Non-Christian Contact with Christians

In an 2007 article from Evangelical Missions Quarterly, Christian researchers Todd Johnson and Charles Tieszen examine a rudimentary but oft overlooked component of world evangelization: personal contact between Christians and non-Christians ("Personal Contact: The sin qua non of Twenty-first Century Christian Mission," October 2007, EMQ).

A simple overview: If non-Christian people have any hope of becoming Christians, they will almost assuredly come to Christ via relationship with Christian(s). Makes sense, right? How many of you became a Christian because of a relationship? Perhaps your parents brought you to church. Maybe you married a person of faith. Some people have become Christians through co-workers, neighbors, etc. A personal relationship almost always plays a key role in conversion.

Here's problem: Out of all non-Christians in the world, less than 19% even know a Christian. Among Muslims, only 13% know a Christian. (You can find this and other similar data at http://www.worldchristiandatabase.org/). How will they come to know Jesus if they don't know any followers of Jesus? Aren't we as Christians entrusted with the task of spreading the good news?

Obviously, we believe that God's Spirit prepares the hearts of people. We are not alone. But Christians--actual flesh-and-blood humans--are to be the messengers. How can this happen if we have no contact?

Revelation 7 portrays a scene where people "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" stand before the throne of God and worship the Lord of all the universe. I can't wait for this moment! But I also know that we as Christians can make this scene more possible by actually establishing friendships in the name of Jesus with those who are different from us.

Here are a couple of my own ideas of how we can all help:

1. Support global missions. Cross-cultural mission work has to play a key role in this. We can't accomplish all of this from the comfort of our own communities. Some will have to work in difficult places like Pakistan, Turkey, Sudan and Indonesia. But the fruit of such work--when done well--can be amazing. For example, Indonesia is world's largest Muslim nation. But Christianity is booming (under the radar in some areas) in this country. There is great hope.

2. Get to know a non-native person. Find someone who is different from you and invite them to lunch. By different, I mean someone who seems to be Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist. This person could be Asian or Arab. Ask them about their homeland, their religion & what they think about the world. Don't talk much. Don't defend. Don't preach. Just listen. Express genuine interest in who that person is. A relationship may or may not develop. But at least you will doing your part to ensure that the possibility exists for God to work through you.

3. Pray for the nations. Most of us are ethnocentric in our prayers. While we are certainly to pray for our country and for our leaders, God is the Lord over all nations. He loves the world. Pray that God's will would be done throughout the earth. Pray that God's blessing would fall on other nations. Pray that the scene from Revelation 7 will become a reality. (Hint: It already will happen. The question is if you will be prepared to accept it.)

Blessings...