Confrontational Evangelism

[Pavel Mosko]

[

Pavel Mosko, I thought you are Orthodox.

I'm lapsed OO, but even I was in full Coptic Communion, I still read and talked to folks outside of the OO.

Have you heard of Robert Arakaki? He has a website called the Orthodox Reform Bridge that talks about the differences of the Calvinism and the Orthodox Christian faith. He was a former Calvinist that converted to Orthodoxy.

I've read similar things, but not that exactly. This is web site I'm familiar with.

Orthodoxy and Western Christianity: For Reformed Protestants

 

[2PhiloVoid]

A Facebook Friend posted a pithy little meme like statement that I think summarized most of my inner attitude on Evangelism etc. Sometimes getting at things we occasionally even see on this board.

Of course, being pithy it is probably a little over simplistic for the nit pickers etc. that love to find exceptions to the rule and so on. I would have phrased it less as an absolute, and more that it should be rare and maybe would cite Jonah to Nineveh as an example.


"I don’t know that confrontational evangelism is ever right (or biblical). Outside of circumstances where you are invited to speak, you should always wait for someone to ask you about the hope you have. But you should live and talk in a way that makes them ask. This is harder and, most often, takes time."


So what do think?

To tell you the truth, brother Pavel, I've never heard of the concept of "confrontational evangelism," but I do think there are times that Christians will need to just confront the Powers that think they 'be' and tell it like it is, whether they like it or not, ask for it or not, want it or not, or will listen or not. And that is that. But only sometimes.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to come across as if this is the kind of thing we should go around looking for, especially if we know going into any confrontation that there are risks involved---just as Jesus told us there could be when we might face off against "wolves," and we will have to use our best Lord-directed and God-given judgement and be prepared to high-tail it out of the situation if things get too heated. At other times, we just better be ready to take what we know the World with attempt to dish out.

On the other hand, when it talks like a Herod or an Elymas, walks like a Herod or an Elymas............well, it's probably safe to say that it's a Herod or an Elymas, and that person should be addressed as such.

 

[dqhall]

A Facebook Friend posted a pithy little meme like statement that I think summarized most of my inner attitude on Evangelism etc. Sometimes getting at things we occasionally even see on this board.

Of course, being pithy it is probably a little over simplistic for the nit pickers etc. that love to find exceptions to the rule and so on. I would have phrased it less as an absolute, and more that it should be rare and maybe would cite Jonah to Nineveh as an example.


"I don’t know that confrontational evangelism is ever right (or biblical). Outside of circumstances where you are invited to speak, you should always wait for someone to ask you about the hope you have. But you should live and talk in a way that makes them ask. This is harder and, most often, takes time."


So what do think?

If you go along with the status quo, you may not encounter hostility.

If you follow Christ, you will likely be hated by those who do not want to be corrected.

John 7:7 (WEB) The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.

 

[Norbert L]

So what do think?

There's a place for both the waiting and confrontational kind of evangelism. Matthew 10:14

The issue with the confrontational kind is there seems to be a number of bad apples spoiling that basket.

And it's not as if a person who is being evangelised at can also be obstinate. I worked with one person who rather enjoyed telling JWs about the virtues of inappropriate contentography when they showed up at his doorstep.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

I worked with one person who rather enjoyed telling JWs about the virtues of inappropriate contentography when they showed up at his doorstep.

OK that shocks me, I usually just go to the easy stuff like believing in the Divinity of Jesus, the Trinity etc.

 

[DamianWarS]

A Facebook Friend posted a pithy little meme like statement that I think summarized most of my inner attitude on Evangelism etc. Sometimes getting at things we occasionally even see on this board.

Of course, being pithy it is probably a little over simplistic for the nit pickers etc. that love to find exceptions to the rule and so on. I would have phrased it less as an absolute, and more that it should be rare and maybe would cite Jonah to Nineveh as an example.


"I don’t know that confrontational evangelism is ever right (or biblical). Outside of circumstances where you are invited to speak, you should always wait for someone to ask you about the hope you have. But you should live and talk in a way that makes them ask. This is harder and, most often, takes time."


(Later he later did clarify his position.)

Dear friends who are out of their minds that I am against confrontational evangelism: look up the phrase first. It does not mean I am against the confrontation of error or, God forbid, against evangelism. I am just against sloppy, lazy tactics.

So what do think? (He has another clarification statement further down in the thread).

I call it unsolicited evangelism and I think it is poor practice. We should earn the right to share the gospel so directly, however, with that said we can communicate a lot without forcing it. Jesus tells us to not just love our Neighbour but to love them as ourselves. I don't know about you but typically something unsolicited is unwanted so why do we think this is worthy of a platform for the gospel? If I don't want it then I'm not loving someone as myself when I use it one others. Work for the invitation and it will be warmly received rather than estranging ourselves from our own mission.

 

[DamianWarS]

I leave evangelism to the evangelists.

We are all called to spread the gospel, you are free to use different words but this call is upon us all.

 

[DamianWarS]

Confrontation and prayer is what got me into the Kingdom, I may even have ended up dead if it wasn’t for my Uncle hammering me. Some people really need it.

I would argue family has the right to be confrontational, especially if they are respected. What about a stranger? Would a confrontational message be received in the same way as your uncle saying it?

 

[DamianWarS]

I think it is a cop out. Romans 10 "How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

If my boss at the time had not taken the time to witness to me, I could easily have never been saved. I was suicidally depressed and nearly died of alcohol poisoning twice in 2 weeks. It never occurred to me to ask for help from anyone. I despised what I thought was Church so you would not get me into one in a fit.

It is possible to witness, uninvited, in a way that is not intimidating or overbearing. Check out a preacher named Bayless Conley. He has a testimony about being witnessed to by a kid, from memory 11 years old. Well worth hearing.

Confrontational works when we respect the one who is confronting us and implies a relationship (like boss/employee) but in the wild from stranger to stranger the rules are different. I don't think it's wise to issue blanket statements and we need to understand the limits of confrontational tactics. We don't have to guess at them either, they work when there is respect and relationship, they don't work with strangers and someone who doesn't respect you.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

I call it unsolicited evangelism and I think it is poor practice. We should earn the right to share the gospel so directly, however, with that said we can communicate a lot without forcing it. Jesus tells us to not just love our Neighbour but to love them as ourselves. I don't know about you but typically something unsolicited is unwanted so why do we think this is worthy of a platform for the gospel? If I don't want it then I'm not loving someone as myself when I use it one others. Work for the invitation and it will be warmly received rather than estranging ourselves from our own mission.

YES!

It's kind of a tough issue because their are lots of potential exceptions to the rule etc. but I really do believe this for the most part.

It's funny for the people who don't like some of my friends comments and cite saint Paul and Jesus when they largely operated according to what my friend laid out in his posts. (The "in your face" image of PAul is purely based on the epistles, which were written to believers, inter-personally how Paul acted was much different than that for the most part by his own admission 1 Corinthians 2:3 , 2 Corinthians 10:10, and what we see for the most part in the book of Acts.

 

[topher694]

There's a place for both the waiting and confrontational kind of evangelism. Matthew 10:14

The issue with the confrontational kind is there seems to be a number of bad apples spoiling that basket.

Yes, this! It's not one or the other, it's both. What we sorely need is wisdom in evangelism.

 

[Norbert L]

OK that shocks me, I usually just go to the easy stuff like believing in the Divinity of Jesus, the Trinity etc.

We all live in our own bubbles, I've just happened to have worked with numerous people who demonstrated some plain and sometimes extreme evil behavior. What shocked me that on one occasion at the funeral of our employer, men like these were able to speak the Lord's prayer from memory with just as much passion.

 

[HTacianas]

We are all called to spread the gospel, you are free to use different words but this call is upon us all.

By way of example, how many people have you baptized?

 

[NW82]

The key, I think, is that people say it's rude or unwarranted to share the gospel if someone doesn't ask you. This is in the same vein as people saying that stating homosexuality is wrong, and they say its bigoted and hateful. The problem with this is that it is truth, from a biblical perspective. Saying the truth, in love, can be viewed by someone negatively if they disagree even if there is no negative basis. Short version I think we are all required to share the gospel, not just when we are asked about, but through how we live. The great commission wasn't a suggestion.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

The key, I think, is that people say it's rude or unwarranted to share the gospel if someone doesn't ask you. This is in the same vein as people saying that stating homosexuality is wrong, and they say its bigoted and hateful. The problem with this is that it is truth, from a biblical perspective.

The problem is many people confuse "sharing the Gospel" with Proselytizing. They are not the same thing, and as my friend later said...


Dear friends who are out of their minds that I am against confrontational evangelism: look up the phrase first. It does not mean I am against the confrontation of error or, God forbid, against evangelism. I am just against sloppy, lazy tactics.

 

[DamianWarS]

By way of example, how many people have you baptized?

I live in a part of the world where there is no church and baptism is a scarce luxury, the call of Christ still echos. We each are responsible to it, but I don't do numbers.

 

[Lady Donna Marie]

.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Didn't Jesus tell a man to go home , instead of leaving home, and to tell his family and neighbors what Yahweh (God) did for him ?

If there is nothing to tell, no seed to sow, no work of Yahweh,

then is there any salvation ?

 

[GaveMeJoy]

I think it is a cop out. Romans 10 "How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

If my boss at the time had not taken the time to witness to me, I could easily have never been saved. I was suicidally depressed and nearly died of alcohol poisoning twice in 2 weeks. It never occurred to me to ask for help from anyone. I despised what I thought was Church so you would not get me into one in a fit.

It is possible to witness, uninvited, in a way that is not intimidating or overbearing. Check out a preacher named Bayless Conley. He has a testimony about being witnessed to by a kid, from memory 11 years old. Well worth hearing.

I agree that we need to witness. Perhaps the OP is more talking about street ambushes outside the context of relationship.


Doesn’t seem like disagreeing with the fundamental call to witness

 

[GenemZ]

Ah he did clarify his position.


Dear friends who are out of their minds that I am against confrontational evangelism: look up the phrase first. It does not mean I am against the confrontation of error or, God forbid, against evangelism. I am just against sloppy, lazy tactics.

Be led of the Spirit. That is the key. Do not get locked into some church program on how to witness...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend."
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

​

There will be some times for confrontational evangelism.

'Times....' Not all the time.

We need to be led of the Spirit.

grace and peace