A DEVOTIONAL GUIDE FOR “THE TEN
TIMELESS VALUES FOR DISCIPLESHIP”
Value 9- Week 3 Witness
Word: “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me’. Now Philip was from the city of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip
found Nathaniel and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses and the
prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathaniel said to him, ‘Can anything good
come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to
him, ‘Come and see.’”
John 1:43-46
Reflection: Friendship Evangelism
Witness is for the purpose of evangelism. What we witness to is the good news of Jesus
Christ in hopes of bringing others into a saving relationship with God through
Christ. The problem in our churches
today is that the word evangelism conjures up images of “cold calling”
(knocking on strangers doors asking if they died tonight do they know where
they would end up- to which an
unchurched friend I cultivated a relationship with responded, “down at the
funeral home, I’ve already made my arrangements”), passing out tracts (with
really scary comic book images of grim reapers or demons), strange loud people
on street corners with signs and bullhorns, or putting up signs in my yard that
read, “Jesus is coming soon, are you ready?”
We still ask pastors in the ordination service Wesley’s historic
question, “Will you visit house to house?”, but it is a very different day
where you better have some thick skin if you want to do door to door
sales. While pure percentages say that
if you knock on enough doors sooner or later somebody will buy what you are
selling (the Mormon theory), I’m not sure that was the original Biblical model
for evangelism.
In the New Testament, the first witnesses to Jesus didn’t go to street
corners or strangers doors; they went to their friends and family to share what
they had experienced. Peter went and told his brother Andrew and Philip went
and found his friend Nathaniel. And all
they did was offer a simple invitation to come and see for themselves and make
up their own mind. The only reason they
accepted the invitation to “come and see” was the relationship they had to the
one who invited them. Out of relationships
trust is built and an openness to listen is developed. Think about it this way; if I come out of the
store and somebody put a flyer for new restaurant on my car window I’m not that
likely to eat there. But, if my friend
says, “hey I went to that new restaurant and it was great, do you want to go
with me tomorrow?”, then there is a good chance I’ll go to try it out.
One of the problems we have in the church is that all often our friends
and family are already in the church.
What is missing is the intentional cultivation of relationships with new
people with whom I might share my faith over time. These days few of us know our neighbors next
door much less three doors down, and haven’t made any effort to introduce
ourselves or welcome a new family when we see the moving truck down the street. These days, evangelism and witness is all
about relationship building, a consistent witness over time by word and deed,
and simple invitations to “come and see” for yourself.
Practice: This week pay attention at work to
who I see often but I’ve never tried to get to know and walk through my
neighborhood and see how many homes there are near me whose occupants I’ve
never met. Pray over the faces and
places and ask God to put on my heart who to try and meet and for the courage
to do it.
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