Letters

Dear Christis

I was interested to read the responses to the “Two Ways To Live” evangelism course run by the C.U. last term, that appeared in Issue 48. I too followed the course in my Small Group, but, I am afraid to say, didn’t find it half as positive and beneficial as Becki and Vicky did. I would have my reservations about any course that claims to train people up in evangelism, mainly because it would be bound to limit what “evangelism” is. I believe it is not just the active preaching of the Gospel over a pint or during a late night discussion or in a crowed place, tract in hand, but something a Christian does every minute of the day, whether what they’re up to reflects the truth of the Gospel — the love it signifies — or whether it fails to. Evangelism is something fluid, varied and continuous. As far as I could see, though, the 2WTL course only narrowed further and further in on a very polarised view of Christians versus non-Christians, and had a rather shallow, clinical approach to the whole affair. Although it quite rightly focused on the incredible significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection, it somehow lost sight of the immense love that brought such an event about, and the peace to be found in knowing Him.

Another article in Issue 48 mentioned the danger of viewing others as “potential converts” rather than as individuals, living and learning, and this is just what 2WTL tended towards. The course encouraged the drawing of a series of simple pictures to accompany a presentation of the Gospel, and the memorising of Bible verses, perhaps expected to clinch the argument, but I found all this very awkward. Can the love of God that “evangelism” is meant to share really be chopped up into neat little sessions and diagrams, and then be successfully converted back into “real life” conversations and relationships? God speaks through our attitudes and deeds and the looks on our faces far more constantly, and far more effectively, than through the techniques that evangelism courses generally advise. Yes, it is certainly worth talking to people about God’s love and the truths that Christianity centres around, but our reasons for this, and our ways of going about it, need careful, prayerful thought of a kind that, in my opinion the Two Ways To Live course made little room for.

Yours

C.U. Small Group Member