Written by Tim McCracken for The Reformed Presbyterian Witness.
I recently learned that quite a few people inquire with the RP Witness for practical suggestions on how congregations can find encouragement for reaching out with the gospel.
What comes to mind, and what I’ve found to be heartening, begins with how God’s written Word is its own witness, given to stir up hope. We hear this in the words of John: “Truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30–31). For testimony concerning the direct ministry of God’s written Word, see the bottom of the article for comments of the two men who have served as my executive directors in Metanoia Prison Ministries.
This subject matter is dear to me because God’s Word as direct witness was instrumental in rescuing me from my most intense season of doubt as a college student. Though living in an ideal sort of circumstance for thriving in faith at Geneva College, I found myself grappling with questions for which I felt I had no adequate answers. The struggle was what I might call the epistemology dilemma of my faith. How could I know the message of Christ was the truth?
By grace, Scripture’s deep continuity of theme and forecast and fulfillment became a firm foundation for the restoration of my confidence in what God has given for a permanent record. The Scripture is message, not encyclopedia, and the constant pattern of prediction on theme across the centuries is a kind of witness that ministers to our knowing differently from other kinds of evidences. The finding of key archeological confirmations of the Bible’s content is heartening, but only the living God can declare what will occur in the future and then bring about His purposes for the sake of message.
You know that God’s Word is witness. But do you feel you could meet with someone and open its pages? It is my conviction that doing so is more accessible than it may feel, that fresh consideration of God-as-communicator can wholesomely give courage, and that the choice to simply get ready will richly lend itself to opportunity.
Let me describe an experience early in my ministry—conversations with a neighbor across the alley behind our house. Because my neighbor was disabled, he tinkered in his open garage the better part of 15 hours every day. I’m not exaggerating. That allowed for quite a bit of conversation across the chain link fence. He and I had spoken on occasion about matters of the gospel, but I wondered how to sit down for a more concerted inquiry. He was not very familiar with the content of the Bible.
One day, it crossed my mind to ask him if we could sit over cups of coffee and have me simply tell him the story of it all. We did that almost every week for a little more than a year and a half, each time simply talking about what happened next in God’s record. In doing that, I was struck with how the elements of the gospel that permeated the account emerged as we interacted. The core issues of relationship with God, of alienation, reconciliation, and hope, were constantly present.
Do I mention that experience to say that this is the one great method that will make all the difference? No. But having conversed with my neighbor in that way, I found myself increasingly eager to engage someone else similarly.