* Some good thoughts from Elliot Clark on evangelism is our culture. From his book Evangelism as Exiles: Life on Mission as Strangers in Our Land (2019).
"When we seek to do evangelism as exiles, we already have a really hard sell. We're trying to convince people that a Jewish carpenter as God's Son, come from heaven to die for our sins. He was buried, and three days later he rose from the dead and now reigns over all. Not only that, we're also calling them to join us as social outcasts. Must we also try to persuade them about matters of history and geopolitics? Do we really want to argue for our opinion on the environment or economics? Or could those hobby-horse topics end up as barriers to Christ's gospel?
"Please don't hear me say that Christians should never address controversial topics. Or that we shouldn't speak out against evil and injustice. Of course we should. But the value of silence still stands. It's a lesson I'm even trying to learn as a parent: You have to pick your battles. You can't take offense at every turn. You can't address every problem or every infraction. And most of all, the dominant message must not be constant displeasure or disagreement. Otherwise we'll lose our audience before we get to the most important message of all.
"We must learn to triage our agendas. We must learn to prioritize our preaching. Some things are of higher value; others are likely not even worthy of comment. Because as much as people can be won to Christ through our witness, they can also be lost by our words. Our endless social commentary and political engagement can be off-putting. So better to be quiet and respectful than bold and boorish. Better to sometimes be silent." (pp. 77-78)
