Evangelism is...

So everyone in my building received a pill bottle in their mailbox today. This bottle contained, essentially, a tract. Not a Chick tract, but something created by a Lutheran church in Barre, VT; the idea being that Jesus is the Great Physician. The office downstairs was not happy about this, and even as a Christ-follower, I tend to agree. There's also the question of legality, due to where I live being public housing, but anyway. I'm not disputing that Christ heals, but coming to Christ is a very personal experience. The person who got through to me got to know me before he even tried to witness to me. I know that the Great Commission says that we are to bring Christ to all the people and all the world, but there are a lot of people who believe that that is our only mandate. It's not. Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25:31-46 are also our mandates and are actually the whole reason why I enrolled in seminary. Your actions mean as much as, if not more so than, your words. Preaching on street corners and through mass mailings does not alone make you a Christian. Shoving the Gospel down people's throats will not win them over. Trust me. I've been there. I got criticized in a class for wanting to help people whether or not they accepted Christ. The terms "Social Gospel" and "theologically liberal" were tossed around. I was even told how helping someone if they reject Christ is unbiblical. Let me tell you something. Jesus did not always win people over with words; and when He did, it was not like what we do today. The Samaritan woman? She was rejected by the Jews, all of them, except for Jesus. He asked her for a cup of water. Let me give you examples of what people do today: 

• The group in Buffalo that used to picket outside the Capen library on UB North and tell non-Christians that they're going to hell and tell Christians that they're going to hell if they don't go to that group's church or read the King James Version.
• People with disabilities get told that their disabilities are punishment for not accepting Christ.
• The Westboro Baptist Church picketing military funerals and preaching messages of hate, which I will not repeat here, because said messages are incredibly vile.
• Groups ambush people on the streets, and now, in the mail, with tracts, and other means of evangelism. While not absolutely horrible, it is impersonal and ineffective, due largely to the image of Christians that people have, thanks to the WBC, and other fundamentalist groups.

Jesus never did any of this. He never condemned people the way we condemn them now. He didn't tell people they were going to hell. He never told women who didn't have children that they weren't going to get into heaven, either. The Samaritan woman? He merely told her He knew of her indiscretions. He did not condemn her. The tract thing is ineffective, because it is impersonal. People get a tract from a stranger, they will throw it away. "You're trying to change me...you don't even know me." They interpret it as judgment, because of what they have seen. Who can blame them? 

I tell people my story if they ask. I carry a Bible in my purse, really for me. If people see me reading and they ask, then I tell them. If people ask about my necklace or my Godstrong wristband, I tell them. Jesus lived to serve people. So do I. Servanthood is my witness. God's grace must be shown, not told.