Letter for July 1992
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Dear Friends,

In the first evening of the Bournemouth and Poole Convention this year, the speaker Rev. Dr. Raymond Brown, in his message from John chapter 1 and verses 35 to the end of the chapter, as part of his message, linked up with some thoughts which had been very much in my mind already over these last two weeks.

My thoughts had been concerned with the difficulty that people, outside the regular worship and life of the church, have when they feel they would like to come to a service.

We who are in the fellowship. We know people in the fellowship, and are familiar with the services and what goes on. We are not always able to appreciate how frightening it can be for anyone to come into church, where they know nobody, and where the atmosphere and activity can be so strange. This is just one of the difficulties people outside the church have, when they seek to come to church.

John chapter 1 and reading from verse 35 reveal an answer to these difficulties. What we have here is two examples of people bringing someone else to Jesus.

Andrew was one of two disciples that responded to the preaching of John the Baptist. John had pointed to Jesus when he was passing by, and said, "Look, the Lamb of God". Here is the essence of evangelism. It is to point people to Jesus Christ in our conversation, and tell them about Jesus as Saviour. We cannot do enough of this, and should be looking for opportunities to do it, and constantly praying that God will open opportunities for us to speak.

Notice also what John the Baptist told people about Jesus. It was that he was the one God had sent to be a sacrifice for sin. John told people how Jesus saved from sin and its consequences, and reconciled us to God, and not so much how Jesus provides bodily and material blessings.

Andrew, with another man, followed Jesus. Jesus saw them and invited them home with him, and they spent the day with Jesus. Hospitality with a purpose is also an important ingredient of evangelism. While they were with Jesus that day, Andrew became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. He was converted to Jesus.

Now what did Andrew do with his new found faith? Firstly he shared his faith. He told his brother about Jesus. He said to Simon, "We have found the Messiah". There is an example here we need to take note of. Andrew witnessed to his faith in Jesus straight away. Also he started with his family. Christians should never be silent about their faith. In the early church evangelism flourished because people were ready and willing to share their faith and gossip the Gospel to all who would listen.

Andrew's witness did not stop at 'telling'. He followed up the 'telling' with 'taking'. In John 1:42 we read Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. If we translate this into our situation today, it means we seek to bring the person we have told about Jesus to a church service or an activity where Jesus, by his Spirit, can meet and speak with them.

This bringing of someone to church will help a person in so many different ways. They will have someone they know to sit with, and help them not to feel alone amongst so many people they don't know. They will have someone with them to share in the service, and whom they can watch so that they know what to do. They will have someone to help them keep the promise to come to church. They will have someone to introduce them to others. In these and other ways a person is helped in coming to church if they are brought.

Bringing people to Jesus is costly. It is costly in time. It is costly in nervous and emotional energy. It may require an invitation to a meal, either before or after the church service, or both. But it is a loving work, not simply because we are being friendly and hospitable, but because we are caring for the soul and a person's eternal destiny.

We have another example in this chapter and this has some more to tell us. Jesus had called Philip to follow him (v.43). Philip finds Nathaneal. The example is that Philip did not simply wait until he met Nathaneal again, by actually went to find him. God lays the name of a person on our hearts and minds, and then like Philip we need, not only to pray for them, but to go and see them.

Philip gives a verbal testimony to Jesus. This is always essential. We must speak to people and tell them of Jesus. However, notice again what this telling about Jesus was. It was concerned with spiritual things. Philip told Nathaneal that Jesus was God's deliverer, sent to save us from our sins - the one Moses wrote about, etc.

Philip, however, does not find the way of witness very smooth. Nathaneal is contemptuous of any good coming out of Nazareth, where Jesus had come from. But Philip did not give up, nor was he discouraged. He simply said to Nathaneal, "come and see!" We need to persevere. If we receive some rejection, we must patiently go on, and again the personal touch is evident. Philip brought Nathaneal to Jesus.

This bringing people to Jesus is, perhaps, where the Christian church fails most of all. It is costly in time, money and emotions, so we shirk befriending people in this way. But bringing people to Jesus is very important. It shows we care for the person, and that we do not just consider them as someone to be saved, who we will be ignored as soon as they are converted.

Let us ask God for grace to follow the example of Andrew and Philip and translate this action of bringing people to Jesus into our evangelism.

Your servant for Christ's sake.