Our C-Group had a great conversation about intentionality concerning sharing our faith last night. Amanda and I continued to talk about it last night. I thought I would share with you 2 evangelistic extremes that may not be the best models:
In college, I saw two extremes of the outreach. The first extreme was the Holy Roller. I went to a Christian college. I saw plenty of these Holy Rollers. Someone is a Holy Roller if he shares evangelistic information devoid of any love for the person. He loves to proclaim pre-packaged spiritual presentations without any attention to the person to whom he is conversing. He is the kind of person who can make snide, careless comments about the possibility of others’ eternal separation from God and not even blink an eye. He has an arsenal of intense gospel tracts armed with flames, pitchforks, and demons (oh my!) ready to drop them off to every waiter accompanied with a lame tip.
The second extreme was the Silent Witness. The Silent Witness seems to be an oxymoron, but those that hold to this evangelistic model do not think so. This person honestly hopes that by just living a “good” Christian life, people will notice their uniqueness, and they will be questioned concerning “What’s different with you?” Rarely, does this transaction take place. But for the sake of not “turning anyone off,” the Silent Witnesses never get intentional about sharing their faith.
Somewhere in between these two dangerous models has to be a healthy medium. If you really are concerned about another’s relationship with Jesus, then you must care about finding a balanced approach of being both intentional and relational. In my experience, I believe that more people are Silent Witnesses than Holy Rollers. In fact, many decided to go the silent route due to a bad experience with a Holy Roller.
Maybe here’s a healthy alternative:
4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. -Colossians 4:4-6
How do you think we can balance being intentional and being relational?
-Excerpt from Freshman 15
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.