Body Building and the Door to Door Experience – Part Two

In the last entry I introduced this brief series with some door to door experiences I’ve had recently.  As I mentioned, those experiences reminded me of my own brief foray into door to door life.

Back at the end of the 20th Century I had got meself heavily involved in church work on a voluntary basis.  My mentor at the time was passionate about evangelism and had set about developing a group to start engaging with the community around the church building.  The congregation were not all from the immediate community, so it took some work to get involved in the life of them … though at the time the effort was more about giving people the gospel and getting them to church services.

I was part of a team and as with any good church initiative we were sent out in pairs to do door-to-door work. Apparently it worked for the likes of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of God of the Latter Day Saints (I have to remember that their other name has another ‘m’ after the first one).  So if it was successful and was a way of getting to know the people in the community with the chance of giving some people the gospel and getting people to church services, then we were going to employ it.

My partner was a truly devout follower of Christ and a good friend of mine.  She always impressed me with her poise and considered approach to people.  I was far to zealous for my own good to consider things like relating to people.  I just wanted to get the method down – got the gospel tract, got the key verses to give people, even got the prayer they can pray to let Jesus into their heart. So now that I’ve got those things, I’m ready to roll.

So like the second guy from the last entry I was talking about, my approach was far more about seeing potential customers willing to buy into the product.  The product was Jesus, the pitch was about the customer’s need for salvation and how the product could fill that gap, once they could see the persuasive nature of me argument, then surely we would be able to bring in the punters.

As we went from door-to-door, I was aware that the likelihood of getting a catch would be minimal.  We got the figures that if we got 1 in 10 positive responses we would be doing remarkably well, and that is what we were hoping to do.  Yet as we went from door to door and the pitch failed miserably, in some cases I wasn’t even able to deliver the thing in full, it got a little bit more disheartening for me.

My partner and I had decided that the gender of the person who answered the door would determine who would take the lead – so if it was a female, my partner would lead, and if it was a male, I would take the lead.

We came to this house and a young girl answered the door, so my partner took the lead, and her approach broke all the rules of the method.  She didn’t ask about salvation, she asked about her life.  She came across as though she cared for the person and appreciated how inconvenient it can be to have strangers knocking on your door.  After all, the typical household couldn’t care less about door-to-door salesman, worse religious fruitcakes (albeit delicious fruitcakes without too many raisins) who wanted you to join their set.

So my partner came across as genuinely and humbly enquiring after this person’s welfare.  Before you knew it, this poor young lady at the door had invited us inside and poured out her hurts, struggles and the like.  My partner listened carefully to what was being said, while I looked on astonished that nothing from the method was being exercised.  I was waiting for the prayer and the commitment and the ka-ching in heaven at another soul saved – in the back of the net!  My partner did invite this young lady to peer in the Bible, but she was far more concerned about this woman’s welfare.

Our meeting ended without a commitment other than for a visit in the future to see how things could develop.  I wanted to reprimand my partner for not going through with the method, but actually something far greater than the method had taken place.  That poor young lady had been a witness to the love of God in action.  Talk of God, salvation, Jesus Christ and all that made sense to her now, because she had seen the love of God in action through the care and consideration shown by my partner.

It’s at times like this that I should say that the poor young lady gave her life to the Lord and then recognised her call to do missions in North Korea.  The reality is I have no idea what happened to her.  I know my partner met up with her a few more times.  I know that she made it to a church service (not sure if it put her off, but she made it all the same).  More importantly I know that the young lady witnessed the love of God in action. She was not talking to someone who had a rigid, methodical approach treating people like targets who need to cross a line so that the ka-ching sounds in heaven, we have a holy huddle including a holy hi-five at our efforts and ending in leaving that person alone to work out their own salvation with no help or concept of discipleship other than the weekly meetings.

I hope she met with Jesus and followed Him after that in a community of believers who were likewise concerned for her as a precious sister in Christ, and not a member to boast of in their membership roll, but who actually doesn’t offer anything.

This leads me onto the Body Building aspect of things … which I’ll explore in the final entry in this little series.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd