Evangelism and Naaman’s Servant

I saw an interesting quote regarding evangelism that I can really resonate with:


The other irony in my writing this book is that I do not possess the gift of evangelism. I have led very few people to Christ. I remember all too well the weekly evangelism assignments in Bible School when we were required to spend an evening witnessing on the street. I dreaded those evenings. I certainly was not a street preacher, and I hated approaching total strangers. Predictably, I stopped using this evangelism approach as soon as the class was over, but sadly this experience left a rather rancid taste in my mouth that poisoned my view, not only of street evangelism, but of evangelism in general.

Tom A. Steffen. Reconnecting God’s Story to Ministry: Cross-cultural Storytelling at Home and Abroad (Kindle Locations 64-68). Kindle Edition.

In contrast to this, I have friends who were part of Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU) who in their training of young believers would say something to the effect of:

“Now that you are a believer, a follower of Christ, you of course have a desire to share your faith with others. It is just natural that you would want to do this.”

I must admit that this perspective certainly DOES NOT resonate with me. Frankly, I don’t think I am alone. When my friends were doing their discipleship training, they would say it so often it occurred to me that they did not believe it themselves and neither did their trainees.

For most people, evangelism is not easy, fun, or “natural.” I have met some people in which I think perhaps that it is somewhat. So what should one do about it? Should one put a guilt trip on those who don’t “feel” the desire to evangelize? Should one imply subtly that they don’t really have a valid experience of conversion if they don’t excitedly chase people down on main street to share one’s faith presentation?

I don’t think so. I am involved in Christian leader development, ministerial and theological writing, teaching, and academic supervision. I could blame other Christians who don’t do those things and suggest that they are, in some ways, lesser Christians. But I don’t think that is right.

Still, the Great Commission is the call to be witnesses of Christ to the whole world. The Great Commandment is to love others as one loves oneself, and certainly that must somehow include sharing the message of the Kingdom of God, right?

Perhaps rather than being embarrassed about not evangelizing in a certain way, one can thoughtfully embrace a different way of evangelizing— sharing the Hope of God’s Kingdom. In fact, this other way may be the way you are SUPPOSED to be a witness.

Consider the servant girl of General Naaman in II Kings 5. Naaman contracted leprosy. At that point, the servant girl told Naaman’s wife about a prophet of God (the God of Israel) who could heal him. In the context of things, it seems as if Naaman and his wife were not very informed of the religion in Israel. Naaman knew about the king of Israel but not much of anything else, as far as we can see. In fact, at the end of the story, Naaman taking dirt from near Elisha’s home seemed to be a way of bringing the God of Israel to his house, based on his own understanding of the gods being tied to the land of their followers. The girl’s sharing of hope through the God of Israel was linked to a specific occasion and need rather than forced.

We see a similar thing in Daniel. It seems like Daniel did not go around preaching all of the time. Perhaps he did, but with him and his friends, it appears as if their witnessing or proclamation was linked to issues related to behavior. The conflict between their diet and the diet placed on them in Babylon led them to share at least a little about their beliefs. Similarly this happened when dreams needed to be interpreted, when the three friends could not bow down to the golden image, when laws were passed forbidding worship of anyone outside of the emperor, or when miraculous writing appeared on a wall. In general, their sharing of their faith was driven by questions regarding their behavior, or based on a felt need of the other person.

This makes me think of Titus 2 where Christians are told to live lives that were worthy of admiration. Verse 10 says that such behavior “adorns” or “decorates” the gospel. Behavior drives the witness more than words. This also reminds me of I Peter 3:15, were faith is shared in the context of curiosity of the other person.

I am not saying there is no place for “Cold Call” evangelism. However, in the Bible, very often the sharing of the message of hope is actually driven by the other person… their felt needs, or their questions about your behavior.

I have heard it said that if you let your actions serve as your form of evangelism you will never share your faith. In some sense I agree. It is likely rare that people will ask you straight up “What is different about you?” However, often Christians don’t really act that much different than people around them, or when they do, the differences are more in terms of sub-culture than of character. Naaman’s servant was not merely living a faithful life (presumably) but having genuine concern for the well-being of the General and wife. As such, she was ready and able to respond benevolently and faithfully when a problem came up.

Many years ago a friend of mine came up to me and asked what was different about me. The person said that I “had it all together” unlike so many others our age. I did not feel I had it all together, and I gave some lame response. I still feel rather bad about that… even though the person knew I was a Christian— I was actually asked at a Christian youth event. I feel bad about that, but not about the fact that I don’t walk over to the Palengke (public market) and stand on a box preaching salvation to the passersby (I have had friends who would do this).

The question is not necessarily how good are you at forcing a conversation, but “Will you live a faithful life adorning the gospel, and ready to respond faithfully and appropriately to questions and felt needs of others?”

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Published on August 03, 2023 00:01
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