Evangelism: Plugged-In to Spirit

Here's a follow-up to my last toungue-in-cheek post. Yes, the Mountain Dew Amp had something to do with my energy boost, but that's not what made the worship experience so amazing. For a couple of days last week, I sensed I was plugged-in to Holy Spirit empowering me for Jesus' reign.

Earlier that day (Thursday) I had an awesome session of discipleship coaching with a woman from another congregation in our synod. They want to start implementing discipleship coaching too, so I've been helping them get started. This coaching session was unique, in that it wasn't a typical disciple in a year-long covenant, but rather a one time session for the purpose of showing her what a coaching session is like. Nevertheless, without the prior set-up that goes into cutting a covenant and forging a coaching relationship, we hit the ground running and had a great coaching session. I was well aware of Jesus' presence with the two of us as we journeyed together. And I even learned something new from her for how we can better equip our discipleship coaches in our congregation.

So then this time was followed up by the awesome worship which I've already told you about, so I won't elaborate here.

I woke up the next morning feeling so alive. After dropping my kids off at daycare, I stopped by Starbucks and walked to campus to check my department mailbox. Along the way, I couldn't help but tell people about God's saving presence among us. After the usual quick morning greeting to strangers on the side walk ("hello", "good morning", etc.), when some would engage me a bit more with the next typical step in a conversation by asking "how are you?", I didn't give them one of the answers they expected to hear. Instead of responding with "fine", "well thanks", or the like, I'd say something like, "I gotta tell, ya . . . I feel like I'm walking on air this morning after an amazing Spirit-filled worship experience last night."

Some people would shrug it off. But some would relate to it, either as a fellow Christian who's had similar experiences, or as one of the many people who describe themselves as "spritual but not religious". As I'm realizing more and more, people are thirsting for deep, rich, authentic spirituality.

So evangelism, for me, has become quite simple:

1. See what the Spirit is doing in the world right now;
2. Get involved in it;
3. Invite other people to get involved in it.

This last step is more akin to dialog and conversation, than it is proclamation. I share my stories of experiencing the Spirit. I listen to spiritual people's experiences of the Spirit, even if they have a different name for it. And then I relate to their spiritual stories.

Typically, people's spiritual stories have themes of oneness, unity, peace, wholeness, reconciliation, and the like. I tell them that I know a single word that means all of these things: "shalom". Then I go on to say that the Spirit they've been experiencing is shalom, God's new world order under the rule of the person fully anointed by the Spirit whose name is Jesus.

Then I tell more stories -- stories of how Jesus has transformed me. He changed my life by giving me the gift of this Spirit so that I can participate in the new world order. It's vital to know your own stories of how Jesus has changed you.

This is what I've learned from my evangelical born-again friends. They can tell you at a drop of a hat the difference Jesus makes in their life. This is also why I've come to see why Lutherans and other mainline churches, who baptize the majority of their members as infants, suck at evangelism. We have trouble seeing how we've been converted. Our contribution to evangelism should be that Jesus hasn't converted us just once on a certain date at a particular time, but Jesus converts us again and again to his world order. What we need to learn to do better is to identify those conversion moments, name them as conversion moments, and share them with others as conversion moments in which Jesus has transformed us.

So for me, evangelism isn't telling people about Jesus, or about what God did through Jesus some 2000 years ago. Evangelism is helping people recognize Jesus reigning the world in their experiences of the Spirit. If the spirit they describe in their stories is the Spirit of shalom, then Jesus is already offering the gift of transformation that will knock their socks off -- the invitation to get off the sidelines where people simply experience the Spirit and to get into the action of being anointed in the Spirit for Jesus to reign through us for the new world order.

If the thought of doing evangelism sounds scary or intimidating or too forward, try this:

1. Ask your self about the difference Jesus makes --
How has Jesus changed my life?
What is Jesus doing now in my life?
What do I see/hear Jesus doing in the lives of those who do not recognize him?

2. Then use typical conversations as an opportunity to tell your stories --
"How are you?" I gotta tell you, I'm stoked about what God's Spirit did last night . . . (Or even) I'm feeling out of sync lately, like I haven't been plugged in to the Spirit's vibe . . . (Sharing experiences of both awareness and unawareness of God's Spirit in the world can open up conversation. Maybe they'll relate and carry on the topic. Maybe they won't. Either way, it's an honest answer to their question).
"What do you do for a living?" Well I work at such and such, but what I really like to do is connect with people thirsting for the Spirit . . .
"What do you got goin on today?" I'm keeping my eyes open for God to present one of those times when you connect with someone in Spirit . . .

As you go through your day today, listen to the small talk questions people ask you, and then reflect later on ways you can respond to those questions with the story of what Holy Spirit is doing to draw people into Jesus' reign that reconciles all things to his Father. Don't give rehearsed answers. In the moment, see the Spirit in the person asking you the question, and simply respond to the Spirit.