Four years ago, I took a spiritual-life inventory. I didn’t like what it revealed about my passion—my lack of passion—for people who don’t know Christ. Did I deeply care about people, befriend people, pray for people who (says the Bible) are “without hope and without God in the world”? Not enough for an honest assessment to detect.
I wrote in my journal, “God, change me in this area.”
One answer to that prayer came unexpectedly when I met Jim Henderson, who (with his wife, Barb, and friend Dave Richards) founded www.Off-the-Map.org. Jim and his site help people who, like me, are “evangelism-challenged.”
“In evangelism, you want to give people something rather than ask them for something,” Jim explained. I liked that switch. It somehow altered evangelism in my mind from sales to service, which suits me better. “But what do people want?” Jim asked rhetorically. “Attention. People want attention. So I give them that. I call those times ‘free attention giveaways.’ ” And what’s more, Jim credits people for giving others free attention giveaways. He doesn’t see that as lesser or lower than any other part of the evangelism process. They’re what he calls “ordinary attempts.”
“I even give people credit if they pray for someone without that person knowing it. God counts invisible things; I don’t see why we shouldn’t,” Jim says. “I try to catch people doing something right and applaud it.” Hey, evangelism was starting to sound like something I wanted to do.
Even Jim’s most-daunting challenge was something I could do: “Take one non-Christian to coffee and just listen. You then create a niche in people’s minds as caring. They think, If I ever have a question or problem, I might be able to trust this person. Over time, they ‘hire’ you to become their Christian consultant.”
Are you evangelism-challenged? Are people in your church? In Off-the-Map’s media center (www.off-the-map.org/mediacenter), you can watch free video conversations with non-Christians. See if those don’t encourage you and your people to make a few “ordinary attempts” in evangelism. Some of us may be evangelism-challenged, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get in on the adventure of sharing our faith.
