Summer 2009- Part 2 - Evangelism

7-15-09

I had a chance to evangelize to a coworker recently.

My boss is 50, lives in a trailer park, has never even been on a single date with anyone, and expressed her despair today. She typically accepts the mundane and normality of her life with little complaining. Not that she enjoys her life tremendously, but she also doesn’t hate it. She is apathetic to it.

Recent drama and juvenile behavior has swept quietly through work. Causing even my self to want to quit. What she expressed today was a call for help. She has no idea of the spiritual battle going on for her soul right now. In short, she said she is not suicidal, however really wishes life would stop. Her only hope for not dealing with all the sin and corruption is death.

I had the perfect opportunity to tell her that there was a savior that died, one that loves her, one apart from ''religion''. She describes herself a ''backsliding luthren with pagan tendencies''. We’ve talked alot about her past (more missed opportunities). Although I’m still unsure how to tell her that who Christ is has nothing to do with the people that have lacked love and only judged her. Christ isn’t who she thinks he is. She thinks all the religions of the world are attempting to approach the same God and that one religion isn’t elevated over another. She's partially right. There is God shaped hole that he put in every soul.

Evangelizing sounds so cut and dry on paper. It seems nerve wrackingly simple and easy to me to approach a complete stranger and share the gospel.
However I’m realizing its challenging to your walk to be confronted with the need to evangelize to someone who sees you daily. Someone who sees the best and worst in you.
Even if God successfully used me as a tool to evangelize to her, how do I explain to a new convert that there is no guarantee that 'Christians' will accept her? How do I explain why some of the greatest acts of love (aside from my parents) have come from unbelievers? How do I explain that the same corruption and juvenile drama that she is experiencing in the world is in the church amongst so called “believers”. How do I explain the lack of godliness and embitterment amongst believers?

These questions were nagging me, as her past experience with Christians gave her the impression that many were judgmental and unloving. So have mine.

I have no idea what the answers are.