Have you ever one day been walking down the
road and suddenly you see one of those charity fundraisers? Despite their warm
approach you see this as an opportunity to be the most anti social person you
could ever be. You might avoid eye contact or even cross the road, doing
everything humanly possible to avoid the sales speech. You know it’s a good
cause. It will change someone else’s life, it might even change yours! Or
perhaps you have had an unexpected knock at your front door; you wonder ‘who
could this wonderful person be!?’ As soon as you open the door your heart
sinks as you are greeted with a clip board and ID tag
around the neck of a hopeful, unfamiliar but friendly face.
In this day and age, people are not after a
salesman. This is why we are so unconvinced by politicians when they kiss
babies or make a ‘promise’. We see straight through the latest celebrity visit
to an orphanage in Africa knowing ’they’re
just doing that for publicity.’ We don’t
like things being sold to us, we want to choose to do something, not be persuaded.
My reasoning is that if I want something I’ll go looking for it myself
thank you very much! I don’t need a salesperson to try and sell me a new
internet provider, if I’m unhappy I will look and find one myself. I don’t know
how effective sales people are in their attempts to gain new customers, but one
strategy I do find to be effective forms of sales are adverts.
Adverts work because:
- They set out to be attractive.
- They don’t over complicate the details. They tell you what the product is, where you can get it and why you need it.
- They aren't overly intrusive, if you don’t like an advert on TV you mute the sound or change the channel. If you’re not interested in the catalogue, you throw it in the bin. However if you are interested, you’ll keep that catalogue or rewind the TV just to re-watch the advert and get all the details of how to obtain that product.
Our
goal as the church is to go and make disciples, to do this we must eventually
present Jesus to people, so how do we do this without becoming plastic and
artificial?
I once
read on another blog something very thought provoking that asked this question,
‘How many things are Christians known for that they shouldn't be known for ?’ A
very good question because when I put myself in the shoes of my work mates I
realized that they through their own experiences with the church/Christians
and a combination of media stories, some that are utter rubbish and sadly some
that are true, obtained a very poor picture of who Jesus really is. Play the
word association game with a church hater and they’ll probably use words like
‘judgemental’ and ‘hypocritical’. As sad as this all is, God has not called you
to fix everyone’s hurts, or correct other people’s mistakes. What he has called
you to do is represent him how he should be represented.
To
‘sell’ Jesus to people does not require a clipboard and ID tag, it doesn't require you to go door to door with a script trying to sell to an unsuspecting
victim. All it requires is being on display in a way that shows that God is
amazing, he’s done great things in your life and he wants to do great things in
other people’s lives too.
Jesus said it like this, ‘You’re here to be a light, bringing out the God colours in the
world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public
as a city on a hill. If I make you light bearers, you don’t think I'm going to
hide you under a bucket do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you on a hilltop, on a light stand - shine! Keep an open house; be generous
with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with
God.’
(Matthew
5:14-16,The Message translation)
I like how Jesus relates a faith that gives
light to the our surroundings. Imagine your faith as a light bulb and then
with an honest heart, assess how brightly that light bulb shines during the
week. I'm not just talking Sunday at church, not even just Monday to Friday 9
to 5. I mean all the time. Can I encourage you that increasing the brightness
of your light is actually very simple. It’s about being open. It’s about being
real. It’s about taking an interest in someone’s life. It is really as simple
and beautiful as asking someone at work how their weekend was, learning the name
of their spouse and kids and taking a genuine interest in their life. When
you next go to pay for groceries I challenge you to look up and smile at the
shop assistant whilst asking ‘how’s your day been?’ It may not add much to your
day, but trust me it’ll add heaps to theirs. Small acts of love built up over a
period of time have a way of transforming a person’s perception of the so
called Christian you claim to be. I used to believe for a long time that if I
could just say the right words, if I could just win the lunch room debates, that
people would finally accept my invitation to church. I now know that God would
like to see us all live by this famous quote, ‘Preach all the time, if necessary
use words.’
Dan
