Re: tunneling

Geoffrey Horton (ghorton@mail.gte.net)
Fri, 20 Sep 1996 20:32:00 -0500

The problem of what to say when has probably scared more people away from
evangelism than anything else--and I'm definitely included in that group.

On the one hand, I think we all have the picture of the guy with a floppy
Bible (as our rector so aptly describes it) shouting on a street corner or
pounding on doors. I'd be surprised to learn that this approach had a good
success rate in this day and age; it might have been more successful when
street corner/town square talkers were a standard source of entertainment.
Be that as it may, I doubt that very many of us are called to that approach
to evangelism.

On the other hand, I don't quite like the "wait 'til they ask" approach
either. I'm not at all denying the value of a Christian life lived, but
that can turn into a cop-out. Sometimes people need to be pushed, gently
if possible (though as I recall God hit St. Paul upside the head pretty
well to get his attention).

In that Christian life lived, there's always the temptation to switch into
a program where we just go through the motions, A-then-B-then-C, because
that's a lot easier than trying to discern what God's will is for you.

I guess all I can do is try to by sensitive to the promptings of the
Spirit.

Geoff