Evangelism Part Deux

Ok...still working out the Bible study for Sunday, which I'm happy to report does have quite a lot of digging into scripture involved.

Anyway as I was looking through the Old Testament and reading through this book by John Bowen on evangelism I was struck at the emphasis on community. Hmmm...the picture we often get of evangelism is from evangelists like Billy Graham or something like "Evangelism Explosion" or "Dialogue Evangelism" and while those personal, tete-a-tete moments are very important in some people's faith developement, I think we often overlook the attraction and evangelistic nature of a welcoming Christian community, where people feel safe to ask those spiritual questions and have room for spiritual developement.

What are we doing in our communities (or congregations) to be that type of community that Moses was asking the people of Israel to be when he said, "So just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the people, who, when they hear all these statues, will say, 'surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!'" Do people look at us and say, "wow they are a wise and discerning group of people."

Do people feel free to come into our Christian Community and ask the "God" questions that they have without ten people jumping on them and preaching from our soap boxes the right answers to them and telling them how wrong they are to have thought anything else. Do they feel welcomed into the community, like they could belong here.

Just some of my thoughts on the issue today.