Reflecting on salvation

In my experience it may be more useful to seek a third way: witnessing through “being.” If something is really working for me, then I don’t need a plan or a program to force me to share it—it “works” for me, and I believe it could work for you. Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., suggests we should perhaps just say to people who are trying to live without Jesus, “You keep trying that, and see if it works for you—because I, along with a lot of others, have found that it doesn’t. Life is better with Jesus.” If we honestly believed this, then our approach to sharing our hope in Jesus would change. But I’m not sure we really do believe it. We’re still trying to make up our own minds!

The Scriptures are clear: We are to let our “light shine before men, that they might see [our] deeds” and praise God (Matthew 5:16), and at the same time we are to “Go into all the world and preach . . .” (Mark 16:15). By living the Christian life—being a good neighbor, hard worker, loving parent, loyal friend, faithful spouse, etc.—we “earn the right to be heard.” That is, we become credible witnesses. However, if we only live the Christian life without clearly explaining God’s offer of salvation to others, we might actually mislead people to the false belief that being a “good person” is all that matters. So, as we gain “favor” (Acts 2:47) with people, we should not hesitate to use our credibility with those individuals in order to be effective verbal ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).

From what I’ve seen, the preferred mode of sharing the good news seems to be through demonstration rather than proclamation. Part of this is due to the fact that we believe salvation is a holistic experience that affects all of life and thought, and that obedience to the Great Commission is making disciples, not just converts. Additionally, it is important to the Anabaptist background in us that these disciples become part of a local church community of believers to continue the process. Thus, relationship-oriented evangelism seems to fit us well.

We must work harder at both preaching and teaching on a personal level. We must motivate second- and third-generation believers to share their faith more actively and train Christians on how to witness to others through relationships. One way to encourage boldness is to have new Christians share their testimonies during church services and lead evangelism efforts.