Contagious

Speaking the Language of the Unchurched

 

Who was it that led to your faith in Christ, a friend, family member, or maybe a coworker?  Statistics tell us that 97% of people who come to Christ do so through an existing relationship.  Without doubt relational evangelism is still the most effective means for bringing others in to right relationship with Christ.

With this in mind, as the church we must lovingly engage our relational circles and break through the barriers that would keep them from embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

When I think of breaking through barriers I think of what happened on the day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2.  As these devoted believers met together the Holy Spirit came as tongues of fire and rested on each of them.  As a result they began to speak in different languages.  There were Jews present that day from every nation under heaven, and each began to hear someone speaking their particular language – declaring the wonders of God. 

In just one day three thousand souls were added to the church – what an amazing experience that must have been.  God was showing us at the inception of the church the need to communicate with clarity to every person.  Perhaps instead of asking how big our churches can grow, maybe we should be asking, how many different languages can we speak?

Naturally we will connect with people who are like us and have things in common with us in life.  My athletic background makes it very easy for me to speak the language of other athletes and get into their world.  Businessmen know how to speak the language of other businessmen.  Young moms can easily relate to other young moms.  Personally I don’t know what it’s like to have stretch marks or to lock myself in a bathroom for five minutes of peace.  But lots of young women understand that language.  They have been there.

God made us all different; each of us capable of speaking the language of someone and influencing them for the cause of Christ.  The experiences we have had in life whether good or bad can help to make us an effective witness in some avenue of our world.

We see this in the life of Gideon – a man who lived in a dark time in Israel’s history.  The book of Judges tells that this was a time when the nation went through seven cycles of obedience and disobedience to God.

When they would fear God and follow His commands His obvious blessing and protection would be on them as a community.  Then they would begin to give way to the pleasure of sin and worship of false gods and find themselves in the pain of living apart from God’s help and influence.

Gideon lived in the midst of Israel’s cycle of disobedience.  His father was actually the one responsible for Baal worship in Israel.  Baal worship consisted of orgies and drunkenness and took place in Gideon’s own backyard.  Perhaps the motto was: “what happens in Gideon’s backyard stays in Gideon’s backyard.”

Gideon lived very close to the sin of his day and experienced first- hand the pain it brought.  Maybe that is why God chose him and enabled him to successfully lead his nation back to their faith in God.

Oftentimes when we are delivered from a particular problem, it produces something extremely valuable in our lives.  First it produces a confidence – we are assured that if God can do it for us He can certainly do it for someone else.

Secondly it produces compassion – we understand the pain and desperately want others to find the freedom we’ve found in a relationship with Christ.

We must recognize that the battle for our culture will either be won or lost in our relational circles.  Someone is waiting for us to share the gospel with clarity in a language they can understand.

Jesus said, Don’t say four months more and then the harvest.  I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields they are ripe for harvest.  John 1:35

We don’t have to look far beyond our relational circles to see the harvest – precious lives we can impact for eternity.