It comes as no surprise that there are many ways to share our faith. Recently, however, I witnessed two extremes.
On Thursday of last week, I received an email containing a link to a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel service.
Jim White
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The service began with a blood red video presentation of attacking soldiers slithering up a hill on their bellies. The voiceover, accompanied by drums and trumpets, says, “In every battle there is a decisive moment when troops courageously take a hill occupied by the enemy.”
The video goes on to describe “the hill” as Southwestern Seminary and the 6,700 homes in its vicinity “that may not have ever heard the gospel message.” The idea is that students will go door-to-door and in preparation are challenged to report to “duty stations” set up on campus to receive their assignments.
Three young men in fatigues and armed with M-16 rifles hike purposefully side-by-side toward their objective as the video fades to black.
For a moment the seminary chapel is dark and silent. Then the roaring engine of a desert patrol vehicle (a souped-up dune buggy with two .50 caliber machine guns mounted on its superstructure) is heard followed by the burst of machine gun fire. The DPV spurts onto the stage with a helmeted figure manning the blazing machine gun. It rolls to a halt and the seminary president, Paige Patterson, slowly extricates himself, removes his helmet and says, in his best Pattonesque, “We’re going to take the hill!”
Patterson proceeds to confess that he is no better at witnessing than the students and challenges them to answer the call to share their faith by visiting the households around the seminary. In the course of his challenge, Patterson has a conversation with God in which the blood of surrounding community members appears on his hands (as in Ezekiel 33:6).
Even though Patterson’s performance is not likely to garner a Tony award, I am sure those who witnessed his entrance with guns blazing will not soon forget it — no matter how hard they may try.
In contrast, on Friday of last week I had a conversation with Dennis Prether, an English evangelist and head of Viz-A-Viz ministries in London. Prether has a passion for seeing people come to Christ and is consulting with Virginia Baptists. He believes a better way to share our faith is to love people into a relationship with Jesus. He defines evangelism as, “Leaving the people with a better understanding of God than they had before you talked.” Each conversation, he says, moves them a little closer to acceptance.
In addition to meeting with Virginia Baptist Mission Board personnel, Prether has met with representatives of the North American Mission Board and LifeWay to discuss a four-story approach to sharing our faith with people with whom we have cultivated relationships.
According to Prether, even those who know nothing about the Bible respond to stories of changed lives. These are the first stories contained in a DVD he has produced.
The second stories are those of the individual Christians who personally share their faith. “People really are interested when they know that the story is true,” Prether says. “They want to hear what difference Jesus has made in your life.”
Third, “Ask to hear their stories,” says Prether. “How can we claim to really care about people and not care what they think or what they believe? Ask them how they have answered questions of purpose and meaning.”
Finally, as they are open, and want to hear it, tell them the story of Jesus, Prether says. “Love is the key to it. You’ve got to love people — not so we can perhaps win them to Jesus. That’s manipulative. We need to love them because they are people God loves and Jesus said to love them. And, because we do, we will be able to lead some of them to Christ.”
The difference in the approaches couldn’t be more pronounced. I understand Patterson’s militaristic language. When I was in the Marine Corps, a group of us Christians used to meet at the base chapel and go out one night a week to “slay the Philistines!” That was the jargon we used for witnessing. But that was the Marine Corps, not a seminary campus.
I’m aware that Paul used the armor of a Roman soldier to illustrate a Christian’s equipment for Godly living (Eph. 6:11-17). And even Jesus spoke of his church on the offense — “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18).
And, truthfully, I commend Patterson’s emphasis on evangelism. We come as close to unanimity as it’s possible for Baptists when it comes to the need to share our faith. We all agree. Whether we actually do it is, of course, another issue; but at least we agree that we should.
Perhaps, like Paul, Patterson is simply using the images with which we are familiar to drive home his point. I’m sure he would say so.
Still, I am bothered, no, appalled by images of M-16- wielding militiamen out to take the hill for Christ. This is much more than simply drawing parallels with military equipment to the disciplines of the Christian life. Even though Patterson, to his credit, tries to unlink the weapons of war from the weapons of the gospel, it isn’t the Bible he rode in on. His gleeful example speaks louder than his disclaimer.
I keep wondering what I would think if I were among the 6,700 families targeted and saw the video shown in the chapel service. Would I feel loved or like the enemy? Would I open my door eagerly to these student visitors or would I want to protect my family from those zealots coming to destroy my way of life? I think there is little doubt.
While I may still subscribe to the theory that there is no wrong way to lead someone to faith in Christ, I am evaluating it. True, if even only one comes to faith through the blazing saddles evangelism method, it will be worth it — at least for that one. Even with its flaws, it is probably better than the pew potato method of evangelism in which we talk about how much we love the lost but never rise from our padded pews to share the gospel with them.
But, surely there is a better way! Ah, isn’t Paul to be believed when he writes that love is the “more excellent way?” That’s where I’m putting my motivation for evangelism. And I’m thrilled that Wayne Faison, leader of the courageous churches team of the VBMB, agrees. He and Prether are collaborating on evangelism in Virginia and news of that will follow at some point. I’m also thrilled that NAMB and LifeWay are, apparently, leaving their carbines locked away and are opting for the more excellent way of encouraging Baptists to share our faith.
All that said, I hope the students see a great harvest of souls if and when they move out to take the hill. And I hope the rest of us will get off our seats and give voice to our professed love of the lost.
Jim White is editor of the Religious Herald.