Text: Matthew 28v19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations"
Matthew 28vv16-20: The Great Commission, to go and make disciples. A passage pretty well guaranteed to have any congregation in British Methodism feeling guilty. Because if I say, "How many people have you led to the Lord in 1996?", you're probably going to feel just a bit embarrassed, because you know you should be doing it and you know you aren't. I guess for most of you the answer would be "None at all"; and I don't suppose it's in double figures for any of you. But if I say to you, "How many of you enjoy an evening out with friends, with good food, good conversation etc." - well, then you relax. You can do that! That comes naturally. You're good at it!
So relax: take heart. Because in the New Testament, that's how it's done: Successful Evangelism is Primarily Relational. Or to put it in everyday language, someone's more likely to come to church with you if you've made friends with them first. Successful Evangelism is Primarily Relational. Of course, just coming to church doesn't make them a Christian - don't let's make that mistake. But it does allow them to hear the gospel preached - which is the way to salvation. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10v17).
[Tell story of being welcomed/befriended by Malcolm when I moved into Peterhead. I bumped into him in the street; I met him at the squash club I'd joined; then one time I was walking and he pulled across the road in his car to chat. Then someone told me he was a Jehovah's Witness. Now, I have serious questions about their doctrines and beliefs; I don't regard them as belonging to the mainstream Christian Church. And so I'm not liable to go off and join his Kingdom Hall. But that's OK for me to say, because I'm reasonably mature as a Christian and I've had 3 years at theological college as well. But someone who didn't have that, but was just hungry for God, would be taken by the obvious friendliness. (That's not a dig at the Methodists - lot's of you have been amazingly friendly and welcoming. But I'm talking about noticing it from 'outside'.) So someone would be swayed by that simple display of friendliness from someone else, particularly if they had learned enough about Christianity to pick up the stuff about God being love: "Great" they'd think; "this must be it." And off they'd go, with the JW.
Well, the good news is, you can win people in the same way! First, you need to have some nonChristian friends. Actually the best people at sharing their faith are new Christians. Because:
(i) They haven't yet got used to/blase about the amazing gift from Jesus of new life. It's totally undeserved, and they know it. Totally free. New life for old. His life for ours. Graciously given by God Himself, offered to anyone and everyone, from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the drunk in the street and all stations in between. Mind blowing truth. Amazing grace! And yet - yet we grow weary with it, blase about it, take it for granted. So by the time we've been in the church a year or two we don't get too excited by it anymore. In fact, we get so much less excited about it that in our worship we actually make less of a song and dance about it (I choose my words deliberately) than we would at a football match or a wedding celebration. Sad - but true.So: you've made some nonChristian friends; you've been getting to know them quite well. What do you do? Be open. Be as natural talking about yourself vis-a-vis the Church - what we do, why we do it, how we think about this or that, in what ways being a Christian has made any difference to you - be as natural talking about those things as you are about anything else in your life - say, golf.
Well, that's our problem - new Christians are still excited about it, still on fire for Jesus, still longing for God to touch everybody else the way He's touched them. So that's one reason why new Christians are the best people at sharing their faith.(ii) They've still got some nonChristian friends. One of the problems of getting sucked completely into the Christian culture is that we lose contact with our old set of friends. We think we're being spiritual to trade them in for Christian friends. But they were the very people we should be continuing to spend time with, so that they can see the way God works in our lives. You need to have nonChristian friends. If you don't, who do you think God is going to reach through you? Initial evangelism is about meeting people where they are at, not where we think they should be, and allowing them to see the love of God.
Suppose I knew the guy down the road was a keen golfer. Mad keen. Decent sort of guy - would pass the time of day with me talking about all sorts of things - but he'd never talk to me about his golf. Then one day the golf club has a recruiting drive; and I find this guy on my doorstep giving me an awkward prepared speech about the benefits of membership down at the golf club, and all I've got to do is sign here, pay up and come along on Sunday... And I begin to feel a bit hassled.
Whereas if I'd got to know this guy over a few months, and then one time we're out for a drink or a meal we're talking about jobs, families, our holidays, cars - I'd think it the most natural thing in the world, knowing he's a golfer, for him to invite me along for a game sometime. Do you see what I mean? If it works for golf it works for Jesus: Successful Evangelism is Primarily Relational.
Testimony about a man praying earnestly for his neighbour to become a Christian; he prayed for months and months for this man he didn't know, but nothing happened. Eventually he broke it into manageable, faith-sized steps. He prayed first for an opportunity to speak to the man; sometime later they were both in their gardens and they just got speaking over the fence. So the man thanked God for answering the prayer, and started praying for an opportunity to help out; when the neighbour's lawn mower broke down it was natural (given they were now talking regularly over the fence) to ask to borrow the mower. So the man thanked God, and moved his prayer on to the man coming to church; one time as they had a meal together (a relationship was developing through the conversations and the mutual helping) the neighbour raised the subject of the man going to church, and he was able to invite the neighbour and his wife. So he thanked God for that, and changed his prayer to what it was originally - asking for the neighbour to get saved; after several weeks of going to church, liking it, and hearing the gospel preached, the neighbour made a commitment to Jesus as Lord. This is what he'd been praying for, for months and years, with little success: Successful Evangelism is Primarily Relational.
How many of you became interested in being a Christian because of a person - a friend or relative - who was already a Christian? So that was a case of Friendship/Relationship Evangelism. Successful Evangelism is Primarily Relational.
Don't take my word for it - read the New Testament. Pretty well all the evangelism in the New Testament is as a response to questions, one person to another in relationship. People being caused to ask questions about the way you live your life gives you an opportunity to share you faith, your testimony about what God has done. It's what Jesus did every time - got talking to people about everyday things, and the topic sooner or later came round to God. So it is in the passage from John 4, the woman at the well. He started talking to her about being thirsty, wanting a drink, but before long she is convinced he's the Messiah - and then (as I said about new Christians being the best at sharing their faith) goes off and fetches half her village who also get saved. Successful Evangelism is Primarily Relational.
Donald English, one of the elder statesmen of British Methodism, says that evangelism is not about travelling to a different town to find a stranger you hope you're never going to meet again, and tell them things you wouldn't tell your best friend. In fact, your best friend is a very good place to start (whether they're already a Christian or not). Successful Evangelism is Primarily Relational.
That's how Jesus did it. He doesn't seem to have spent a lot of time going knocking on doors, badgering people to do things they didn't want to do. He shared his life with people, and they caught it rather than being taught it. Successful Evangelism is Primarily Relational.
If you can talk to your friends then you can win people for Jesus. Successful Evangelism is Primarily Relational. Well that's the theory; it only remains for you to go and do it.
AMEN