Partial victories
I spoke last night at an outreach in a residence at York. We had a massage therapist come in and do a little workshop and then I talked about how I dealt with stress, one of my points being the need to have peace that extends beyond our circumstances. It was cool to be able to share with a small group how my relationship with Christ impacts such a day-to-day, common experience. I think the best part was that people stayed for about an hour after just chatting. I heard around the room the girls in my Bible study having great spiritual conversations with people who had come! I was so proud of my girls!
I just finished reading a revolutionary book called "Questioning Evangelism" by Randy Newman. Highly recommended. He talks a lot about "partial victories" - situations where we settle (?) for sharing one aspect of the gospel or helping a person see the fault in their logic. For whatever reason, we don't / can't share the entire gospel but may be part of moving them one step closer to even having a hook to hang the gospel on, so to speak.
I think last night was a partial victory in terms of what I said. I had 10 minutes to talk about different ways to deal with stress (both spiritual and non-spiritual ways). I didn't share the full truth. Was it out of fear? Maybe. I hope not. But had I spent more time, talked more in depth, would people have stayed to have the conversations they had in a one-on-one situation where their personal questions were better addressed? I'll never know. Does a conversation that tweaks someone's interest leaving them wanting to know more serve them better than one that goes just a little too long, leaving them itching to find a way out?
Now all of you who are concerned with my theology and thinking I'm going to skirt the issues in evangelism and never challenge someone to accept Christ, relax. I just wonder if I've been trained to sort of steam roll ahead and make sure I get to share the whole gospel, regardless of their questions or the paradigms by which they process. I'm still working out how this looks on a daily basis....
I just finished reading a revolutionary book called "Questioning Evangelism" by Randy Newman. Highly recommended. He talks a lot about "partial victories" - situations where we settle (?) for sharing one aspect of the gospel or helping a person see the fault in their logic. For whatever reason, we don't / can't share the entire gospel but may be part of moving them one step closer to even having a hook to hang the gospel on, so to speak.
I think last night was a partial victory in terms of what I said. I had 10 minutes to talk about different ways to deal with stress (both spiritual and non-spiritual ways). I didn't share the full truth. Was it out of fear? Maybe. I hope not. But had I spent more time, talked more in depth, would people have stayed to have the conversations they had in a one-on-one situation where their personal questions were better addressed? I'll never know. Does a conversation that tweaks someone's interest leaving them wanting to know more serve them better than one that goes just a little too long, leaving them itching to find a way out?
Now all of you who are concerned with my theology and thinking I'm going to skirt the issues in evangelism and never challenge someone to accept Christ, relax. I just wonder if I've been trained to sort of steam roll ahead and make sure I get to share the whole gospel, regardless of their questions or the paradigms by which they process. I'm still working out how this looks on a daily basis....
posted by janette at 6:02 p.m.
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