If you could think of one example in your life of how God was real to you, what would it be?

Co-founder and co-pastor of Kairos Church Thomas Daniel begins last week’s sermon with this question.  What follows is an effective distillation of the nature of postmodern evangelism, taking the witness of the blind man in John 9 as an example of what sharing one’s story might look like.

Daniel suggests that today’s world thirsts for an authentic, experientially- shaped witness to Jesus Christ.  No four spiritual law tracts here.  No high-level apologetics.  Just our stories, told in our own words, without needing to be packaged and tied up with a pretty bow.

I think Daniel is right: experiential faith is the lingua franca of our contemporary world.  And, if the call to witness to Jesus is non-negotiable in Scripture, as a command given by Jesus in all four Gospels, how we do this must be deeply contextual as an outgrowth of relating to others and sharing our lives.  When we resort to cookie-cutter approaches, we overlook the uncontainable messiness of witness as evidenced by Scripture itself in the story of the blind man.  Our job is not to beautify our stories- that is Jesus’- and we can trust God to do this for us.  Our job is simply to tell the truth, like the man who was once blind but now can see, about how we have witnessed God in Jesus at work and what that has meant for us.

Where in your life have God and faith been real for you?  Share your stories in 100 words or less below and I’ll publish them for the Fellowship next week!

You can hear Daniel’s sermon in full here: http://kairosatlanta.org/

 

More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad