A 23-year-old Sunday school teacher converts to Islam after hours online with Faisal, a Bangeldashi man living in England. He tells her, “I know someone who will marry you but hes not good looking, 45 bald but nice muslim,” and Alex plans to fly to Austria to meet her future husband.
What makes a church girl in rural Washington willing to gamble everything on the advice of a man she’s only ever met on Skype? According to an article in The New York Times, Alex longed for community and a more robust faith, and Faisal spent hours answering her questions. This approach, according to an expert, matches the advice given in an Al Qaeda recruiting manual: “Listen to his conversation carefully…share his joys and sadness.”
Photo courtesy of Brandon Doran via flickr.com
I can’t believe I’m saying this; but, maybe we can learn something from Al Qaeda.
Listening deeply, entering into a person’s joys and sadness, investing hours and months—this almost sounds like love. Unfortunately, though, it’s not always how we introduce people to Jesus.
We want the best for our coworkers. We want our friends to experience the wholeness we’ve found in Jesus. And, we have a nagging sense of guilt that, when it comes to the Great Commission, we’re underperforming.
So, we watch for the smallest opening in a conversation and, then, before the buzzer sounds, drill a Hail Mary down the field. We throw out some facts, as naturally as possible—about our coworker’s sin, God’s holiness, and why Jesus died on cross. We want to make sure that they get into Heaven, too.
Often, though, it comes off like an infomercial. The conversation’s a bit one-sided and, all the while, they’re just waiting for the The X-Files to come on.
When Jesus offered people life, though, it was more like a wine tasting than an infomercial. In addition to telling them about the Kingdom of God, he let them taste it. Legs felt stronger. Blind eyes saw color. Dead family members woke up.
Jesus invited people into the fullness of God, not just into a set of beliefs. He drew them out of isolation and into community, out of brokenness and into wholeness. He splashed them with little douses the good life.
Sure, there’s a time for throwing Hail Mary’s for Jesus, but we have more plays in the book than that. And, correct information may not be what our coworker needs first. Maybe he needs to catch a whiff of Jesus. Then, like a kid smelling chocolate chip cookies in the air, he might want to head that direction.
Maybe, if people felt the warmth of love in us, smelled grace on us, and got a nibble of wholeness from us—they’d want more.
Introducing people to Jesus this way is messier. It requires more investment and promises no guarantees. It may also result in less Hail Mary’s. But, maybe that’s not a bad thing. Maybe when the Holy Spirit nudges us and we do say something, we’ll find hooks in place, ready to hold up the truth.
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Love this one paragraph: Jesus invited people into the fullness of God—not just into a set of beliefs. He drew them out of isolation and into community, out of brokenness and into wholeness. He splashed them with little douses the good life.
I often think myself that there is no real church life….only a meeting life….
Outside of the meeting life we have “our life” and often the “our life” and the “church life” don’t mix.