Church in Hard Places: How the Local Church Brings Life to the Poor and Needy (9Marks) by Mez McConnell & Mike McKinley

Author:Mez McConnell & Mike McKinley [McConnell, Mez]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2016-01-30T23:00:00+00:00

Evangelism Should Take Place in Daily Settings

In Niddrie we find that much of our evangelism and discipleship gets done while giving someone a lift home, to the supermarket, or to the post office. It happens during a ten-minute cigarette break outside the café. It happens at the gym. It takes more than an event or a piece of literature; it requires actually engaging with people and getting involved in the mess of their lives.

How much of our Christianity in the West works like this? How many people in our churches even have the time to pursue active relationships with people outside of their busy schedules? I recently attended a meeting in Scotland and was asked why churches aren’t more active in housing schemes. My response was that there were a number of reasons, fear probably among them. One person became agitated. “I’m not scared,” he blustered. “I work eighty hours a week. I’m just too busy!” Sadly, he seemed proud of this statement.

Evangelism doesn’t start with doing something; it starts with who we are and how we live. It should be as natural as breathing. It is about taking the opportunities to teach and persuade people of the truth of the gospel in the ordinary flow and mundane tasks of life. Instead of expecting people to enter into Christian community, we should be going out and engaging in our communities. Our policy at Niddrie Community Church has been to never start something that our community already offers. It makes more sense for Christians to join existing groups to be a witness rather than expecting unbelievers to come to our groups. We have seen far more people come to faith by taking this approach than by hosting our own events.

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