Yesterday's lectionary reading was Jesus calling the first disciples and telling them that he'd make then fishers of people. I had to preach at St. Ann's so thought that I'd share some of my thought here.
I find fishing a slightly crude metaphor when I think about mission and evangelism. I think mainly because, it requires taking away freedom and killing fish! I’m sure that fish preferred to be swimming free in the water rather than being caught in a net. I don’t want evangelism to be about taking away freedom or life.
Fishing with a rod is not much better either, it tricks the fish, it makes the fish think that they’re going to eat something when really they’ll falling into a trap. I remember watching a TV programme a few years ago about a Christian cult called ‘The family’ in the states, and their methods of evangelism. They employed a method called ‘Flirty Fishing’ where they’d use attractive young women to go out as bait to draw the men into their church.
So what then should evangelism look like? I find it really helpful to look at what our motivation for evangelism should be, and with this is mind I find John 10:10 helpful ‘I have come in order that you might have life - life in its fullness’. Our evangelism should be about giving life in its fullness, it should be about bringing freedom rather than taking it away. I therefore want to push a missiology that is about bringing life to people, about restoring humanity and about bringing justice to the world. My evangelism is motivated by a desire to see people living life in its fullness and I would suggest that this is the role of the church. The church should be a place where people come to receive life, a place of opportunity and place that celebrates the gift of humanity and also a place that recognises the injustices in the world and works to overcome them. Evangelism should be motivated by Gift. We have this wonderful gift to give, the gift of Christ and all we need to do is believe that that people want to receive that gift.
Technorati Tags: Discipleship, Evangelism, Fishing
