Justin Thompson is a missionary in Lima, Peru. I asked Justin to write because I know him to be a humble disciple of Jesus and the Littleton Church of Christ happens to partner with the Thompsons. Justin is blessed to walk this life with his wife Alison. They have three children - Cailyn, Corban and Carter - and are set to welcome Chloe to the family in July. As Christ followers and missionaries, the Thompsons are committed to sharing the gospel with the Peruvian people, desiring to make disciples of Jesus.
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As a foreign missionary in Lima, Peru, most
people would probably assume that I'm a gifted evangelist. Most would probably
figure my abilities in this area are sharp and refined. If only that were true.
Evangelism, believe it or not, is one of the biggest things that has caused me
to feel guilt in my calling as a missionary. I know that evangelism is
important, yet there are times when I attempt to justify my struggles with
evangelism as a means for leaving it to the folks who are clearly gifted to be
evangelists.
Now please don't misunderstand me. I've grown
as an evangelist in my five years on the field. Would I call myself a
"gifted" evangelist? Not yet. Hopefully someday. But I've certainly
learned a few things that have helped me become a better evangelist. Even more
so I think that I've learned to ask for the Lord to gift me more in this area.!
So what is it that I have learned about
evangelism as a foreign missionary?!
I have to be a student of society and culture. As
a stranger in a foreign land, I daily face a plethora of societal and cultural
differences that force me to consciously deal with issues and scenarios. When I
lived in the States, culture was more subconscious and was something that I
reflected on less. So why should I be a student of society and culture? Because
the good news we have in Jesus is something that we should aim at the heart.
Society and culture reveal the accepted norms surrounding us, whether good or
bad, and give us a better idea of how to share the gospel. Allow me to give two
examples.
Example 1. Peru is a very familial culture.
It's not uncommon to see multigenerational homes. There is certainly a core to
their identity that revolves around family. In contrast, American culture is
more individualistic. While there is generally a familial core, there can be
great distance between members. In the States, my approach to evangelism has
been much more individualistic while my approach in Peru leans more towards a
familial type of evangelism. We (my teammates and I) have evangelized in both
ways during our time in Peru, and it is overwhelmingly obvious that our
evangelism among families has been vastly more potent compared to our
evangelism among individuals. Neither way is better except when we take into
account the societal and cultural forces that define our contexts. By studying
society and culture, we come to understand our surroundings better, and thus we
formulate methods of evangelism for our particular context.!
Example 2. Peruvian education lacks the breadth
and quality of an education from the States. By education I am specifically
speaking of public school education. Peruvian education teaches students the
answers without teaching the methods or invoking the creativity to arrive at
those answers. The education in many ways is a regurgitation of whatever
information is presented. The States, in a much more holistic way, teaches us
to question and experiment. There is a more of an experiential degree to
learning when compared to the Peruvian context. I have seen culturally shaped
evangelistic methods in Peru that reflect their educational system, which cause
people to speak about the Bible as something to be regurgitated as opposed to
God's redemption story. In most of these cases, however, I fail to see the
evangelist's concern for heart transformation. In my humble opinion, we cannot
fail in this same way. Jesus cares more about our heart's transformation than
he seems to care about our ability to blindly regurgitate the Law.
Thus, in my humble opinion, being a good
evangelist requires that we be students of society and culture. We certainly
are creatures of our environment, and this environment can teach us many
things about speaking to the hearts of others.
In general, my methods of evangelism have been
far too complicated. What I mean here is that I tend to overthink
how I should present the good news. Good news does not need build up. It does
not need me to make it better news because it is already good news. I don't
give the Good News it's power. It has that without me. Also, it's not just my
tendency to overthink, it's also my propensity to think that what I am teaching
needs to impress others. This, for me, is simply a lie. I have been struck time
and time again by Paul's words to the Corinthians, "When I came to you I did
not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony
about God... My message and my preaching we're not with wise and persuasive
words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might
not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." Paul understood the
Corinthian culture. Moreover, he didn't overdress the Good News to "give
it it's power," he was resolved to know nothing except for "Jesus
Christ and him crucified." We don't need to doctor up the Good News. We
simply need to share it.
What I think is clear about evangelism is that
it is proclamation. It is something that requires us to speak. It requires that
we share the Good News wherever and whenever. I, for one, am not great at doing
this. I tend to overanalyze and overthink situations before I share the Good
News. I don’t
think it should be this difficult.
Evangelism needs relationship. In
evangelism, I believe my desires in sharing the Good News should reflect what
Jesus desired. He desired repentance (turning away from an old lifestyle to
live a new one) and participation in the kingdom (the kingdom here and now).
This is where I think my own personal actions and lifestyles carry their
weight. My words should proclaim who Jesus is. And then my actions should
validate those words. Thus, as I proclaim the Good News to others and allow
these same people to experience life and relationship with me, the message I
share will be more potent and find more validity. (I am not saying that the
potency or validity of the Good News comes from me. I am only trying to speak
towards a practical understanding of doing evangelism, though I hope this goes
without saying.) We see the same type of evangelism taking place between Jesus
and the disciples. He proclaimed to them the Good News and allowed them watch
him as he proclaimed the Good News. This is the same Good News that he later
commissions them to carry into all the world. The disciples’ desire to
evangelize came from their experiences of proclamation and observation. Jesus
invited them to repent and participate in the kingdom. Relationship fused the
two, and this gives us practical insight into the nature of what I
consider to be good evangelism.
I have primarily spoken here in the first
person because I hesitate to make implications that others need to do
evangelism as I do evangelism. In actuality, I would rather people evangelize
better than I do. However, I do hope that we can sharpen each other to grow as
evangelists. Sharing the Good News with others can be intimidating. Yet, we
can’t overlook our need as a church to better do evangelism. We have good news
to share and a world that wants to hear it (whether they know it or not).
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