Evangelism begins and ends with friendship in mind. Therein you are inviting the unsaved to meet the best friend that they can possibly have—Jesus! Knowing that you have come from the same place, you are telling sinners to meet your divine friend who has transformed your life. You want them to have every blessing that you have, and more. You want them to be added to his family of faith; those working to become like him. Are they perfect? By no means! But they are souls who have invested their lives in God’s Kingdom—the church.
Together, as friends, they serve the risen Saviour. Jesus does not call us to be ‘friends’ according to this world’s definition of friendship. Instead, He commands us to love each other as he has loved us. This brings me to one of the elephants in the Fellowship Hall. Why do some Christians believe that it is acceptable that brothers be at odds with other brothers? (When I am brave enough, I will list some of the Christ-less justifications put forth, but not now.)
Did Jesus die for bothers to say dismissively: “Jesus said I have to love them, but nowhere did he say I had to like them.” Really? What about his words through the apostle John: “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1Jn.3:16).
So, if we sum it up, we can conclude: ‘There is no way that a person is going to take a Christian seriously if, on one hand, he preaches the sacrificial love of Christ, but on the other hand, he justifies a spirit of ‘dislike’ amongst the brethren. They can get that kind of hypocrisy anywhere.’Yes, evangelism begins and ends with friendship in mind.
John Staiger
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