What the Atheist Taught Me About Evangelism

We’re getting close to wrapping up our Unbinding the Heart series. We’ve prayed individually and collectively, we’ve talked about our faith and individual spiritual journey’s, we’ve become passionate about not having barriers for people who encounter our community.  In direct and indirect ways, we have talked about evangelization.

The problem with the “e-word” [e-bomb?] is, of course, that it’s heard as a synonym for “hectoring, finger wagging and a holier than thou attitude” as Chris Stedman, the author of Faithiest: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious.

But wait!, we say. That’s not who we are. We’re learning that it is really just telling our story -- telling how being a follower of Jesus has changed our life.  As Pastor Mark noted in his sermon last Sunday, we cannot force anyone to become Christian – and that’s not even our job. That’s the job of the Spirit working within them. Our job is just to talk with them – broken human to broken human. By doing that, the Spirit can use our words to touch their heart.

I often read blogs by atheist writers because I’ve found they hold some good insights. This past week, Chris Stedman had one of his blogs on the HuffPost. In it he gives "6 Tips for Christians on Talking to Non-Christians". I might add, these are good tips for talking to other Christians as well. They quickly fall into line with what we’ve been discovering in our prayer and readings over the past few weeks, so I wanted to relate them here with a few thoughts of my own.

    1)   Don’t Stereotype. Tired of Christians being stereotyped as judgmental? We are quick to see the “sins” of someone else and not to see our own. As humans, we are also prone to believing that whatever we believe is “Better” than what anyone else believes. As the blog states “ it’s important to be patient and compassionate… and allow people to speak for and define themselves”

    2)   Don’t try to “win” the argument.  An argument never accomplishes anything because it’s about a matter of belief [see #1]. Beliefs only change when it comes from within.

    3)   Speak for yourself. AKA be authentic. Speak the truth as it helps you live your life. Don’t pretend to speak for all Christians.

   4)   Highlight the diversity among Christians. Not all Christians believe the same way about political or social issues. Christianity is the ultimate “big tent” under which we can all abide – and that’s a GOOD thing. See #1, again. A little humility about our own beliefs is a good thing.  A lot of humility about them is better. We’re all learning how to try to be the best conduit of God’s grace we can be.

  5)   Don’t try to force others to live by a certain moral code. Your moral code works for you at this point in your spiritual journey. I’ll bet your moral code has changed over time – mine has. Everyone hears the Spirit talking in different ways and at different times.

     6)   Talk – and listen – to people about more than just their salvation status. As Chris notes, “what if evangelization is itself a mutually enriching dialogue in which the promises of the Church (that is, of Christ) are put forward as proposals, as encounters, not as edicts?” Wow. That could be right out of our readings.

There’s a certain irony here in being told how to be an effective evangelist by an atheist. The Spirit speaks in many ways, in many languages, and in the words and actions of many people.

Lord let your Spirit speak through our words, our actions and in the quiet of our hearts.

Paul S.