Evangelism

Seems like people whom you talk to can be classified according to these.

1) The Interested. This is of course the best people to share to. They will ask questions, listen to you talk, and are really interested. I have no idea why, but I don’t seem to meet many of them. Among this group, there are those who are interested in the religion and there are those who are interested in finding out meaning for life etc. The first group are more like researchers who are finding out more about a new topic. The later are the searchers.

2) The reverse “Apologist”. This is the type that would reason with you. They would argue, find reasons against. I seem to encounter these people more than any other type. The good news is that they are usually reasonable. I personally think that most of these arguments are only a screen for not wanting to believe. Not always, but sometimes. I also think that reasoning with them is not enough. It cannot produce faith in God. It can only remove obstacles to faith in God. Somehow, I don’t think I had ever convinced people about the reality of God despite doing fairly well in taking down arguments against God.

3) The obstinate. These are the people who do not want to hear about God, and will not reason with you. I have no idea why either. Thankfully, I rarely meet these people.

4) The polite listener. They will just listen to you politely, without commitment or much comments. They may or may not agree with what you are saying. Either way, they will not do much.

Then, I am faced with this interesting question. Who should I talk to? If I look into the New Testament, obviously Peter did not ask permission to speak before he gave the sermon where 3000 people were saved. So, some may say that we should just talk to anyone. But there is a problem. I have a friend who says that she is repelled by Christianity because they are so pushy. They drag people to church. That is a reason for them not to believe in Jesus. It sort of confirmed what I heard from another friend of mine, who said that Street evangelism has this disadvantage, in that the people may not really be interested, and they may be repelled by this sort of pushy evangelism. If I must, I will also cite the example of Jesus in his hometown, where he did not perform many acts because the people were not receptive. Then again, people need the Lord whether or not they want Him. But it is also written “do not cast pearls to the pigs”. I don’t know. Previously, I talk to anyone. But hearing this, I do not know.

By the Lord’s grace, type 2, 3 and 4 can become type 1 people. I had seen a couple of these cases and they are always very encouraging. I think that this is the reason why “life testimony” is very important. Sometimes, it is the light shining forth and the good deeds of Christian that cause people to glorify God. But the reverse is also true. There are some people who cite the Bad deeds done by Christians in the name of God as reasons for why they do not believe in God. The worse thing is that I cannot say that these are false, because they are true.

I also realize that when I talk to people, I had never done the last part before. I don’t dare to ask people if they want to accept Christ as their Lord and savior even if they seem to be very interested. But it is possible to argue that without that, at least for the time being, the testimony is not very useful.

Personality type also comes into the picture. There are those who reason and there are those who deem it sufficient to believe. It appears to me that they require different treatment. I belong to the former. As such, I had to work quite hard not to go into all the reasons I believe (evidences of resurrection, number of manuscripts, prophecies etc) when talking to the later type of people. To these people, it is probably more important to tell them about the need for a savior, about sin, about the All Powerful God. Actually, when talking to those who need reason and evidences (for everyone actually, but more so for the first group of people), I think that what is required is clear evidences of a God. Evidences about the Bible may seem true but distant. A miracle would be better. But that is in God’s hands.

Prayer is important. Pray after you talk if you don’t have the chance to pray before you talk (like when it suddenly pounce on you).

I planted the seed, Apollo watered it, but God made the seed grow.