y now, most Americans have been “stimulated” by their government. And I’m no exception. With checks in hand I drove to my bank to open an additional savings account to avoid the temptation to use my refunds to increase my collection of books I fully intend to read.
The trip went as expected until I met Emily, the woman in charge of setting up my new account. As I sat in her office she asked for my e-mail address. It was already on a paper she had, but she had somehow missed it. When I told her she noticed it has the word “pastor” in it.
“Oh, you’re a pastor?”
“Just up the road at the Adventist church,” I replied.
She smiled and nodded. “Cool.”
On a normal day I would have been satisfied with “cool.” However, I had been preaching on mission and evangelism, and the thought crossed my mind, What would you want one of your members to do?
“Yeah, I really like our church,” I said. “We have a lot of young adults and we’re planning a lot of fun stuff, like camping next weekend.”
“That’s really cool.”
“Yeah. So, uh, do you attend church?”
She lit up. “Oh yes, I go to [such-and-such] Church, and I really like it.” She told me she liked her church because it wasn’t legalistic, and she saw people passionate about living their faith in a loving God. She said her parents lived in South Carolina and were strict Baptists. They didn’t like the church she went to because it didn’t exclusively use the King James Version. She told me her parents were legalistic and she was raised that way and didn’t think it was right.
Then she stopped her paperwork and started to share her heart. “I’m going through a divorce right now and my parents won’t talk to me. Well, actually they are calling down the judgments of God on me. I know divorce isn’t the best, but I don’t think God wants me to be treated badly. I don’t know a lot about what the Bible says, but I don’t think God is going to try to kill me.”
There was a lot I could have said. I remember my parents’ divorce as a pastoral couple and all the pain it caused. I could have given her a Bible study on divorce, talked about the biblical reasons for it. I could have judged her, told her she needed to be a Seventh-day Adventist, etc. Instead I decided to just listen and empathize with her visible hurt and frustration. Toward the end of her sharing she got up and left to finish up my business.
While she was gone I prayed silently and felt impressed to offer to pray for her and her husband. When she returned I asked, “W-would you be comfortable if I prayed with you?”
“That would be awesome.”
So I prayed a simple prayer for guidance, for encouragement, and peace.
“Thank you so much,” she said. “Maybe I’ll check out your church.”
At this point I could have left. But one of my pet peeves is haphazard evangelism—just expecting stuff to happen without being intentional.
“Hey, my wife and I invite folks over all the time,” I said. “Would you like to come to supper?
We live only a couple of miles away; and you wouldn’t have to cook. It would be a good chance to vent and have a couple of sets of listening ears.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’d like that.” We exchanged numbers, and at the time of this writing she’s coming over next Tuesday for supper.
I’ve reflected on the variety of lessons this divine appointment taught me. Being ready to share in and out of season is one, refusing to judge others is another. But the idea that people will know we are Christ’s disciples by our love is the one I want to focus on. Too many times evangelism is about filling someone’s head, not their heart.
As an Adventist pastor I hope this woman becomes a fully discipled Seventh-day Adventist. But if I start there she’ll be overwhelmed. Personal witnessing starts with love, and an invitation into a meaningful personal relationship that will ultimately connect someone with a deeper personal relationship with Jesus.
That’s what Jesus did. My prayer is that we will all go and do likewise.
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Seth Pierce pastors in Omaha, Nebraska, and is the author of What We Believe for Teens, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association.
