I Once Was Lost...

I recently received this in an email from Randy Newman - author of "Questioning Evangelism" and fellow CCC worker:


Dear Thoughtful Christians,
A recent book entitled "I Once Was Lost" may offer some helpful insight about evangelism in our day and age. Written by two Intervarsity staff members, this work reflects the fruit of years of outreach to an ever-changing audience. The basis for their suggestions for fruitful evangelism flows out of interviews with postmodern college students who actually did become Christians in the past few years. They say they interviewed "thousands" of new Christians. Even if that¹s an exaggeration, their reporting of their findings is very insightful.

Specifically, they were able to detect a five-fold process that most of these people experienced. Despite variety in locations, cultures, and climates, new Christians said they progressed from "lost" to "found" through these five stages.

I'll simply list the stages and then make my comments as I think they relate to the world of academia and other places where thoughtful disciples reach
out:

1. From distrust to trust.
2. From complacent to curious.
3. From being closed to change to being open to change.
4. From meandering to seeking.
5. The final stage of crossing the threshold of the kingdom itself.

I think these stages are self-explanatory but I will try to expand a bit.

Non-Christians, generally speaking, have a negative image of Christians. (If your heart can take it, you might read David Kinnaman's and Gabe Lyons' "UnChristian" to see just how poorly they think of us). Consequently, they do not trust us to be good spokespersons or incarnations of the Christian faith. This is often more image than substance, although sometimes tragic hypocrisy has tarnished the gospel in profound ways.

For the majority of people, this distrust might not be as difficult to overcome as we may assume. Sincerity, authenticity, friendship, and dialogue seem to be the common ingredients in testimonies of those who progressed through all five stages. Once the first barrier of distrust is crossed, the other stages flow with less resistance.

Here are some applications for students, faculty, and others called to arenas where thought and intellect are prominent:

- Primarily we build trust with interpersonal skills. But intellectual skills are not irrelevant. Thoughtful non-Christians don't trust anti-intellectual or thoughtless Christians because, for them, a faith that fails to engage the mind isn¹t worth believing.

- Curiosity may be stimulated in a variety of ways. Reflecting on (and speaking about) how our faith informs our values, ethics, and morality as well as our opinions about academic issues may spark the kinds of conversations that lead people to the Savior.

- In many cases, conversion takes time more time than it did decades ago.

- There are ways (there MUST be!) to offer challenging statements that propel people from being closed to change to being open to change or from meandering to seeking without being rude. A strong statement like, "It sounds like you¹re considering some changes that might be scary or uncomfortable" does not need to be insulting, like, "C'mon. What's holding you back. Don't you realize that your eternal destiny is on the line?"

- We need clear, precise communication when explaining what it means to become a follower of Jesus. Vague clichés abound (e.g. "asking Jesus into your heart," "praying to receive Christ," "crossing the line of faith," etc.) We need deeper theological reflection about and clearer relevant articulation of the conversion step if we're going to see lasting fruit. I hope to share more about this in future notes.

Does it help to think of non-Christians friends, coworkers, and relatives as people who probably don't trust us and most certainly don't understand us? I think it does. If those are our starting assumptions, what are our next steps in reaching out?

For Integrity's Sake,
Randy Newman
Serving with Faculty Commons, The Faculty Ministry of Campus Crusade
Please visit our website at: www.christianacademics.com