One of the challenges I see in evangelism is that trust in the messenger is as important in trust in the message. In a time when churches are held in suspicion and the substance of Christian faith is largely unknown, trusted connections with Christians is of much higher importance. Much of this will be built through the course of everyday life.
At the moment I have been reading letters written by some of the earliest missionary families to the Māori of New Zealand. One missionary, William Williams, wrote on 26 March 1828 of the struggles they had in day-to-day life at their outpost in Paihia in the Bay of Islands:
“We lay bricks, we plaster, we paint, we salt pork and occasionally hunt cows in the bush. We take voyages in search of provisions for our schools. We have various hindrances which never occur to a person living in England. If we want a chimney we must make bricks and lime, and build also. We find, therefore, many essential secular matters to cut us off from direct missionary work.
But yet our intercourse with the natives increases; and we have increasing encouragement among them. Though there is nothing of a decided nature, there have been some very strong instances of the general inclination of the natives towards us. They begin to understand that we come not to seek our own good but theirs, and consequently they place confidence in us, to a greater degree than we have seen before.”
Why the missionaries were there was not in doubt to the local Māori, but they appeared not to trust their intentions. But Williams found that the hindrances of daily life were also an occasion through which trust was being built, enabling their “direct missionary work” to begin to succeed.
When we wish that we could be more effective at making the gospel known to others, part of our approach should acknowledge that the time spent in everyday life with others helps us in that task. It must of course be known that we are people with a living commitment to Christ, but the trust that is built through everyday interactions is an important precursor for much of what we might do in evangelistic endeavours.
As you go through each week, look for ways that build trust with those who are your own “mission field”, so that your message will more likely find an open ear.