“Fear, not ignorance, is the real enemy of evangelism. We fear that our friends will reject or marginalize us if we speak about our faith; we fear that what we don’t know will be exposed; we fear that our beliefs will be challenged. Back then, as well as today, we resisted shallow techniques for communicating truth to complex human beings. If nothing else, sheer frustration compelled many to explore fresh approaches to the subject of evangelism…
…I have a deep-seated conviction that much of our evangelism is ineffective because we depend too much on technique and strategy. Evangelism has slipped into the sales department. I am convinced that we must look at Jesus, and the quality of life he calls us to, as a model for what to believe and how to reach out to others…
…Our problem in evangelism is not that we don’t have enough information–it is that we don’t know how to be ourselves. We forget we are called to be witnesses to what we have seen and know, not to what we don’t know. The key on our part is authenticity and obedience, not a doctorate in theology. We haven’t grasped that it really is OK for us to be who we are when we are with seekers, even if we don’t have all the answers to their questions or if our knowledge of Scripture is limited.”
Rebecca Manley Pippert in Out of the Salt Shaker & into the World
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