Evangelism – A New Method!

In my forty years of Christian life I have sought to evangelize by many methods.

One that I especially enjoy is door knocking.

I began to go door to door while I was working in a church in Quebec, with a six question survey. You see, I needed the survey because my French was so weak, I needed the survey to be able to communicate with the populace. I was in a very small church, and we needed to find new folks to join us.

The survey asked six questions,

• Do you believe in God?
• Have you obeyed all the ten commandments?
• Can you tell me the 8th commandment?
• Have you ever stole anything?
• Why would God allow you into heaven if you have broken His commandment?
• Who is Jesus Christ?

It was a feeble attempt to get people to consider their standing before God. I would like to tell you hundreds rushed to the church and we had a revival, but such was not the case. I spent many days in front of puzzled Quebecois, trying to communicate good news to a religious people.

Our family eventually ended up in an English part of Canada and I brought the door knocking method with me. It was so much easier to communicate, I found a partner who has been a great friend for decades, and we had some minor success in communicating good news to our neighbors.

All of that as an introduction to a letter I received 3 days ago.

A hand written envelope carried a hand written letter addressed to me.

Dear Carl – My mother and I live in the same area with you . We cannot speak with you personally, but we have some important information we want to share with you.

Right away I’m thinking this realtor has got a strange way of getting my attention. That misconception didn’t last long, for the letter continued with a few statements on how scary the world is, and yet there is hope in Jehovah. At this point I assumed the letter came from a Jehovah’s Witness adherent, and I always love to chat with these folk, so my interest was piqued.

The last paragraph continued with..

We engage in this activity because we are genuinely interested in our neighbors.

The author eventually gave me their email address. No signature, phone number, physical address or any other way of contacting this person – Golly, I don’t even know if the author is a male or female.

Immediately, I mocked this effort, and then realized I was falling into a judgmental/condemning thought pattern. Definitely not the life I want to exist in! Who knows if the author is physically disabled and cannot leave his/her home.

I decided to send off an email, seeking to be of assistance to this family.

Hello
I received a handwritten letter from you this evening, where you stated you cannot speak with us personally.
Since you know our name and where I live, it occurs to me that you may have some restrictions that are keeping you from coming to my home.
I would be happy to visit with you at your residence if you are physically disabled or unable to venture out for some other reason.
Please supply your name, address and available times to visit.  Hopefully we can schedule a mutually conducive time to visit and get to know one another.
Thank you 
Carl

I am waiting for a response and hopefully will get an opportunity to discuss.

Let me know your thoughts on this effort of evangelism, or any other thoughts this blog has brought to your thinking

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