misguided evangelism

never before have i said to myself as i walked across campus, “i’m SO blogging about this later!!”

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for much of today, a large crowd of Christian missionaries from “Free Gospel Bible Institute” gathered at all four corners of one of the busiest intersections on campus, with a large banner cautioning all manner of “heathens,” including “Adulterers,” “Lesbians,” and “Potty-Mouths!”, that the time has come to repent and change our ways.

three or four people told me about this before i had to walk through it to get to class....i had to take a quiz, so i was kind of in a rush the first time. a girl held out a pamphlet to me and said, “excuse me—if you died today, do you know where you’d go?”

i took her tract, said, “yup,” and kept walking.

i had half an hour to kill between classes and i needed to walk in that direction anyway, so i decided it would be a good idea to have a conversation with some of these people. by that time, a handful of my friends from the Rainbow Alliance had appeared and were standing around waiting for something to happen. i struck up a conversation with three girls who looked a little younger than myself (i’m 20), asking them why they were there and patiently listening to their explanations and poorly drawn analogies and bible verses.

i honestly believe it’s important to understand all sides of an issue, so if i have time, i like to have conversations with people whose opinions differ from my own. even if neither of us sways the other, i get a fuller picture of what’s going on and why people think the way they do.

shortly thereafter, a banner arrived for the Rainbow Alliance, which my friends proudly held high, giving one good round of “we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.” after only a moment or two, a whisper went around, and the girls i had been trying to have a productive conversation with suddenly said, “we have to go now, but it’s been nice meeting you.” they handed me a few more tracts and hurriedly left.

what struck me the most was the absence of energy in those people. i looked in their eyes and saw that they were completely spiritually empty. i felt so sorry for them....when the one girl told me, “we’ll pray for you,” i told her, “i’ll pray for you too.” and i meant it.

a couple of minutes later, i realized that not only had they left, but all the people wearing their uniforms had crossed to the opposite corner of the intersection—as far away from us as possible. this struck me as the greatest hypocrisy and was the most offensive thing i’d experienced all afternoon. one of the girls had been telling me that they just want others to know the peace they’ve found and the love of God. clearly they haven’t been reading their bibles as closely as they tried to tell me they have, or they would have known that Jesus did not reject and avoid “sinners”—in fact, He spent most of His time with them.

i borrowed one of our big signs from our president, the one that says “Rainbow Alliance Welcomes You,” and I walked to the corner of the sidewalk, held it over my head and yelled:

“IF YOU WANT TO SAVE US, YOU HAVE TO TALK TO US! DON’T RUN AWAY!”

i returned the sign, said, “thank you; i feel better now,” and went to my next class.

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earlier this morning, i had a wonderful conversation with a woman named Susan from the Intra-Varsity Christian Fellowship. she was sitting at a table with a sign that said “free soda if you tell us who you think Jesus is.” i was intrigued (more by the question than the soda, believe it or not), so i stopped to talk to her. she was very receptive to my opinion, even though it was different from her own, but she didn’t try to explain her view or force it on me or tell me i was wrong for my ideas. she told me that she believes when people are looking for God, it’s because God is looking for them too, and it’s important to ask these kinds of questions. she invited me to conversations they’re hoping to organize in the spring, but i told her she was the first evangelical (though i hesitated to use the word) Christian i’d met who hadn’t utterly scared me away (which was not entirely true, Kyle). she seemed to understand, handed me a coke, and thanked me for talking with her. i want to talk with her again.