I had planned on posting something different. However, based on something that happened to me yesterday, I had to write about it.
Let me set the stage. I was at McDonalds with my kids. We were there for a nice lunch and some quality time at the Playland. Now there are about 20 people in the foyer waiting for their food. I was getting a Big Mac to take to my wife at school when this guy walks in. He had to be in his low 20s. Normal looking guy. Some sort of Jesus junk shirt on. This guy proceeds to say in a pretty loud voice, “Excuse me folks. My name is Aaron and I am from _________ Church. If anyone would like to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior say the following prayer with me.” He then proceeded to pray aloud a scripted prayer from a card he was holding for about a minute and a half filled with all sorts of Christianese. I stood there dumbfounded. Bewildered. I looked around at the rest of the patrons and workers and all I saw was embarrassment and uncomfortable shifting of feet. This guy finished his prayer, said “Amen,” and turned around and left the restaurant. That’s right – he didn’t stay to see if anyone actually accepted Jesus. He didn’t pursue any sort of follow up. He just left and walked off. All I could do was shake my head.
I tried to stare at the guy so he would see me and maybe come over, but he didn’t. If he had, this is what I would have like to have said to him:
“Aaron, I appreciate your passion for spreading the gospel. However what you are doing is not spreading the gospel. The gospel is good news that transforms, encourages, and brings grace. Your message is devoid of those elements. Evangelizing requires interaction with real people, not simply spouting a rote prayer to nameless faces. Spend your time, energy, and passion building relationships and you will see a much better return on your efforts.”
To be honest, I don’t blame this poor guy. He did not seem to be some lunatic from some crazy cult church. He seemed to be genuinely interested in sharing the message. I blame whoever is discipling this fellow. Who is telling him this is how he should live out his faith? Who is equipping him with the prayer and the tactic? That is the guy who needs to read again James 3:1: “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
I guess when it is all said and done, my frustration is this: I understand that the gospel message is scandalous, but does the conveying of that message have to be an embarrassment?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
To his credit, he is actually being faithful to the core of the teaching of most evangelical churches, hence the name "evangelical". It is all about winning people to the Lord. Maybe they would say it is about also focusing on winning people to the Lord along with making disciples, but it does not seem to be that way in practice.
Our culture prefer a minimal faith rather than a faith of complete discipleship. Nobody wants to be the radical freak. This guy is just a little more transparent and misguided, as a result of more transparent and errant leadership, on what many churches are really about - winning them, not discipling them. He might be from a fringe church, but I think his actions, although a little more over the top, are indicative of the church as a whole in America today.
Post a Comment