good news – Sons of Issachar

329. Evangelising Non-Christians: A Fresh Perspective

Mike Parsons –

In the last post, I talked about evangelising Christians. Now I turn to those who do not consider themselves Christians at all.

Challenging Preconceptions for Non-Christians

When it comes to talking to people who are not yet Christians or not yet believing, or have not yet realised what Jesus has done for them, I would start at a different place. I would probably begin by challenging what they think they know about Jesus and God, because it is probably not the truth. I would likely challenge some of the preconceptions they think they know from whatever religious upbringing they have had. I would say, “You may have thought you needed to do this or this or this, but actually God has done it all – you just have to receive it.” I would use illustrations like: “When someone buys a gift for you, they wrap it nicely, present it well, put your name on it, and then hand it to you. You didn’t buy it, you didn’t deserve it – it was a gift they gave you. But it wasn’t yours until you received it, even though your name was on it. Only when you reached out, took it, opened it, and received it as a gift could you say ‘this is now mine.’ Until then, you haven’t received anything, even though the gift is there.”

The Gift of God’s Grace

That is essentially what God has done. Jesus has reconciled everybody. He has taken away ‘the sin’ – the lost identity, their amnesia from who they really are. He has revealed the Father (as Jesus is the express image of the Father). He has shown people that it is all about love: He has called people to love one another, forgive one another. I would challenge them to see what Jesus said in light of our religious thinking – an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, vengeance, God being angry and needing appeasing. To say, “It’s already been done! God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. He’s already made a relationship, already given you the Spirit and made you alive so you can know Him. He’s already done all these amazing things – why don’t you just let Him give you that experience?”

Receiving the Gift

So give them the opportunity of having that experience as well. Probably having knocked down some religious ideas like “you have to go to church, pray, read the Bible” and so on. You can say, “Who said you have to do any of those things?” and open up a whole different vista of who God really is. It’s like the book “The Jesus I Never Knew” by Philip Yancey – he was probably brought up in the Bible Belt but never knew Jesus for who He really was. I would try to present Jesus as someone they may have thought they knew, but there’s more – a truth that probably challenges what they thought they knew.

Then I would stress the need for experience – that it is a relationship, God with us. God is in them already, wanting to reveal Himself to them. Ask them to give Him a chance. Then you can use something like “Behold I stand at the door and knock,” and say, “God is in you, within your spirit. He wants you to let Him into the rest of your life – to bless you, heal you, make you whole, remove all guilt, shame, condemnation, give you your true identity as His son, empower you to succeed and prosper.” Then get them to close their eyes, picture a door, open it, and see what happens.

Conclusion

So ultimately it all comes down to the same point – encouraging both Christians and non-Christians to experience things. But in both groups you may need to remove some preconceived ideas about what they think it is all about and what they think might be the truth. Then help them find The Truth as a person – Jesus – through that experiential encounter with the reality of who God is and what He has already done.

Support us

Our Patreon patrons give a small amount each month and can join us for our monthly group Zooms, get exclusive or early access to Mike’s teaching and enjoy further patron-only benefits. Or you can use the blue button to support our work with a one-time gift*.

Thank you!

Note: This donation is securely handled through PayPal but you do not need to have a PayPal account yourself to make a one-time donation.
For repeating donations, if you do not have (or want) a PayPal account please support us through Patreon instead.

Mike’s YouTube Channel

These blog posts are based on videos posted on Mike’s YouTube channel. Want to see the latest ones as soon as they are published?
Click the image below to subscribe at https://freedomarc.org/youtube

328. Experiencing God’s Love: A New Approach to Evangelising Christians

Mike Parsons –

If you are starting with people who are already professing to be Christians, you will begin in a different place than if you are engaging those who don’t.
I will get on to evangelising non-Christians in my next post. Ultimately though, both need to know the love of God and experience that love themselves, through a revelation of who He is, to fully come into the knowledge of who they are.

Beyond Religious Conditioning

I would always start in an experiential way. If they are Christians, I will quote scriptures that point to the fact that Jesus and the Father very clearly desire an intimacy that is not religious and not based on works, performance or the old covenant. I would definitely look at the New Covenant wineskin for believers who may be conditioned or programmed by various religious beliefs. What did Jesus say we should expect? We should expect to be where He was, in the “I AM” relationship with the Father. He came and breathed on them to receive the Holy Spirit on the day of resurrection, affirming them as the new representatives of humanity: just as Adam was the first representative through whom all died, now they were the new representatives where all are made alive.

Experiential Encounters

I would emphasise that Jesus wanted them to experience His presence. Even when He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem, it was so they would be clothed with power from on high – an experiential encounter affirming what they had already experienced in being indwelt by the Holy Spirit and received new life when He breathed on them, just as the Father breathed life into Adam. This challenges the idea of a certain number of people being “born again” at some future point, when the reality is that all were born again at that resurrection moment, affirmed when He breathed on them. As He said in John 14, “On that [resurrection] day you will know I am in you and you are in me, and we are in the Father.”

Challenge the conventional

I think always stressing the experiential side is key – that we have been called to hear His voice, come boldly to the throne of grace, and enter the realms of heaven experientially because they are open. Expressing this in a practical way removes the spiritualisation of the concept and sets the expectation for what our relationship with God should be. We can challenge the conventional vaguely hopeful expectations of ‘going to heaven when we die’ with affirmations of what Jesus said we should expect in this life – being in union with each other, our love relationship allowing the world to see what it means to be in relationship with God.

Summary

In conclusion, I would definitely give people an opportunity to have their own experience of God. Make it simple, easy and accessible – don’t complicate it. Give them the opportunity of encountering God through experience, and from that point, you can open the door for them to understand so much more.

Support us

Thank you!

Mike’s YouTube Channel

303. The Nature of God’s Love

Mike Parsons

It is not that all religions lead to God, but that we can choose to accept and love people who hold different beliefs. God loves everyone, no matter what they believe. He loves Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs (and everyone else) just as much as He loves Christians. No more, no less – they just do not know that love in the same way. Telling others they are wrong or are leading people astray and that they will go to hell is counter-productive and falsely represents God’s nature.

God can reveal Himself to anyone. Taking a positive approach towards others makes them more likely to think of God as good, so that when they do meet Jesus, they are more likely to consider following Him than if they have experienced hostility from an unfriendly church. Rick Warren is someone who takes flak for engaging with other faith groups, yet all he is doing is reaching out and showing love – which is what the good news is all about. Whatever our doctrinal disagreements might be with him, he is reflecting God’s love in a way that others are not.

God is not looking at whether you have all your I’s dotted and your T’s crossed in doctrine: He is looking at love. He is looking at your heart. If we are loving, that is more a reflection of Him than if our belief system is in line. If you have great doctrine but you do not show love, what is the point of that? You are nothing but a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal (see 1 Cor 13:1). If you do not show love, your faith is empty and hollow and it has no power and no effect. It is about what you do with people, not what you say to them.