingly, the next area that may well need our attention will most likely be here.
But before we go searching for the root canal that we’d rather have, we need to pay more attention to the adjective… those words describing evangelism. A church that is healthy in evangelism is church that practices “Needs-oriented” evangelism. In other words, in order to share good news, in order to share our faith, it must be done by first taking into account the needs of the one that we are sharing with. If we don’t sit with, listen to, understand, and develop trust with those around us, then how can we possibly address their needs? How is that good news?
When Philip listens and then shares, I imagine that he was probably surprised by the Ethiopian’s immediate request to be baptized. He may not have been expecting such a rapid response… more than just “thank you, I’ll think about it…” but “what’s stopping me from being baptized now? Look! Water!”
What we learn from Philip’s encounter is that sharing our faith comes from building trust, and doing so even with people that are so completely alien to our experience. It comes from listening… and it is not about persuasion, it is not about manipulation.It is about being honest and genuine and open about our faith. How people respond to our sharing may be muted, it may be subdued, but it may also be enthusiastic beyond what we might think!
Amen.
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