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Evangelism
by
Captain Melanie Falin
Captain
Melanie Falin is the Director of the Family Life Center at
Evangeline Booth College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Here she recounts a valuable lesson learned and how it
reshaped her view of what evangelism really is.
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As a young officer fresh out of training, I was fired up to
rush into my new community to change the world for Christ. My
husband and I were assigned an outpost to sink our teeth into.
What a fantastic first assignment! We started worship services
in a school cafeteria and thrived on the challenge of making a
difference in the neighborhood. Less than half a year later we
were worshipping in a gorgeous building with all the bells and
whistles. We were blessed, and our community started to take
an interest. People were curious to see what the Salvation
Army was going to do in their neighborhood - for better or
worse. Many of them would visit on Sunday morning. That’s how
I met Tiffany. Tiffany was one of the neighborhood folks who
almost got away.
I’ll never forget the day Tiffany changed the way I approached
evangelism. I was rushing around before the meeting trying to
make sure everything was perfect: lighting the candles, double
checking the program, coordinating with program participants,
etc. A life-long klutz, as I was trying to get it all right I
tripped – probably over my own feet. After Tiffany watched the
whole thing unravel she came over and said, and I quote, “It’s
good to see that you’re human! Before, I never thought I could
approach you because you appeared to have everything so
together. Now that I see you’re normal we can be friends!” She
later told me she was about to leave the corps to look for
another church until she saw me trip. We quickly became
friends and later she became a soldier at our corps.
Ironically, Tiffany and I would attend the USA’s National
Seminar on Evangelism as delegates together. As I continued to
develop my evangelistic skills, I would pull the moment with
Tiffany out of my mind and view it from different angles. I
know there are an infinite number of methods for evangelism;
there’s the open air, door-to-door, Alpha, the community corps
event, the tract, you get the idea. All of them are good and
serve their purpose. But what I have learned to be the most
effective method of evangelism is personal/relational
evangelism. One that is deplete of all the trappings of
“technique” and full of raw honesty.
There is nothing more influential than a genuine personal
relationship with someone. The most poignant example I can
think of are the disciples. During the last years of his life,
Jesus lived, ate, and prayed with the disciples, teaching them
along the way. The relationships He built with them came as a
result of authentic love. His influence over them was so
strong that nearly all would choose to die for Him.
We live in a skeptical world. Politicians lie, infomercials
misinform, and evangelists who claim absolute morality are
revealed to be human like the rest of us. The days of
contrived evangelistic methods are over! Our culture is savvy,
even sensitive to perceived manipulation. Oh sure, you can be
intentional. But programming for the sake of numbers or to get
someone nominally “saved”, only to leave them at the altar in
pursuit of the next person is no longer acceptable. Instead,
just be authentic and willing to invest your time in others.
Be the unique individual that God has made you to be in order
to speak into the lives around you. This may mean that you
don’t reach every single person in your midst…and Jesus didn’t
either.
This brings me back to my friend Tiffany and the thought of
never having the chance to develop that relationship with her.
What repelled her from me, and Christianity, was the thought
that she had to reach some sort of unattainable perfection in
order to have a relationship with God. I had a special
uniform, a special language, a special job...a special wedge!
She couldn’t see me through the image of the officer that I
was projecting. On the converse, instead of focusing on my
people when they walked in the door, I was worried that the
candles got lit and the program was perfect. It’s not about
the program or the perfection, and dare I say, it’s not about
the numbers either. It’s about conveying a uniquely authentic
relationship with God to others.
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