Monday, 15 October 2007 00:00 | and posted in Sharing Your Faith
I had a phonecall the other day. I was in the middle of doing something when the phone rang and a voice said, "May I speak to Mrs Esther Bailey?" Instantly I was on the defensive - this was no personal call, the caller obviously wanted something from me.
"How are you today, Mrs Bailey? We are doing a survey about .. (I wasn't really listening). Is it convenient for you to answer a few questions?"
I resented the fact that this phonecall had interrupted my busy day. I felt that some of the questions were none of the caller's business. I did try to politely get out of the conversation, but the caller was so persistent that I felt trapped into having to be rude to him.
Funnily enough, the phone rang again later in the same morning. Although I answered it slightly apprehensively, still feeling annoyed about the previous call, I discovered that this was a friend. Despite my busyness, I spent quite a long time talking to her, and trying to help her sort out an issue that was troubling her. The second phonecall took up far more of my time and personal resources, but I finished the call feeling encouraged.
Both callers wanted something from me. I begrudged anything the first caller wanted, but I freely gave what I could to help the second caller. The difference was in the relationship - the first caller did not know me, and, despite their politeness, was not really interested in me. The second caller was my friend and knew me well.
Helping people to become Christians is also all about relationships. We are encouraging people to enter into a relationship with the King of kings. To do that, we need to be friends ourselves, being interested in the person we are talking to, and prepared to invest a lot of time in the relationship. It will mean taking a long term view, committing ourselves to praying for that person whether we see any �spiritual result' or not. It is not a matter of just seeing whether we can persuade someone to attend an outreach event and then dropping the friendship if they don't go. After all, the same Lord who told us to "go to people of all nations and make them his disciples" (Matthew 28:19) also told us to "love others as much as you love yourself." (Mark 12:31)