I’ve been home now for a little while. My parents still live in the house that, for the most part, I grew up in. However, I do not have too many friends who still live in the area. When I got home I wasn’t quite sure what my social life was going to look like.
Then I reconnected with an old friend from high school and got to play softball several times. I just went to the local sports bar with a guy from church and ate wings and drank beer. I invited a kid I met working at Target to go out for drinks some time after we talked in the break room and found neither of us had too many friends around to hang out with. He has recently moved from Indiana, and I just returned from the World Race.
For years we have been told that to be an evangelical is to view every environment we find ourselves in as a mission field. We have been told that we should tell everyone we meet that, regardless of their circumstance, they need Jesus in their life. I think we all need Jesus. I also happen to believe that we can’t begin a relationship waiting for the moment to share the Gospel with our new friend.
I am more confident than ever that because I have Jesus in my heart, because Jesus dominates my life, I take his saving grace and his redeeming love with me wherever I go. I believe the Holy Spirit can work through me in relationship regardless of whether or not I am talking specifically about the Gospel.
So here is how I try to live my life to be what I am calling “The New Evangelical”: I seek relationship wherever it is to be found. I seek to live with and among other people. As I do, I strive to be the type of person God has called me to be. I try to comfort and encourage. I try not to offer people easy answers, but to challenge them to live in a more healthy way.
The Old Evangelical believed he could tell other people how to live their lives. The New Evangelical believes he carries the strength to help people by living their lives with them.
The Old Evangelical wanted to be your friend so he could add another salvation notch on his evangelical belt. The New Evangelical wants to be your friend because he believes God created you to be an interesting person.
The Old Evangelical wanted to save you. The New Evangelical believes the Lord can use both of you to work his salvation in each of you.
It is true that your mission field is everywhere. But missions is changing. We need to seek people out to love them, not to shove Jesus in their face. Christ needs to be at the center of our relationships. Not on the front end.
