Josh Hatcher's Blog

That's actually pretty important. It's very clear that Christianity has adopted a mindset that is extremely forgetful of the rest of the world.

No everyone believes Christ and not everyone will.

Does that mean we don't try to share the truth with them?
Does that mean we should cram Jesus down everyone's throat?

The answer to both is no.

Somewhere in the middle there is a balance.

A balance of keeping our mouths shut, and speaking truth.

A balance of actually LISTENING to their thoughts, and offering corrective insight.


For example:

If an atheist told you that he did not believe in God, because when he was younger, he was sexually abused by his uncle. He doesn't understand why a loving God would allow such a thing.

Number one, do you know what the proper answer is to such a question about God's existence and soverignty (if you don't we'll hit that in another blog post.)

Number two, can you reconize when you should say the truth, or just listen to this man's heart?



All to often I think we as Christians run out into the world, and start throwing "Jesus Talk" around like it's on sale (and like we get a commission!)

We get SO concerned about the MESSAGE we forget about the MEDIUM.

in the words of Marshall McLuhan: "The Medium is the Message".


Jesus told us to go and tell the Good News. We definitely should.

But we should also take the time to do what Jesus did.. He became one of us. He wrapped himself in flesh...

We've got to really care about people, and really listen, and try to understand.


Here's the thing. If you come to my house, and try to sell me a vacuum cleaner:

1. I'm going to tell you I have no money.
2. I'm going to show you the vacuum cleaner I have, and why it works just fine for me.
3. If you tell me your vaccuum cleaner is better, I'm still not going to buy it.

Is it the same with Christianity? No. We're not selling anything. But we approach it in such a way. There are colleges and courses and programs that teach you how to do successful evangelism, and VERY FEW of them show you the one thing you really need to have to really reach people.

• Understanding
• Patience
• Kindness
• A Listening ear

wait.. if you put them all together, it comes in a very familiar word: LOVE.

Instead of trying to evangelize the world, or strangers on the street, why not just try to show love to your neighbor?

That natural organic relationship between a husband and a wife, or a neighborhood, or a family member, or the guys in your pool league are the relationships that you need to focus on.

But don't do it with an alterior motive.

How many times have you been invited to dinner and hear "The REAL reason we invited you over today..." and then been given a multi-level marketing spiel.

Show the people you know love. Try to understand them, literally be JESUS with SKIN ON for them.. that's being INCARNATIONAL.

then comes the next step... which we'll talk about next time!

Want to understand where non-Christians are coming from? READ this:

• Why I'm Not a Christian by Bertrand Russel. Don't read it for a reason not to believe. Read it to understand why not everyone does. See if you can refute any of his points, and really think about it.. that's homework for next time.
• What Non Christians Think: An interesting article on Gospelcom about this subject.