The Challenges of Contemporary Evangelism 

What faith are we sharing?

Christians are likely to carry the defective view that our faith as separate from everyday life.  When we are confronted with "spiritual" issues, we shift into our "spirutal" mode, and perform some "spiritual" action such as intercessory prayer, bible reading or church attending.  For the rest of the week, we would switch back to our "everyday" mode, guided by rules and wisdoms derived from the world we live in.  In this context we would view evangelism as simply that we put on our "spiritual" hat, muster up the courage, show the "4 Spiritual Laws" packet to someone, and leave them at that.  Such an action implicitly affirms to both parties the segmented perspective of faith and life, as separate personality modes that we transition in and out during the course of our days.  In the long run, it thwarts our spiritual growth, allowing us to think that our Christian faith is an "unnatural" dimension that is grafted onto our "normal" living, and so adversely affecting all our interaction and communication with God, as well as how and what we share with others concerning God, perpetuating the same segmented perspective to others.   

Do they want to listen?

In our current day culture, most people's views on God are "like that old joke about the difference between ignorance and apathy: I don't know and I don't care." And even for the few who considers the spiritual dimension, the politically correct attitude of relativism tends to dominate. People around us, whether our co-workers or other parents of our children's schools, are most likely focusing on material success, using up all their energy in raising children, and have no time or interest for spiritual matters.  It is no wonder that the defective view of the last paragraph has a hard time gaining new convert.  Nothing less than the genuine life-giving faith can pass their scrutiny and demands.  

Do I have to reach out?

My last article suggests that we as Christians can live a life so full of overflowing love from God to people of every circle around us, that people will have to take notice of us. While we aim to live such a life, the traditional view of passive evangelism claims that people will be so struck by our actions that they will ask us about our faith. Even aside from the issue of how often we shine out such a level of universal love, the realistic effectiveness of passive evangelism is questionable, mainly due to societal segmentation of our times. Unlike previous generations where people live in communities and talk openly to each other, individuals in our society are isolated. We don't greet strangers on the street, and our conversations with most acquaintences are at most about the weather. Such social norms promote the Do-It-Yourself attitude of not relying on experts or anyone else, and most likely prevent anyone from asking you about the source of your faith, even if you do shine like Billy Graham or Mother Teresa. 

Why no one talks about faith?

Furthermore, faith and spirituality, once considered a public and communal quality, has been deemed more and more personal in the past century. This may have helped the belivers in the deepening of their personal relationship with God. However, it also became the major hurdle for evangelism: faith is socially viewed as of such a personal issue, that mentioning it is consider a more social taboo than the discussion of one's sex life, especially in present day society such as ours. Ironically, this situation should be the case for the believers, since our relationship with God ought to be the most intimate one. In the context of evangelism, we should be aware of this social norm hindering the sharing of our faith to others, causing an implicit awkwardness whenever we bring up the subject of spirituality.  

Don't lose heart

In spite of all the above mention difficulties, I am glad that the Bible commands us to make disciples of all nations, and charges us the task of missions and evangelism.  Reminded of the adage "if you want to learn something, teach it", evangelism force us to review our faith as we attempt to spread it, and thus fosters the growth of our own faith.  In particular, the sharing our faith to people who knows us well will keep us honest and accountable, for what we believe, and how we live it out.  Knowing that your friends will hold you accountable for what you claim, you will not recommend or acknowledge something you wouldn't practice in your own life.  Their demand for honest answers to relevant questions of life will challenge any false premises that we may carry.  Ultimately, evangelism challenges both parties toward the integration of faith and everyday life.  The process may be hard, and requires purposeful action on our part, but the fruit is well worth the effort.  

A new framework for Evangelism: Desiring God

How do we turn people's attention toward God, when they are focused on the basic needs, wants, and desires of the world?  The traditional view offered by the segmented perspective would recommend a person to ignore these needs and wants, and instead seek the spritual answer.  But can we honestly say that to the poor as they face survival basics such as food and shelter?  How would we answer a friend who is focused on advancing their career just as we are? ... People want realistic answers to their pursuits in life, not ways to deny these pursuits.   

Thinking about all these issues in the past year, I took notice of many fine examples of Christian authors who have addressed the issues of integration of faith into life.  Philip Yancey has written many books, on his own struggles to integrate various spiritual issues honestly into his personal life.  Eugene Peterson's "Eat this book", while explaining the context, motivation, and methodolgy behind the making of "The Message", reminds us that the Bible is meant to be read, understood, and applied in the context of everyday life situations.  Recently, upon Alex Lee's recommendation, I enjoyed Francis Collins' "The Language of God" as the best presentation on the integration of faith and science, where the author possesses a deep understanding of both sides of the science vs religion debate, and humbly presenting a clear and honest picture, rather than taking sides and blindly pushing for a certain agenda.  While all these titles take on integrations of small scales, God has steadily preparing me toward appreciating the title "Desiring God." 

This year's NHF Care Group study on John Piper's "Desiring God" introduced a refreshing perspective on how we should integrate our faith and life, and indirectly offers to resolve all the difficulties we mentioned above regarding evangelism.  Reminding us that Jesus came for us to have life to the full, we are encouraged to pursue all that life has to offer, and more, rather than to reject the wants and lead an ascetic life.  Ultimately, we will learn that God will be the one to fulfill all our deepest yearnings and desires in life, and that desiring God first and foremost will lead to the life that we truly want.  The verse "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and the rest shall be added unto you" may have meant the competition between faith vs life within the segmented perspective, but the Desiring God framework offers the interpretation that faith serves as the foundational infrastructure in our lives, enabling us to receive everything else as blessings from God toward a fulfilling life.  I know of no better integration of life and faith than this.  As Steven Hong commented, "everything boils down to Desiring God." 

What this means for evangelism is that we need first to transform our own faith journey into an adventure of Desiring God, live out a life that deeply thirsts for all that life has to offer, and focusing on God as the ultimate quencher of those thirsts.  When we share with others about our faith, it will be about an exciting adventure in life, with an amazing friend Jesus, about real life issues that our listeners deeply yearn and care about, and how the pursuit of God meets these needs, (an integrated package, if you will). 

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