You will be my Witnesses (not Influencers)
Even wondered why Jesus said ‘You will be my witnesses’ rather than ‘You will be my influencers?’ Obviously social media was not a thing back in the New Testament times (that was even before MySpace) – but the idea that Christians should be shiny happy people in order to make Christianity attractive has been around longer than selfie sticks.
Influencers are evangelists for a particular way of life underpinned by a particular set of values. They create the impression that every nano-second of their lives is utterly, enviably Insta-worthy (even though we only get to see a show-reel that’s been filtered and curated to the very limits of believability). The tacit promise is that our lives will be just as enviable, we’ll be just as popular and we’ll be happy if we simply consume the same products and embrace the same habits.
Some versions of evangelism seem to be based on similar premise – just swap out the latest offering from Kimmy K or Gwyneth for the latest take on Jesus and your life will become insta-worthy – or at least trouble-free. It doesn’t really gel with Jesus’ warning that believers would face persecution or James’ encouragement to consider it pure joy when we face difficulties.
While Jesus at times sent his followers to preach, in his final words to the apostles he did not commission them to be preachers or evangelists (although Acts tells us they did plenty of preaching). Luke records that Jesus promised power when the Holy Spirit came upon them and that they would be his witnesses. Matthew reports him commissioning the apostles to make disciples. Putting Jesus commission into practice is more about being and producing more than it is about tasks and techniques. It reminds of me Jesus talking about good trees producing good fruit.
Bearing witness to Jesus not a matter of trying to sell a lifestyle so much as giving others a line of sight on our experience of following Jesus. What we share will vary from the spectacular to the mundane, the triumphant to the troubling, a mix of the things neatly resolved and works in progress. We don’t need a curated showreel that tries to convince, just an honest account of the journey.
So what does witness look like in practice? In court a witness gives an account of what they’ve seen and heard – and in some cases, what they believe and know. A witness who tries to influence the decision of a judge or jury may be regarded as hostile. A witness whose life outside the court in incongruent with their testimony inside the court will be dismissed as unreliable. A faithful witness is clear, truthful and credible. They don’t ‘curate’ their testimony.
Effective disciple-makers are often people who share a significant slice of their lives with unchurched people, their lives and their words making a plausible case that a life spent following Jesus is a credible, perhaps even attractive option. A faithful witness helps others gain insight into Jesus and his gospel through observation and conversation. This most naturally takes place in ‘belonging’ environments that we discussed in the previous article.
All of the above is not to deny the value of intentional evangelism. We’ll talk about it in the next article (see what I’m doing here?).
To learn more about how belonging, witness and evangelism can work in your local church, Sign up for this 90-minute online workshop - https://pathways4mission.com/product/belong-before-believe-online-workshop/
Written by Ken Morgan.