Means to an end

In "A Code for Christian Witness," Doug Whallon has included a comment about the fact that the disciple who desires to share faith with someone else does not regard the goal of that person's acceptance of Christ to justify any means whatever. "We believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ and affirm the role and goal of the Christian evangelist. However, we do not believe that this justifies any means to fulfill that end. Hence, we disavow the use of any coercive techniques or manipulative appeals that bypass a person’s critical faculties, play on psychological weaknesses, undermine relationship with family or religious institutions, or mask the true nature of Christian conversion." [Intervarsity, 2000]

This cuts a broad swath through the thicket of evangelistic methodology. The point is that no matter how intent our desire to see another person come to faith, our witness must be congruent with the gospel itself. Our model is none other than Jesus Christ. He spoke the truth in love. He did not hide or minimize the demands or consequences of followership. He showed people the way to God by example, not by brow-beating or insenstivity. He was not gimmicky. He gained a hearing by care and compassion. He knew from the outset that many would not follow, and that even some who first opted in would soon opt back out. He came to seek and to save the lost, but his way of doing that forced no one.