We are living in an unprecedented time. As many of you know, I live in New York, the state with the most positive coronavirus cases in America. In my lifetime, I have never seen a disease spread like this all around the world. This pandemic is taking lives every day even if most of us who get it will probably recover in a week or two. We’ve seen hoarding and panic, but neither of these is fitting for Christ-followers in this time. Thankfully, we are not without guidance on how to behave in these times, for we have the scriptures, the example of Jesus, and the historical record of those who went through much worse plagues than COVID-19.
From all of this, I have come to see that we have been in training for this moment all our Christian lives. We have learned the priorities of loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We have learned to pray, to read scripture, to repent of our sins, to live out the fruit of the spirit. And we have learned that through Christ, God has decisively defeated death, leaving behind an empty tomb and rock solid hope in his return to resurrect the saints. This hope is not wishy-washy or nebulous, but the anchor of our souls–a concrete expectation that when Messiah comes, he will make everything wrong with the world right.
However, our unbelieving friends, neighbors, coworkers, acquaintances, and family members, do not have the example of Jesus. They do not have a hope to anchor them through the storms of life. They have only the news, their instincts for self-preservation, and the uncertainty of the future. Now is our time to let our lights shine before people so that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father who is in heaven. Now is our time to be salt, the seasoning that grabs attention rather going with the flow. Now is our time to share the good news with people who are asking the big questions like “What happens when I die?” or “What’s the meaning of life?” or “Is there a God?” This is your chance to practice cross-shaped love, self-sacrificial generosity, and heroic kindness.
Although, I’ve thought about interrupting this evangelism class, honestly, I can’t think of a better topic for your consideration today than this evangelism session. This is part five of Joshua Anderson’s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class. Today you’ll learn how to diagnose people’s spiritual condition, based on five thresholds that they typically cross on their way to becoming a Christians as well as how to handle objections. This approach will relieve pressure from you of thinking you have to convert someone in just one conversation and it will provide guidance to know what to do to help them along to the next threshold.
Now, I did want to mention that in this episode Anderson seems to equate the kingdom of God with the church. Although these two are obviously close ideas theologically, strictly speaking the kingdom arrives at the second coming. We are the citizens of the kingdom who preach the gospel of the kingdom while living out the kingdom ethics in anticipation of the kingdom, and there’s no question that the Jesus is already the crowned king who has inaugurated his kingdom in seed form, but we await his return for the consummation when the meek will inherit the earth and God will heal our world. So, I just wanted make that point that the kingdom is still primarily future.
In light of the topic of evangelism during the pandemic, I’m interested in hearing your stories. Have any of you seen opportunities to testify about your faith or open doors to speak to folks in this crazy time of pandemic? How have you been dealing with it? Leave a comment below or check out our facebook group.
—— Links ——
- 5 Thresholds Worksheet
- See all the sessions in this class, Announcing the Kingdom
- Download the notes for this seminar
- Watch the unedited videos of this seminar.
- Visit Joshua Anderson’s website Pascal’s Jacket
- See more podcasts, posts, and book recommendations about evangelism
- Check out the UCA videos here
- If you’d like to support Restitutio financially, you can donate here.
- Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library
Sean, thanks so much for the evangelism series. They are great! What else IS living by the spirit each day if it’s not thinking about the person in front of you, listening for God’s direction, and following through in obedience?