I was always taught that Christians were supposed to witness. “Share your faith” my church would tell me, and then follow it up with methods to awkwardly fit a gospel presentation into a conversation. They weren’t meant to be awkward, but there was no getting around it. It always was. I remember a youth trip to Myrtle Beach where 20 to 30 adolescent proselytizers were unleashed on various arcades with the mission of approaching as many people as possible with the gospel. We were there for hours. I only remember talking to one person. Maybe two. No matter how you slice it, unless you have the gift of evangelism, or even gab (of which I have neither), it will always come off awkward and forced.
As I grew older I began to realize that many people I encountered equated “witnessing” with this type of approach. For years, this is what I myself thought to be the definition of witnessing. Which meant I lived under guilt the majority of the time for not having “witnessed”. Certainly there are times where this method is appropriate, I suppose. But I believe now those appropriate opportunities are few and far between in the context of our culture.
Working in the video duplication department at my old company for several years, I saw hundreds of churches and Christian organizations come and go through the door. A few were as genuine as could be. But, unfortunately, more often than not the scenario would play out this way: They would be rude to those working on the job, complain about prices, try to get a better deal by pulling the “I’m a preacher” card, then turn around and try to insert the gospel wherever it could awkwardly fit into the conversation.
Obviously by this point whoever was dealing with them was completely closed off.
Some were worse of course. I remember one “pastor” that rummaged through the receptionists office while we weren’t looking, then lectured my supervisor on tithing.
My theory is that many Christians have been programmed to think of being a witness as something that is completely vocal. Their conscience is bound to this definition, and no matter how forced or inappropriate to the conversation it may be, they will not feel they’re being obedient until they have spewed forth their lines.
If I learned nothing else at my old job, I learned this: People do not care what you have to say if your daily life does not back it up. Seems pretty straightforward. Yet, a large portion of the Christian community has somehow forgotton this…or ignores it. I was taught to do good because God commanded it (yes, a good motivation) but nowhere did the concept of witnessing really intersect with that. Witnessing was verbal. It was a specific act. And yet scripture itself says to be prepared with an answer when people ask about the hope that is in you. We are commanded to BE witnesses, nowhere that I know of is it addressed as an isolated act. Others see something different in your daily life and react to it. That’s when it becomes vocal for the everyday believer. Not by cramming it into every idle conversation we may have. People who can effectively bring up Christ in casual conversation with success are gifted and there aren’t, from what I can tell, that many of them. At least in our culture. Perhaps this is because God wants us to start living our lives in a way so different from the world that they have to ask why we do what we do.
There is enough idle talk in our culture as it is.
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 1 Peter 3:15-16
Yeah, I think we do a poor job of teaching this in the Church, especially to the youth.
I never will forget … when Mom and one of my old admissions counselors were talking once about religion, the lady asked her, “So, y’all are Christian, right?” As I’d been here a couple of years, Mom thought I’d somehow done/said something to make this obvious [the woman was Mormon, so Mom figured I'd made a fool of myself somehow]. Mom told her, “Yes,” and asked her how she knew. She said, “Well, I could just tell from the way y’all treat people.”
Every time I think of that, I’m reminded of two things–only by grace do I ever show it, and that I don’t show that enough. There are probably enough people in my life who’ve never heard me talk about religion that are perfectly convinced that I’m going to hell for all the mean and hateful things I’ve done.
Geof F. Morris
May 5th, 2004
Working this post into my own life relieves a lot of stress I have about not being able to “witness” (ie awkwardly inject Christ into a conversation). I am horrible, I never (very seldom at most) do it. I feel I am disappointing God something horrible. My actions, though, are something I can take hope in as a witness…
Roger
May 5th, 2004
I think this is a really good post.
Kari
May 5th, 2004
Good post. I agree. I mean, what makes us think that we can go around acting like jerks and then people will want to be ‘Christians like us’?
karen
May 6th, 2004
I’ve known some people who gave me the feeling that they believed the gospel was a license to be a jerk.
Maybe they think everyone else just doesn’t deserve kindness and respect.
I dunno.
brian
May 6th, 2004
Hooh boy…you brought back about a hundred memories from my Campus Crusade days in high school that make me cringe. Whole days spent on the Jersey beaches bothering and annoying people. Ouch.
There are, of course, a lot of factors behind this trend in our American Christian culture. Two major movers, I think, were the ex-lawyer Charles Finney, who turned Christianity into a rational system that could be presented and accepted under carefully manipulated situations; and the ex-advertising exec Bill Bright, who thought that evangelism = salesmanship.
The truth is that the method of witnessing you describe could never fit anyone. We’re not all born salesmen. I tried that profession for several years. While I have the gift of gab and meet people easily, I could never bring myself to talk people into something they didn’t want in the first place.
the Sage
May 7th, 2004