I wrote on Saturday about an evangelistic festival I took part in and some of my complaints about such efforts. My post was rather negative and critical, so I want to balance it with some constructive suggestions on how evangelism can be done differently and (in my opinion) more effectively.

The bottom line principle is that developing a genuine relationship with someone is simpler, cheaper, and more effective than putting on a big production. It takes hundreds of Christians hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to put on one “evangelistic” festival like the one I participated in, and yet, ironically, seemed to primarily attract Christians. But I believe that if those same Christians put the same amount of time, energy, and money into developing a few close relationships with a few non-Christians in their neighborhood or workplace, the results might be much different.

Here are some suggestions of what you can do this week:

1. Slow down at the doctor’s office this week and really visit with the administrative assistant about what is going on in her life. (But be aware of the people waiting in line behind you!)
2. Give your mailman a cold bottle of water and tell him to knock on your door every day to get another one from you (we have been doing this for close to a year now, and have developed a very good relationship with our mailman. We actually invited him over for dinner a while back!) Of course, this only works if you have a mailman who does his route on foot.
3. When you see your neighbor weeding her flower garden, go give her a hand.
4. Bake a plate of cookies and take them over to the elderly lady across the street. If she asks you to say for milk and cookies, do it!
5. Help your other neighbor put together his storage shed.
6. Get gas from the same gas station every week, and get to know the attendants by name.
7. Use the same check out person at the supermarket every time you go…even if their line is longer.  
8. If you pray over your meal when you eat out, tip your server at least 20%.
9. Hold a free block party where you invite everyone on your block over for a BBQ just so they can all get to know each other. Don’t do a devotional. Don’t invite them all to church. Don’t invite them back next week for a BBQ and Bible study. Just build relationships. This may cost you a couple hundred dollars, but it will be money well spent.
10. See the Doable Evangelism OA blog for more ideas.

I do believe that God can use “festival” evangelism like what I witnessed this past weekend. But in my experience, most non-Christians see such attempts as a half-baked, bait and switch, slightly entertaining, wasteful sales pitches. Christians exhaust themselves putting on such events, and few real relationships are formed. Such events are like fireworks: a lot of noisy flashes, but nothing of substance is left when the show is over.

So if you want to be involved in something of substance, build into the lives of the people whom God has already placed around you. If you begin to look, it is amazing who you will find. I realized just yesterday that six months ago, I didn’t know a single non-Christian by name. Then in the middle of January, something happend in my life which made me reassess all my goals and priorities. Now, six months later, most of my friends are non-Christians. I don’t say this to my credit, but only to show that relationships can be easily developed, if you look for the opportunities. And such relationships are generally cheaper, statistically more effective, and certainly more fun than the typical “evangelistic” event put on by most churches.

Who can you begin to develop a relationship with today?

I’m working this weekend at a Christian festival/concert called Celebrate Freedom. It’s put on by the Luis Palau association, and includes a couple dozen Christian bands, BMX shows, and lots of fun stuff for families. I was invited to set up a booth in the Family Fun Zone to introduce people to Chinese Juggling Sticks (remember my friend Lance?). I needed some help manning my booth, so invited my friend John to join me. He is slightly better at the sticks than I am. He is also a Buddhist. (I don’t think the two are connected.)

I didn’t tell him much about the festival for two reasons. First, I didn’t know much about it in the first place, and second, I wanted to see how he reacted.

At the end of the night, I asked him what his overall impressions were, and he said, “It’s just a big show…a production. I thought Jesus was about serving and helping other people, not about lights and loud speakers, and trying to act like Britney Spears. I’ve spent many years investigating all religions, and tonight has convinced me further that Christianity has nothing I want.”

Isn’t that the saddest statement you’ve ever heard? And it comes from one Buddhist observing a Christian “evangelistic” festival.

As soon as he showed up, the first thing he said was, “I didn’t realize this was only for Christians. Am I welcome here?” Ironically, this was an “evangelistic” event, but every single person I talked to was already attending a church somewhere, while John, the Buddhist, immediately felt unwelcome. I think it had something to do with all the Christian music blaring everywhere, the Christian symbols on every square inch, and everybody wearing Christian t-shirts.

The booth we had been assigned to was right near the Family Fun Zone Stage, and I wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening on the stage, but John sure was! After about half an hour, he came up to me and said, “So…uh…do most churches do Britney Spears impersonations and sing her songs…except change the words to be about Jesus?” Since I don’t listen to Britney Spears, I didn’t recognize the tune, but I glanced up at the stage and immediately saw what he was referring to. The girls were strutting around the stage in Britney Spears fashion singing a pop song about her love for Jesus. When the song was over, John turned to me and said, “Well, I can never listen to that song again. She just ruined it for me.” (I didn’t realize Buddhists listen to Britney Spears, but I guess some do.)

It was boiling hot out (nearly 100 degrees) and we both went through all our water in about an hour, so John went to find more. We were told there was going to be a hospitality booth for volunteers to get free water and food. The booth did not exist on Friday night, so he had to go buy water. He came back with a 12 oz bottle a few minutes later and wryly stated, “I now know how they can give tickets away for free. This bottle of water was $4.” (I had also noticed on my way in that there were numerous signs all over the place stating that outside coolers were not allowed to be brought in to the festival for “security reasons.” When I learned that they were charging $4 for water, I began to suspect that the “security reasons” were financial security.)

Anyway, about this time, the evangelist lady got up to give her talk to the kids, and so our booth had to shut down so there would be no distractions. Ironically, fifty feet away, another stage (for high school kids) was just getting jumping with a Christian rap group (more on that in a bit). Since our booth was shut down, we got to listen to the evangelistic talk. She began by having all the children repeat after her that they were sinners and God hates sin. She had them all raise hands if they had ever sinned. John got upset. “These are kids!” he said. “They don’t need to be told that God hates them!” (Notice that this is not quite what she said…but I didn’t try to correct him. The inference was definitely there). She went on to talk about the gap of sin that separates us from God and how the cross of Jesus can bridge that gap if we just believe that Jesus died on the cross.

Then there was a prayer time in which the kids were asked to repeat after her a prayer to ask Jesus into their heart. Then those who had repeated the prayer (i.e., all the kids) were invited to go to a counseling booth to fill out a response card and have someone talk to them more about Jesus. John rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. I can only imagine what he was thinking, but the whole talk reminded me of brain washing: Get all the kids excited, then get them scared, then tell them to repeat things after you to make it all better.

Now back to the rap group. When they got up on the stage, John thought it was funny that our booth was asked to shut down to avoid distractions, but their rap almost made the evangelist on our stage impossible to hear. But he was more intrigued at the idea of “Christian rap.” When they first started he said, “Is that rap?” I told him it was Christian rap. He looked at me with a bewildered look, and said, “What does gang banging and gun running have to do with the gospel?” I laughed so hard. I explained to him that they are probably not rapping about gang banging and gun running, but about Jesus. He shook his head.

There were many more such incidents during the night, and I hope John comes on Saturday too. It is so refreshing for me to see the Christian production through new eyes. 

Have you ever tried so hard to do something for people who are not Christians, only to find out that only Christian come, and those few non-Christians who do come don’t stick around long? Maybe you should step back and take a look at what you are doing and how it might look to someone who has not grown up in the church. It truly is a bewildering spectacle.  

I worked an eighteen-hour day yesterday on four hours of sleep, and then got only four hours of sleep last night also. I’m exhausted. I’m actually quite dizzy today. As soon as I finish this post, I’m going to go mow my lawn. Consequently, this may be my last blog post!  Ha ha.

During that looong day, I was able to have several good conversations with two of the Mormons I work with. I really enjoyed getting to know them and discuss their beliefs with them. There are a lot of similarities with evangelical Christianity, and many strange differences as well. For example, they have a unique solution to the “What about those who have never heard?”dilemma. They practice “baptism for the dead” by which you can be baptized for a dead ancestor in order to give him or her the opportunity to spend eternity with God. The choice is still up to them, but since you were baptized for them, they can now make a choice they couldn’t have otherwise made.

They clearly are trying to “convert” me. I think I might visit one of their “temples” this weekend. I visited a Muslim Mosque last year, so I guess I’ll try a Mormon Temple too.

But all of this only reinforces my opinion that you should not condemn or judge a particular people group unless you are friends with someone from that people group (which then makes it nearly impossible to judge and condemn them). We need to try to get to know other people–with no strings attached (e.g. ”I’ll befriend you so you become a Christian”)–so that we can love them. Too many of us “Christians” spend all our time pointing the finger at people we know nothing about. We think we know them because of something we read, or because of what some Christian teacher said. Then, based on this distorted knowledge, we feel justified in condemning and criticizing these people and their beliefs.

I’m not saying that criticisms cannot or should not be directed at other people. It should. But such criticisms must only take place within a genuine, on-going relationship with someone of that group, in which we invite and accept their criticism of us. If we cannot accept criticism from others in a peaceful manner, we must not give criticism either. Only in this way can we speak the truth in love.

So who have you been condemning and criticizing recently? Maybe you should take them out for dinner, and with absolutely no agenda to “fix their life” or “correct their beliefs” just strive to get to know them as a person. Such a practice will change your life. I guarantee it.