Bait and Switch 2

What exactly is the issue I have with the bait and switch approach to evangelism?

My last post I talked about love as being an end. A former pastor of mine felt that saving souls was the ultimate form of love. I would grant that there may be some truth in that if evangelism were motivated by that sentiment, but how does one get to that place of such pure motivation? Let’s talk through a couple of scenarios.

Let’s assume that God is highly concerned with reconciling people to herself (Alanis, right?). A person who has learned to tap into the River of God, which requires dropping in below the level of the distractions of self and paying attention, and goes with the flow, would be impelled to participate in the process of God reconciling people to himself. I will call this “God conspiring” to avoid the baggage of the word evangelism.

A person that is accustom to doing this is in an exceptional place. I would want to follow that dude or dudette around for a while. I would be his or her apprentice. I would invite him to come under the bridge with me and watch him. I would take her with me to deliver some beds to some kids sleeping on the floor and watch and listen. I would ask him to teach me. I strongly suspect that that person would show exceptional love and mercy and would speak words of light and life. She would do both. I would learn to do both.

I have somewhat of a handle on what the former would look like. I have put myself in situations enough to know when I see it. This usually involves having such a keen awareness of it in the moment that you are left mumbling something like “this is good” under your breath. I have less of a handle of what the later would look like. How do you speak words of life and light? It would be a good thought experiment to consider what that would look like. There could be some good fireside chats about this in the NCCZone.

I think there is one other consideration in our scenario. I highly suspect that there is an exquisite level of discernment acting through it all. Just as Jesus looked up from that crowded street and saw Zacheus and spoke words of life and light, or when he turned in the pressing crowd when a suffering woman touched his robe and spoke words of life and light, or when he stopped at the invalid at Bethesda and spoke words of life and light, or when….

Jesus did speak in other ways; more on that later. Contrast this God conspiring approach to the bait and switch approach. What is missing in the bait and switch approach, besides more directness? Let’s give these young people from CC the benefit of the doubt. They are hungry for God. They want to serve. They give up their summer (well, not exactly, they get their way paid to spend the summer on the beach and earn money while they do it.). Okay, they give up some of their free time after working. They do some sincere intercessory prayer, then they hit the beach with their clipboards and fake official badges and go towel to towel, bait them with a faux survey and subtly make the switch. They speak words, which most are not interest in, but every now and then someone might. What is different in this approach than the one described above?