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 Lifestyle Evangelism for the PastorGiven a pastor’s lifestyle, is lifestyle evangelism even possible? One pastor’s refreshing discovery.
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I gave one couple a book to read (Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis) and invited the husband to lunch to talk about it. We had a great discussion, but he said he wasn't religious. He also said he'd like our wives to meet. For the next eight years, we spent time with them. We talked about the Bible, laughed, argued about politics. We especially enjoyed going out for desserts together. One time they watched with amusement as my wife and I argued about what she ordered for dessert and how much it cost. On another occasion, he suggested we each order a different dessert and then pass them around the table. He will always tease me for my hesitation. He wondered if I was worried about catching aids through this. I shared in the birth of their two children and the death of her father. We even attended the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ, together and talked about Jesus the rest of the evening. They questioned us about our belief in hell, about Jesus being the only way to God, and about our values. One evening we invited them to a religious discussion with a friend from the local college. He presented a statement about what made Christianity unique, but it was academic and hard to understand. When we opened it up for discussion, the fur flew! Another time she said she thought she was a Christian but not the way we defined it. Another discussion followed. Eight years after we began, they said yes to joining our community Bible study. At first they sat quietly, but gradually they were drawn in. As we read and discussed Scripture, we watched God do his work in them. One night she said, "Trusting in Christ for salvation is what makes me a Christian, isn't it?" Today even though we have moved, they listen to my sermon tapes weekly. It's About LoveWe hired a young woman to help my wife with housework. Her family was broken, and she was lonely. She had a terribly dysfunctional family. Half the time this woman was said to be cleaning our house was spent talking to my wife. We discovered she was studying different religions to see what she would believe. We jumped at the opportunity. She attended a Bible study with my wife for a year. I had some long discussions with her about the gospel. She seemed so open, but at the end of that time she became a Mormon! We were distraught. One Saturday we brought in a cult specialist to talk with her. There at our kitchen table, he grilled her, but she remained in her newfound faith. Heartbroken, we discovered her reason for choosing Mormonism was their sense of family. She didn't understand most of their theology, but she knew they loved her. Our approach of assaulting her with truth was wrong. We should have taken her into our home to get her out of a bad family. |             | |||||||||||||||||||
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