Pilgrim Soldier

On my way from WeightWatchers¹ to the hall this morning I was listening to Rob Bell’s podcast from Mars Hill. Whilst I know that this is enough to get me ostracised in some circles, I felt that he had an interesting point in the sermon that I was listening to.

He says this:

‘I would argue that many … have been taught the Christian faith in terms of conquest and persuasion. By conquest, I would argue, that for many people the way they’ve been taught the Christian faith is, “You are right! Other people are wrong! Your job is to convince them of their wrongness and at the same time … convince them of your rightness.” I would argue that for others their fundamental paradigm is that of persuasion or proving. “You follow Jesus! Somebody else doesn’t! Therefore the nature of your relationship is proving to them the rightness and truth of your worldview, over and against the wrongness and error of their’s”‘

My mind was instantly taken back to a situation a few years ago with a good friend. He had been trying to reason his way into faith in Christ for many months and everyone around him was more than willing to debate with him and answer his questions, to which he would always come back with more. There came a point, over a drink in a pub one evening, when I simply turned round and said to him that he can ask all the questions he likes, but sooner or later he will come to a choice between taking a step of faith or not! Eventually he did take that step!

Rob Bell goes on to say that Jesus speaks of faith as ’satisfaction’. In the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, he offers her the water of life. Rather than an intellectual discussion that can end up antagonistic, Jesus says that true faith will satisfy the deep longing we all have in our lives. How do we find that method of evangelism today? How do we show to a generation that is clearly seeking for something of meaning in their lives, to a generation that is turned off ‘Church’ by the seeming arrogance or irrelevance of what it appears to stand for, that faith in our God will actually satisfy that longing they have?

Is it through reasoned, or sometimes unreasonable, debate and apologetics? Or is it in another way?