More Ready than your Realize By Brian D. McLaren
A few years ago I was teaching a “witnessing” class at church, (which was pretty well attended, if I might say so myself) along with the other pastors of our church. I had used the material before and, for the most part, its pretty good stuff. It tends to focus less on the “militia missionary” approach to witnessing and lean more toward the “love your neighbor” concept. Some call it “lifestyle evangelism” while still others call it “cowardly inaction”. Yep. It may surprise you (or not) to know that some people think it is especially useless to live out your faith among your friends and co-workers, even complete strangers,(gasp) if you’re not going to take every opportunity to shove it down their god-forsaken, pagan throats.
Okay, that may be a bit strong… but it works for the book review. I bring up this class at church in order to relate the following story, which will then relate to the book. If I’m boring you feel free to skip a couple of paragraphs to get to the actual review part. But trust me, you’ll be back up here when you’re done to see what I was talking about.
So… I’m teaching this class. Well, let me divert for a moment. During the same time period when this class is taking place I am also engaging in one of my favorite leisure time activities. Video games. And not those console, can’t do anything BUT games video games, but PC video games on the Internet. In these games you connect with other gamers and play against them and with them. It could be one on one, or thirty or more on opposing teams. If this isn’t ringing your bell, don’t worry. It will become less important as the story goes on. At any rate, the games can be fast and furious and there can also be a lot of down time if you happen to be like me. Which is to say that my
character dies quickly… and frequently. In this down time one might have the chance to “chat” with other players. In this context I formed some cool friendships with people here in my town (and elsewhere) some of whom I have actually met, had dinner with and built pretty good relationships with.
One of them that I never met face to face was a young college girl from another town. We chatted during the game for several weeks and built a “virtual friendship” and when she found out that I was a pastor, she asked if we could e-mail offline. I said “Sure”, and we did for a few months. She had lots of questions about religion and life and I think I was able to be a good influence on her. I don’t know where she is today, and I don’t know what long term impact I may have had. But it struck me as very 21st century that what I was really doing was “witnessing”, in a lifestyle evangelism way, by first building a relationship and then being sensitive to the spiritual interest of my friend.
The funny thing to me was that during the class I was teaching, I had told my students that I was planning on joining a gaming group. That I hoped it would be an opportunity to make new friends and that it might even turn out to be a place where I could have a spiritual influence. And they laughed at me!
Well imagine my surprise, after having the experience I just related, when I wandered into a conference led by Brian McLaren, the author of the book reviewed. In this conference he showed us and discussed his e-mail conversation with a young woman about spiritual matters. I WAS VINDICATED! It wasn’t just me! Other people saw the possibility of new technology and new avenues of spreading the good news.
Alas, we are down to the book now. As with everything I have read from McLaren, the book is well written and understandable. It is the printed story of his interaction with this postmodern thinker via e-mail and, eventually, in person at his church. The best thing going for this book is that it reminds us to be in love with reaching those outside the Kingdom of Heaven. And when we do, to use any avenue to show them the way in.
It also gives a sometimes, startling look into the thoughts, fears and perceptions today’s thinker has about church, God, Christians and world religions. If you are having a hard time grasping why so many today are wrestling with the idea of a relationship with God, or more specifically with people who say they represent God, this book will help. It may also challenge all of us to consider why we approach the “lost” like we tend to do, and why it may not always be the best choice.
If for no other reason, I would encourage you to read this small book (only 188 pages), so that you can see the questions this young woman asks. Then you can read the great, honest answers that McLaren gives her.
The forerunner to this book was “New Kind of Christian”. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to read it first, although it certainly isn’t required. You can find the review for it on the book review page as well.
