Lutheran Evangelism

 ¹ Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵ One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”-John 5:1-6


Most of us have experienced the knock on the door by a couple of well-groomed people who ask, "Do you know, beyond of a shadow of a doubt that if you died tonight, you would go to heaven?"  Now, we know this is not how Jesus operated.  He never began by making people afraid, but invited them to see God at work in their lives by asking things like, "Do you want to be made well?"  The only people he ever mentioned the possibility of hell-fire to were those "religious" people who already believed in God.


But before we rest on our Lutheran evangelism theology laurels, we must admit that at least these guys knocking on doors are not afraid of talking to outsiders about their faith.  In many of our Lutheran churches, evangelism tends to be more like a membership drive... looking for folks to fill our pews rather than bringing new people to Christ.  We think we've been successful in our evangelism when the people from the church down the road start attending our church.  Shifting believers from church to church is not evangelism... making new disciples is.


That is not to say that evangelism WITHIN the church is not necessary... it is.  We have many unbelievers and "under-believers" inside our churches that need to be made into disciples.  But we must be very careful to see the difference between evangelism and membership drives.


We don't need to "scare the hell" out of people to bring them to Christ and we don't need to pedal our faith door-to-door.  We need only share our own story.  And in today's world, we don't need to go to people's homes to share our story.  We meet people everywhere... on vacation, during commutes... and think of the audiences we have on-line on Facebook alone!


We just need the mindset that it doesn't matter whether these people attend our specific church, it only matters that they meet Jesus.


Lord Jesus,
You have commissioned us to go into all the world making disciples.  There has never been an easier time to reach out to all the world.  Help us to use every means at our disposal to share our story of our relationship with you.  Amen.


Joys:  Those mountain hikes getting easier; making shrimp tacos at home; summer fruit