Brothers and Sisters,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I pray this finds you doing well. One of the traits or thresholds in building relationships is TRUST.
For instance, when you are beginning a relationship with someone, whether a friendship or loving relationship, you take time to get to know the person first. One is usually not going to immediately begin telling private information to someone you are first getting to know. You want to make sure you can trust the person first. The longer you know somebody, the easier it becomes to trust them, but it takes time. The same can be said about evangelism.
In a recent workshop that I attended, the speaker, Brent Campbell, spoke of five thresholds of evangelism. The first is trust. Just like in a relationship, for a person to learn more about Jesus, they are going to have to trust you. This can be difficult in today’s world, because we are living in an era of distrust.
To get someone to trust me, I cannot judge them. One needs to know that no matter what they have done, I will not judge them for past or current mistakes. As a pastor, it is always hard to see people leave a church, but it is even harder to see them leave because they were hurt or lost trust in the church. We would think that the church would be a safe and nonjudgmental place. After all, Jesus has forgiven us for our mistakes, and we should be willing to do the same, not call others out for theirs.
With evangelism, it’s similar. When we are inviting people to become a part of the church or a small group, we need to do so with an open mind and an open heart, because there is a lot of confusion in the world today as to which type of Christianity one wants to be a part of. Today, people are having to decide whether they are going to be a part of a church who doesn’t judge but loves those whom others have pushed aside; in other words, loving like Jesus. Or there is a type of Christianity that is all about power, which goes against the teachings of Jesus.
So, when we are in conversations with folks, we really have to listen and meet them where they are. We have to build a relationship with them, and that relationship has to begin with trust. It’s going to be hard to gain more believers if they don’t trust you. Brent shared with us during the workshop, that he built a relationship with someone, and it took the person 10 years before they became a believer, but Brent never judged him, he was there for him, and he listened to him. He genuinely showed that he cared and through that, he began to gain the trust of his friend.
We are called to be the hands, the feet, and the heart of Jesus. Let’s build relationships as Jesus built relationships. Let’s be there for one another and for the other, because everyone is a child of God, and, as Brent shared with us, “God thinks the world is a better place because you are in it.” Let’s share that message!
Peace and Blessings,
Pastor Dan
