Has it ever happened to you that the people you desire to be a witness to, to love and share hope with and encourage actually end up farther away from Jesus? I have a couple of friends, who might even read this, who have gone from Christian to atheist in the time that I have known them. Do I create atheists? Or do I just like people with atheist tendencies? Have I failed my friends? Have I failed Jesus? Has Jesus failed my friend? Has the church failed? Is this just part of their journey?
Anyway this leads me to the question of how we count? If in a given evangelistic effort you have one or more decision to follow Jesus but during the same effort there are double the number of people pushed away, or negatively impacted, was it a success? To what degree should I be concerned about the possibility of negatively impacting others perceptions, thoughts or feelings toward Jesus or Christianity and how should I address that concern? How does one wrestle with the reality that what one person might experience as a message of hope another might hear as ignorant and dogmatic damnation? How do we count the social and communal cost of some evangelism tactics or presentations? With that being said I am not suggesting that we should water down or sugar coat truth... although what exactly the truth is beyond Jesus might lead even us into discussion and disagreement, hence denominations, never mind talking with atheists...
John 14:5-6a
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life."
How does it change things that we believe "the truth" to not be a fact or a tract or a law but a person? What does it mean for a person to be "the truth"? How does that truth relate to other truth? Is all truth Jesus? or God's truth? How do we discern truth? And finally in relation to evangelism how do we express truth? or our understanding of it anyway?
It would be my conviction that love and humility are required for all discussions, and actions, of truth. Love of truth and each other and humility to recognize both personal and human limitations. I believe these ingredients will minimize evangelism blow back; they may also give people the freedom to become agnostic or atheists as they seek and pursue truth... Do we love people enough to give them freedom? We believe God does.
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