Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/95

Contributor - Dave Alexander

Title - The Empty Room

Topic - Evangelism

We went out to dinner, just Char and I, at a very nice restaurant in an office/shopping complex last week. After dining we strolled the halls a bit. Most of the stores were empty, but those that are tenanted had beautiful displays in the windows. One very high class furniture store arrested us with a display of a bedroom suite. We looked somewhat enviously at the lightness and airiness of the bed and other items in the window, mentally comparing them to the clutter and chaos of the room in which we spend our nights. As we looked we each remarked on how we preferred what we were seeing to what we knew awaited us on our return home.

Later reflection pointed up the source of some of the problem. Unlike our bedroom, the display was uncluttered and in many ways unreal. There was no alarm clock. No air conditioner made any corner look ugly. No light switch gathered hand marks next to the door. The dresser top held no assortment of bottles and baskets. No laundry hamper was anywhere in sight, nor was there an exercise bicycle, a reading lamp, or a stack of books and magazines to read. In short, nobody did, could or would live in that room. It was a lure set up to attract people to buy certain wares.

Some methods of evangelism by themselves can be just as artificial and just as attractive. They comprise a basic set of doctrinal assertions easily and directly connected to scripture verses. Through polished and spirit inspired techniques of persuasion they seek to draw people to a confession of faith in Jesus Christ. What is offered is certainly attractive and in no way false. But, like the furniture in the window, it is not a room in which one could live.

Real life faith is rather cluttered and messy. There's laundry in a basket somewhere and an exercise bike (either dusty or well maintained and showing signs of having been used) in one corner or another. The dresser tops of real life faith are cluttered and mechanical bits of faith, like light switches and air conditioners in a room, stick out in appropriate place's. Real life faith is not always "show window beautiful". The sooner a new believer learns that, the sooner a real life of faith can begin.

So, where does this lead? Not to an avoidance of evangelistic outreach or a "warts and all" initial approach. A strong focus on direct follow up and Christian nurture on the part either of the evangelist or by others whom the Holy Spirit has gifted for such discipleship is essential. Insofar as the initial evangelistic pitch is concerned, we must also pay attention to "Truth in Advertising".

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