Evangelism - A Moving Target

"In a world where people believe they are not hungry, we must not offer food but rather an aroma that helps them desire the food that we cannot provide."

Peter Rollins, How (Not) to Speak of God

I'm finding myself newly engaged in thoughts and conversations on evangelism.  Several blogs I read - (http://www.averageyouthministry.com) and (http://careynieuwhof.com) - have been talking about sharing the Gospel given our place in this post-Christian reality.  It's all caused me to admit that evangelism, or sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, really is a moving target.  That is, our strategies and approaches must adapt as we seek to share The Good News that is unchangeable with a constantly changing culture.

Nieuwhof had an excellent post the other day where he described the "15 Characteristics of Today's Unchurched Person."  In his list, one grabbed my attention:  #6 - You can't call them back to something they never knew.  I've thought about the concept of revival, even prayed that it might happen in our country, our county, our community.  I'm not giving up hope for revival, but I realize the truth in the fact that there might not be much to "revive" these days.  How do you offer the Bread of Life to people who don't believe they need it?  How can we invite people to receive the Good News when it doesn't seem so good to them?  Instead, we must, as Peter Rollins suggests, "Offer the aroma that helps them desire the food."

It's not our job to offer the food, but to be an aroma that helps them desire the food that, in the end, we cannot provide.  God alone provides the food - is the food.  Let us be the aroma that draws them to the food.

2 Corinthians 2:14-15
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.