Monthly Archives: August 2008

Conversations From the Ground Up

Despite the secular nature of our society, there are frequent opportunities for conversations about the faith which start from the ground up. Many of these conversations will take place with Believers but Not Belongers. These are people who have already laid claim to the name of Christ as their Savior but have excluded themselves from the Body of Christ. They already believe but are not convinced that the church is the source of spiritual food. We live in a society which is spiritually famished but is confused about where to go to be fed.

Think about the number of seemingly casual conversations that you have had with others in the past couple of weeks which, however obliquely, were asking religious questions about the meaning of life, how to cope with evil, where to seek hope and healing, what to believe, how to discover truth. It may have been at the conclusion of a PTA meeting when parents were sharing their anxiety about the world in which they were trying to rear their children. It may have been in the coffee break room at work where a colleague was sidling up to an ethical problem he was facing. It may have been at the sports club when you were drying off from some vigorous exercise and your showermate informed you that she has just lost her job due to the downsizing of her company. It may have been when you have taken the time to listen to the stress being experienced in a family conversation around the table.

It will frequently take place when you offer friendly greetings to a visitor to your church on Sunday morning or during a special event at your church. The harvest is plentiful in our society if we can grow comfortable in cultivating the seed which God has planted. (Matthew 9:37) The genuineness of your conversation comes out of your own experience and your concern for the other person. The more concrete you can be in sharing what you experience in your church life, the more natural your conversation will be.

Tomorrow I will try to give you a parable of how that can take place.