By Peter
Until taking this class I had never really given much thought to how most churches I have been in take the attractional method for growing the church. In class today we talked about how an attractional method attempts to bring people into the church, have them believe what they hear, start behaving appropriately, and then this will enable them to belong (Believe > Behave > Belong). On the other hand, with an incarnational method a person is first invited to belong, once they have spent time belonging in the community they might come to believe, and finally this belief will lead to a change in behavior (Belong > Believe > Behave).
I have not tried to “convert” many people in my life but the few times that I have it was
definitely done according to this first strategy. I always just tried to argue with them and logically get them to believe the gospel. When this didn’t work and we just ended up in a big argument, I was left feeling frustrated and disappointed with my “evangelizing” skills.
definitely done according to this first strategy. I always just tried to argue with them and logically get them to believe the gospel. When this didn’t work and we just ended up in a big argument, I was left feeling frustrated and disappointed with my “evangelizing” skills.
Doing ministry incarnationally puts relationships first and lets God do the work of converting someone to believe the gospel. I find it to be a great relief knowing that someone else’s salvation is not up to me at all but is totally the work of the Holy Spirit. We just need to seek out where God is working and join him there. God is not found only in our churches and we are not responsible for bringing people to him by trying to attract them to our church. We need to meet people where they are, make them feel like they belong in the community by demonstrating God’s love for them and leave the rest up to God.
Peter, great insight! How devastating is it when you have the perfect conversation with someone that covers all of the major points in Jesus story and the people you are trying to “win over” just look at you and say eh, well that good for you…
Missional living can be extremely time consuming and slow because people take time and people also don’t change their minds very quickly, but how awesome is it that we can be at peace with the fact that God is wooing them and drawing them to Himself even if we don’t quite have all of our theological ducks in a row. I find it quite refreshing that He is in charge of doing the heart changing!
Peter
I totally agree with everything you said. I have tried that “walk up to a person and expect to convert them” method to, and it really does rely greatly on the strength and arguing capabilities of the person “evangelizing”.
With this incarnational mode the reliance is upon God to let those conversations happen naturally within the context of a relationship. It is so much more comforting to rely on him to bring about the conversations and to rely on the Holy Spirit to convert a person’s heart.
The only caution I have is that it is probably very easy in this model to simply “live incarnationally” but never take those opportunities to spread the gospel with your friends. Both must be done in order for the incarnational living to be an effective way of winning souls for Christ.