I met a man tonight during The Fight. We opened up StreetLevel at 8:30pm, chili and hot coffee ready and waiting for anyone who needed to warm up and eat up. When Chris and Joel got back from seeing if anyone was around the 'hood (i.e. not already in a shelter for the night), they had with them a man named Cliff.
Cliff was "formerly homeless," but has been off the streets for several years now. He lives in Federal Way, but works downtown. Before he mentioned that he was no longer homeless, I realized how guarded I was... sort of waiting to see what this guy's story was; waiting to see if he was legit or not. My thoughts were a little preemptive to say the least.
Nonetheless, after just a minute or two of conversation, I realized how "normal" he was. If anything, you could sense a some lingering bitterness towards the way things are handled in our community (i.e. homelessness, etc.). He spoke intelligently and candidly about the problems of homelessness, and other "hot issues" our country and world faces (i.e. world hunger, poverty, anarchy, etc.). It was interesting.
As we sat around - eating, drinking, talking, listening - I found myself saying very little and wanting to simply listen. This caused me to wonder what the face of evangelism truly looks like today. Not what it's SUPPOSED to look like... what we like to think it looks like... or what we hope it looks like... but what it REALLY looks like. I found myself disinterested in making a sale for the Kingdom. I didn't feel like anyone was supposed to plunge in and figure out if this guy was saved or if ask if he wanted to say the magic words that would grant him eternal life. I felt like listening to his stories, hearing him out, learning from his life, and maybe as a bonus, just naturally coming to find if he was saved or not. It's not that I didn't care if this guy was going to hell or not - but that I wanted to know HIM and have God speak to my spirit through his own unique witness.
It's no surprise... evangelism probably still looks (and sounds) like a whole lot of in your face Christian jargon that tends to jolt the "sinner" as opposed to save the sinner. And even when trying to be OBJECTIVELY INCARNATIONAL in our witness (living, working, sharing Christ in our community) do we still default to a lot of Jesus-speak instead of LETTING the "sinner" speak? I wonder how many people we've LOST to the Kingdom because we simply didn't heed to what God wanted us to do... listen, love, be real.
Objectivity kills. I don't want to be an objective Christian or Evangelist. I want to purposeful in my witness and humble in my approach. I want to speak words that God ordains me to say, never assuming that getting another one into the Kingdom should take precedence over allowing God to extend an authentic relationship between myself and someone in need. For all I know, I'm in need too.
Cliff is a great man! Wise, intelligent, insightful... and saved. Praise God that his own stories witnessed to me... maybe that's what evangelism is really supposed to look like.
-Erin
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