What is the greatest witness we have to the saving grace of Jesus? What will make the world sit up and notice the story we tell? Will it take a big-screen, digital masterpiece with great acting and production values? Perhaps another city-wide campaign featuring an eloquent speaker and powerful music? Do we need a new evangelistic Bible study technique to trot door-to-door, something easy to learn, something any of us could do?

Maybe. Those aren’t bad ideas. They have their place, no doubt. But confronting the church’s feeble witness with ideas such as these is a bit like telling us to move a mountain and then handing us a spoon. The task is too large. The tool is too small. Where’s the dynamite, for goodness sake?

Jesus said, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34, 35).

Ask Jesus about evangelism and he would not respond with techniques and events, databases and mass mailing campaigns. He’d say, “Love each other. Nothing speaks to the world quite like a genuine, sacrificial, selfless love. When you love each other like I have loved you, the world will notice. When you love each other that profoundly, that creatively, they will recognize my mark on your life. Love each other and the world will listen to you. That kind of love wins an audience for your testimony to the gospel.”

Love each other? An evangelistic technique? How hopelessly outdated! How quaintly na‘ve! It’s obvious Jesus lived 2,000 years ago; he’d never make it in our high-tech, fast-paced, information-saturated, cynical world. Were he here now, he’d have to learn a whole new evangelistic vocabulary: sound bites and commercials, four-color full-bleed brochures, featured-artists and altar calls, telephone counselors and dramatic testimonials. That’s how it’s done today. That’s how a modern church reaches a post-modern world!

Ahem. And how is that working for us? How effectively are we winning the world for Christ? Are you really convinced we’ve found the evangelistic key that fits the need of our world today?

When I look at dying churches, the dwindling impact of Christians on our culture, the evangelistic laryngitis that afflicts so many of our congregations and people, I wonder if the time might have come to go back to basics. Forget “selling” Jesus as though he were toothpaste. Forget the event-driven, spectacle-oriented, media-savvy mindset that has so saturated our thinking. Forget “packaging” Jesus for the world, putting his best face forward, wrapping him up in relevance.

What if we determined simply to show that Jesus makes a difference? In us. In the way we live. In our values and priorities. In our marriages. What if—especially—we determined to demonstrate that Jesus makes a difference in the way people who are committed to him get along?

What would happen to our evangelistic witness if we decided to take Jesus at his Word and love each other? Forgive the slights. Endure the immaturities. Grant second chances. Stop judging each other and start accepting one another. Live together in patient, kind, humble, self-giving, trusting, and never-give-up ways. Practice the discipline of unity.

I wonder what would happen to our witness if we in the Christian community swallowed our pride and learned to defer, do what’s best for others, think of you as better than me? What if the world saw us being a true body—caring for each other, hurting with each other, rejoicing with each other? What if we shared our possessions in common? Would anyone notice? What if we reached for something genuine, something trusting, something vulnerable with each other? Would anyone see a difference between us and the world?

What if Jesus knows what he’s talking about, even in our times, even in a world like ours? What if a little acceptance and forgiveness, a little harmony and unity, go a lot further than we imagined?

Boy, that’s doing witness the hard way! Watching my tongue as a form of outreach. Deferring to another’s need, even another’s preference, because the world is watching. Patience and kindness as a testimonial to a transforming God.

Jesus says when we live together like that, everyone will notice. And they will know that something miraculous, something supremely Christlike, is going on among us. That’s when they’ll listen. That’s when we can talk gospel.

Perhaps we need a big-screen, digital masterpiece after all. I wonder if Mel Gibson is available to play the lead? |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells