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This Conversion
Business by Joe McKeever
In his 1999 biography of Alastair
Cooke, the Brit-turned-Yank who helped to interpret the USA for
several generations of British, author Nick Clarke tells how Cooke's
father, a lay Methodist preacher, helped to found a mission for
the down and out in a suburb of Manchester. The mission was built...
"...for deadbeats, drunks
and derelicts, which acted as a shelter for runaways and battered
wives, as well as carrying out voluntary work amongst the very
poor. Only as an old man did Samuel Cooke reveal the full seaminess
of life at the Mission, blushing as he related to his son tales
of roaring drunks and whores, and children abandoned outside pubs.
In Cooke's recollection, 'my father never tried to convert them.
They could be the foulest human beings alive, but they wouldn't
be turned away.' "
I confess to being puzzled by
this tribute Alastair Cooke raised to his father. Samuel Cooke
obviously was a man of compassion, spending his life and energy
helping the needy, regardless how society treated them. The son
had good reason to be proud of such a father. But learning that
his "father never tried to convert them" leaves me with
unanswered questions. What does Cooke mean by that? Did he see
conversion as brain-washing, scalp-counting, or arm-twisting?
Why does trying to convert the down and out strike Cooke as disreputable?
And why does he laud his father for never attempting it?
The fact that Alastair Cooke rebelled
early against the church and went on to become an agnostic about
religion suggests that the senior Cooke may have used the same
passive approach with his own children.
I fully recognize that words have
all kinds of usages, and that evangelism, missionary, gospel,
and conversion--staples of the Christian's everyday conversation--may
carry negative connotations for some who have been abused by religion.
Almost daily we hear reports from
the tsunami-devastated regions of southern Asia of more religious
groups arriving in the region to offer rice and water and comfort.
Some Christian groups are plainly working to evangelize the survivors
of this disaster. "These people are ripe for Jesus,"
a ministry group from Texas reported on its website.
Franklin Graham's Samaritan's
Purse ministry has publicly committed its people and resources
to a five-year stay in the region in order to give lasting help
to the victims. Our denomination, the Southern Baptists, has representatives--we
dare not call them missionaries, an inflammatory designation in
many parts of the world--who offer aid of various kinds to the
hurting. Are they trying to convert people? I don't know. I'm
confident they are available to give spiritual counsel and answers
to all who come to them. Is that the same thing?
If our Christian ministry groups
are doing the same thing overseas they do here in the States,
they are giving comfort and aid to the hurting and offering their
services in any way possible. They are praying for them and offering
counsel to help them through this crisis. And in the process,
many people devastated by hurricanes, fires, and floods, will
pray with the relief workers to commit or recommit their lives
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's so natural a response to the kindnesses
they have received, and so unforced that it never occurs to most
of us some observers could take it in the wrong way.
According to the news media, a
backlash has arisen among Asian Muslim and Hindu leaders, accusing
Christians of preying on these unfortunates, catching them at
a vulnerable time in their lives, and seducing them into accepting
this "foreign" religion. The very workers who put their
lives on hold and sacrificed to travel to the back side of the
world for no other reason than to help the helpless suddenly have
become the bad guys, crass manipulators, and scam artists offering
a "bait and switch" philosophy of ministry.
Apparently, the only way to satisfy
our critics is to send money and stay home, which incidentally,
is the very thing most of us would choose in the first place.
It's much easier to write a check, drop it into the offering plate
or mail box, and get back to the football playoffs. That, however,
is an option which Holy Scripture does not allow God's people
to choose.
Theologians have a phrase that
sums up the Christian approach: "Incarnational Christianity."
God the Father was not content to remain in Heaven dropping love
letters on earth like so many helicopters spreading leaflets from
the sky. The Apostle John said, "The Word became flesh and
dwelt among us." God loves the world so much that He got
involved and came Himself. That's why the story of Jesus is so
pivotal. It's about the Creator coming to His creation, all the
way down--to a manger, to a carpentry shop, to the life of an
itinerant preacher, to servanthood, to death on a Roman cross,
and finally to the grave--to experience our humanity, bear our
sins, and put things right.
For those who know this wonderful
Jesus Christ personally, sharing the news about Him is not "converting"
people. It is not scamming them, manipulating their trust, or
misusing the relationship. It is the most natural thing in the
world, akin to giving food to the starving, water to the thirsty,
or a life-saving medicine to the dying.
God's people most definitely need
to be aware how their work and words are received by outsiders.
Our gifts must come without strings attached, as in "accept
my gift, receive my religion." Personally, the only thing
I require is that my gifts be given in the name of Jesus Christ.
If the recipient rejects my gift because of Jesus' name on it,
it's his choice.
After the tsunami hit, our office
sent out a postcard to the 140 or so churches and missions in
greater New Orleans encouraging them to "make your gift in
the name of Jesus" by sending their relief offerings to our
International Mission Board in Richmond, Virginia.
As I write this, a letter has
come from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association inviting tsunami
relief contributions to their "World Emergency Fund."
Mr. Graham writes, "We will help immediately in a meaningful
way, and of course, we will do it in the Name of Jesus Christ."
If I had one wish, I would love
for outsiders to understand why God's people--a term we apply
to all who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, regardless
of church affiliation--desperately want people to learn of Jesus
and receive Him. It's the simplest thing in the world.
In fact, not to share the Lord
Jesus might be the cruelest hurt the needy ever receive.
Imagine a doctor who spent his
vacation working with some of the poorest, most backward tribes
in the remotest part of the world. He returns home and reports,
"We pulled a lot of bad teeth, set a lot of broken bones,
gave away a lot of penicillin, and did a lot of good. But I'm
glad to say at no time did we make any effort to teach proper
hygiene or the basics of nutrition or cleanliness."
Who among us would applaud a medical
doctor who refused to give lasting, deeper help to the needy?
Two blocks from the French Quarter
in downtown New Orleans, Tobey Pitman administers the Brantley
Center, a five story building which provides meals and overnight
accommodations to over 200 men and women every night of the year.
Many of their guests are homeless, while others hold low-paying
jobs in the area. David Rhymes, a longtime friend of mine and
fellow worker with Tobey at the Center, tells me the first three
nights are free--food and lodging--and thereafter, costs five
dollars a night. "We have worship at 7 o'clock each night,"
he said, "and it's voluntary. We also have a rehab program
with room for about 30 people." Many of the workers at the
Center came first as overnight guests, then attended the chapel
service where they prayed to receive Christ, and finally, went
through the rehab program.
I cannot begin to imagine someone
boasting that "we feed them and give them a place to sleep,
but never try to introduce them to the One who can replace their
misery with hope, their darkness with light, their death with
life."
I cannot imagine not trying to
convert them to Jesus Christ.
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