Evangelism - Is it Good News?

Family,

When I was back east reminiscing with some friends, an old buddy of mine approached us (out of nowhere) and stated, "Andy, I don't trust the church! When me and my fiance', well she was my girlfriend at the time, had an abortion, those we know who were "Christian" looked down on us and gave us the silent treatment!"

Whoa. You should have seen his eyes. Yeah, there was some anger, but underneath.... there was a lot of hurt, and pain from rejection. With those two sentences he shared, I had a doorway into my buddy's heart that I had never seen. I could see he and his fiance' finding out about the pregnancy and feeling the weight. Then, there was the decision to have the procedure, the drive there, the drive back and all of the the conversations that occurred before and after. All 5 of us were captured in silence as everyone waited for me to respond. I prayed the fastest prayer ever before responding.

My reply was quick (I remember it like it was yesterday). I said,"I am sorry that you had to go through that tough choice, dude. That is hard.... I do know that God loves all life, and that definitely includes you and your girlfriend (now fiance').

I tell you. Please don't substitute the Church for God. It can be very easy to think that those people are a direct representative for the heart of God. Many times this is not the case. We (the Church) aren't perfect bro. We are one of the main reasons God came to the earth...

I am sorry you had to experience that tough decision."

My boy looked at me and said some stuff to think about.

Like countless times before, this was a chance to share my faith and trust in who God is. It was an "evangelistic" opportunity.

Evangelism is a term for "sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ." But do many of us believe it is "Good News"? "Good" enough to tell other people? Before we swallow that guilt-bomb, we need to consider what it really means to evangelize.

Again I could write on and on, but I wrote a sermon on this. Check it out: http://diveintoflood.com/media/1119/heirs_evangelism.mp3