You would think that I would be good with plants. I mean, Green is literally my last name! but no, I don’t have a green thumb, or even a brown one; I have a black thumb. I can kill a petunia at 20 paces. When my husband and I were first married he had been cultivating an ivy plant for several years and had vines that extended about 14 feet. It ran across the middle of our long, narrow kitchen/dining room ceiling and down the wall and acted room divider between the two areas.
Even as a Bachelor for years, Andrew had successfully grown this Ivy. which means you probably couldn’t find an easier plant to care for.
I killed it.
Some plants need more sun, some shade and damp conditions. Some need less water, some need acidic soil. Whatever it is, I will make the wrong judgement call and put it in the wrong spot, and it will die. I learned that ivy does not do well in the sun, ivy is an indoor plant or shade plant. They tell me I should try to keep a cactus since they are ‘succulents’, and you don’t even need to water them. They just draw water from the air.
I killed that too.
Now I second-guess myself because of these experiences. Should I put it in the sun? shade? How much sun? How often should I water it? Maybe I watered it too much. and never mind fertilizer. I am terrified of plants almost as much as they are terrified of me.
Sometimes I think we approach soul-winning the same way. God does not promise every seed you sew will bear fruit and so we refrain from sewing the seed because we think we are wasting our time. It is not always because we planted it wrong, it might just take a while for that seed to grow.
63% of our country in the States claim Christianity. In European countries with state churches, that number is even higher. 63% sounds like a majority to me. The world is crumbling around us, yet you can hardly throw a dart at a map without hitting a street corner where there is a church. So where is the disconnect?
Well, for different countries, the answer may be different, but some trends may be world-wide. According to researchers, church attendance is apparently down by 25% on average since Covid. I know we have felt it in our local congregation and other churches for one reason or another seem to be closing or shrinking. We have some tough challenges. One being that the Bible has now been distributed to every land and tongue. A person who has still not heard, is very rare in most areas.
The great commission
Evangelism in modern times has seen a shift away from those who have not heard and toward educating those who have been led astray. Here is what I mean: if I google ‘churches’ in the small suburban area where I live in, There are approximately 70 churches in my little corner of the world. Many of those are congregations of similar type to other local churches, but that means there are probably 20-30 different denominations. How many different interpretations of scripture are even possible? Aren’t we all drawing from one book?
In our corner of the world evangelism is based on trying to return people back to an original understanding of scripture, which is probably why numerical returns are not always exciting. People have their church and their teachings, and they are comfortable there. My job is too challenge Christians and non-Christians alike on their beliefs. But more than that, we also need to be willing to be challenged. Maybe Christians should try a different approach, one that is learning and growing in Christ.
I put a lot of barriers between myself and others in the hopes that I won’t have to share the hope I have in Jesus Christ. These are some of the things I tell myself:
“They already know”
“They won’t be interested”
“I don’t know enough”
Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned.
I remember while attending college, Jim, a man in the church there, was always inviting people to church. Once there was an article in the paper about a grocery store, and there, featured in it, was Jim. He had stopped at the checkout and invited the clerk to church which happened to be the moment a photographer snapped the photo. If I remember correctly I think the caption under the photo even said, “Jim invites _______ to his church.”
A few times in my life, I decided I was going to step out of my comfort zone and reach out to someone. It was awkward, and sometimes I strike out. But other times those have been the most wonderful friendships in my life. I discovered that person had a lot of the same struggles and vulnerabilities I did. They had so many of the same questions. It was such an honor to see that person finally drink freely from the well, I had brought them too.
I wonder if Jesus felt awkward when he struck up a conversation with the woman at the well. When Peter held his hand out to the lame man to help him to his feet; was he nervous the miracle wouldn’t work and the man was going to fall flat on his face? What if the apostles decided they didn’t feel confident in this new life to go into the synagogue and share about the hope they had in Jesus Christ? Think of the excuses they had: They were new to it, they didn’t have a new testament to study from and endless commentaries and study guides. They were also under the constant threat of the pharisees not being exactly fond of the message they were spreading.
What if even one of them decided “Not today”?
When reaching out to someone with the gospel, I play over that scenario in my head. I know this won’t necessarily work for everyone. Some people have one way they always lead out. My personal approach (and I won’t say I have the best one; I’ve made some people upset) has been to try to think ahead, and pick one question they need. Usually that person doesn’t respond the way I anticipated, but it gives me confidence to start. I used to work for a Hindu, and I knew what Hinduism teaches about Jesus, so that was how I broke the ice. I Just asked her who she believed that Jesus was.
She surprised me when she confided that she believed Jesus was the son of God. She told me this was not something she had ever told her family, and she knew it went against her own faith, but she couldn’t see how a man could rise from the dead unless he was God. We had a long and heartfelt conversation after that. To this day I will never know where that conversation went or if she ever thought anymore about it, but I learned something.
You don’t know where a person’s heart is. Don’t assume they won’t be interested.
I was friends with a Mormon in college, I pointed out a false prophecy in one of their books written by their prophet. We had gone round and round about the scriptures vs. the Book of Mormon. I gave him up for loss. Twenty years later he caught up to me and told me I had shaken his faith to the core that day. He had gone to his church leaders with my question, and to church leaders back home, nobody could give him a straight answer about this prophecy. He never told me, till years later. He left the church altogether.
Hopefully God has brought others into his life, to bring him the rest of the way. Last time I spoke with him he was approaching the water, but wasn’t ready to drink. That’s the point, though, It’s not my job to make him accept it.
The words don’t fall easily from my tongue. Much like the way I treat plants sometimes, I feel like my words might feel more like salt to a wound than the soothing words from Christian movies or books. And real people never respond the way they are supposed to. But keeping our beliefs and scriptures, our questions about scripture all that to ourselves is like putting the plant in the kitchen cupboard. its not going to grow well there either.
It’s scary when you start down this path. We are used to being sure we are right and that we have to convince ‘them’ that they are wrong. Now I don’t approach them as though I’m trying to ‘convert them’ even if that’s the long term goal. Now I try to do two things: learn myself, and address something they need. I don’t know what all the answers are, but if I approach it honestly, I’ll get some things right, and what I don’t, I’ll learn and change.
Sometimes, we think people don’t want to hear the gospel, but I believe they do. I need to believe that. Maybe they are just afraid of the sun.
