Comedian Jordan Jensen once shared in an interview, “I don’t think people are actually religious. The pseudo, ‘I believe in God, but I let people live their lives,’ . . . I quit eating sugar. I’ve told every single one of my friends about it to try and help them get off sugar. If I thought they were going to burn in hell, I would be shaking them awake in the middle of the night and being like, ‘Accept Jesus into your life, please!’”
While it’s funny to imagine Jordan Jensen waking people up to talk about Jesus, she’s spot on in challenging the idea that religion can be something that you just tack on to your life, with no effect on your relationships. She’s emphasizing that if you actually believe there’s eternal stakes, then you’ll want to tell people about it. But her suggested method of browbeating people in the middle of the night may not prove fruitful.
Instead, we can adopt a healthy posture for evangelistic conversations. Imagine a a spectrum of four postures, running from silence on one side to speaking on the other:
On the far silence side of the spectrum, we have the posture of being timidly fearful. Paul addresses this in Ephesians 6:19-20, saying, “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. . . Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should” (NIV). As Paul asked for prayer not to be fearful, we can pray not to be silent out of timidity when opportunities to share our faith arise.
The second posture on the silent side is a posture of being winsomely invitational. When Jesus first met Andrew and another disciple, he asked, “‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means ‘Teacher’), ‘where are you staying?’ ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see’” (John 1:38-29 NIV). Jesus could have responded by saying, “I’m the Messiah.” But instead, he invites these two men to spend time with him first. Sometimes what people need is a quiet invitation. This may look like inviting to engage in conversation where you ask questions and listen more than proclaiming what you believe.
Another step further on the spectrum onto the speaking side is a posture of being prophetically challenging. What does it look like to confront somebody with the reality of the Good News? We see a great example of this in Acts 26, when Paul is on trial before the Roman Governor Festus and the Jewish King Herod Agrippa II. Paul testifies to the truth and then prophetically challenges King Agrippa, proclaiming the Good News to everyone in the room. There are times when it is good to prophetically challenge someone, being both gentle and direct.
Finally, on the far speaking side of the spectrum is a posture of being obnoxiously aggressive. We see an example of this in Acts 16:16-18, the story of the girl with an unclean spirit who followed Paul and his companions around shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved!” (NIV). Paul eventually got so perturbed he cast the unclean spirit out of her. This account shows that obnoxiously shouting true things is not the same as fruitful evangelistic ministry. In fact, obnoxiously shouting true things may at times be serving the enemy rather than serving Jesus Christ.
As we engage in relationships with others, we want to avoid being on either extreme, whether it’s timidly fearful or obnoxiously aggressive. Rather, we want to live in that center where we’re discerning in the Spirit: Is this a moment for a winsome invitation or for a prophetic challenge? And as opportunities arise, we quietly invite, or we boldly speak.
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