It would be lovely if every Londoner naturally came across a Christian at work. Or in their sports group/class or circle of friends. They don’t.
This means that at some point we will need to be willing to step out and go out to people we don’t know (yet!) with the gospel.
In Becontree, where there is very little else apart from housing (!), we’ve found there is no better way to get Christians and non-Christians to meet than door-to-door visiting.
We first send a letter so that people know we’re coming.
We then don’t go out with a full script, but with a framework for ‘getting to know’ the person behind each door. We listen hard, and try to ask perceptive questions which help people to express why they think/live as they do, while keeping the conversation natural. We also offer information about ourselves; it’s not all one-way!
We don’t say everything about the gospel (we can’t). But we do say something. And later a hand-written, personalised tract (about the length of this article!) will be given to each person who seemed to want to chat to us.
It works well with any size of team (we usually go out in groups of six to ten). It also lends itself to a rolling programme, which ensures that evangelism stays on the agenda in the life of our church.
The conversations range from the sublime to the ridiculous … from a family scandal or breakdown to common objections that have been assumed.
But this approach gets us sharing the gospel with all types of people – not just those who share the same interests as us.
Over the years, I’ve knocked on shiny doors and spoken through intercoms in Teddington and Bathampton. In contrast, I’ve had a key fed through a letterbox on a string by an old lady in Dagenham, because her door had been kicked in the week before and had a padlock on the outside.
People are people. They don’t need us. They need the life-giving Life Giver.
But they encounter him through his people, who take time to go … to ask and to listen … and to share the gospel, all the while praying for God to open blind eyes!