I have now read chapters 3 and 4. Aplologies for taking so long to update with my thoughts on this book. But here is my feeble attempt, even if later than I expected.

 

Chapter 3 draws out heavily that when Jesus was on earth he spoke loads about the Kingdom of God being near. Apparantly, as Tom Wright states, this in Jewish terms was all about their God becoming king. So Jesus saying the Kingdom of God is here was quite a dramatic statement to make.

 

Tomlin unpacks some of the theolgy which is exciting, particularly the deliberate actions. For example, the incident in the temple when Jesus over-turns the tables and calls it a den of robbers. I learnt that this statement was directed at the priests of the temple and not the salesmen as I had previously thought. This was in response to how they had made a temple a place of exclusion with a gentiles area, a womans area, an Israelite area, a priests area and a high priest area (where the High Priest only went once a year). All of this went on despite the fact that God stated that the temple it was to be a house of prayer for all nations and that the jews were to be a light to the nations.

 

A church open to all, but by way of its structures setting itself up as a building of exclusion, maybe being unaware that it is even doing so.  I guess that sounds familiar to a number of people. Are our churches falling into the ‘exclusion’ by set up trap without realising it? Worse, are some, if they are honest, exclusive because they want to stay as they are because bringing in new people would mean change?

Jesus gave a taste of the Kingdom, a plave open to all where all are equally accepted and loved; and that is what we should be doing in our churches. I would agree with that.

 

Chapter 4 really asks what evangelism is all about. Lots of good and thoughtful stuff is included here, such as Jesus needs to be at the centre of the gospel story. Tomlin also makes the point that we assume too much and are trying to start the gospel story in the wrong place. We are telling people that they need to be reconciled to God, wheras they actually need to hear who this God is in the first place.

 

I guess he is making the point that our method has not really changed since people left school with a fairly good knowledge of Christanity and its stories. It needs to. It shocked me a few Christmas’ ago when we did a little exercise in our drop in to see how much our young peoople knew of the Christmas story. 25% could tell us Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 10% knew the wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myyrh. 40% knew it was something to do with mary and Joseph. All these facts that I learned in school as a young boy are no longer being taught as they were. People know a lot less and we need to let them know who God is before they realise that they need him.

 

I disagree with Tomlin’s point, however, that evangelsim always needs to use words. I very much go along with Francis of Assiss’s comment of ‘preach the gospel wherever you go, and where necessary use words’. I feel very much that actions speak louder than words and lifestyle and actions speak volumes louder than a gospel story. Words do need to be used at some stage but to discount the rest as not evangelsim is something that I cannot hold with.

 

I believe everyone has a story that they want to tell. People need others to show and interest and to listen to their stories. A film, Loser, has a great line in it. A father gives his worried son some advice. He is off to college and is concerned that he will not make friends. ‘Interested is interesting’ is the advice this boy receives.

 

If we are interested in people, and want to hear their stories, then they will become interested in us and possibly want to hear our stories. Sadly, all too often, we want to blurt out the stories of how God has sorted us out rather than listen to the stories of others. I believe that people will become interested in us, and then in what God can do with them, when we become interested in the stories of others ourselves.

 

This is ‘The Art of Connecting Principle’ which we are currently advocating within YFC:

 

Imagine three circles, representing three stories. One is God’s story, the second your story, and the third another persons story. You are part of God’s story, so your circles immediately overlap.

As your relationship with him grows, more of your circle is merged into God’s story.You come across many people in the course of your story and as a certain person becomes a ‘friend’ their circle starts to move towards yours so that they overlapBecause all the time you are becoming more a part of God’s circle you invevitably draw your friends circle towards Gods. Then over a period of time, your friends circle starts to move towards Gods circle, purely out of its own desire to see more of what it holds. This is three story evengelism.

   

You can read more about this in The Art Of Connecting which is a great short book aimed at teenagers, although I think the whole principle is cool for churches too. (Sorry – this was not meant to be a sales push for YFC!)