Recently, I’ve had conversations with good friends about sharing the gospel. One friend suggested that we need to stop worrying about the right time and place and just boldly share our faith. He agrees that the “bullhorn guy” can be quite effective. This “bullhorn guy” is the one who stands in the middle of the quad to proclaim the gospel. We need not have relationships with our neighbors; just boldly go and tell the Muslim in the neighborhood that he needs to repent, or he’s going to hell. Don’t be ashamed of your faith.
Now, while I can kind of see his point, and there is some tension there, his comments really made me cringe. For me, there does have to be an honest relationship. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a lifelong friendship, and it also is not a relationship predicated on this person becoming a Christian. I want them to know that I love them regardless. I don’t want someone to feel as if I’m selling them a product.
I also question that telling someone they need to just say a prayer and enter into a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” so that they can be “born again” is really what the gospel is all about. I know these terms come from the Bible and that they’re useful, to a point. However, isn’t the gospel so much more revolutionary than that? Doesn’t it talk more about a higher way of living and serving others?
Maybe to me it’s as simple as this: I’ve been on the other end of the bullhorn and the “born again” talk. It didn’t work for me. I didn’t come to know Jesus until I was invited to experience Christian community.
So here is my suggestion: invite this person to church or to serve in a setting such as feeding the homeless, teaching children, or building homes in an impoverished land. And maybe most importantly, engage them in conversation often. Listen to them and love them regardless.
