“I’ve had some really good conversations.”
I used be bothered hearing that coming from evangelists/missionaries.
I am ashamed to say that and am even considering starting this again to not include it. But it’s true. It always sounded like such a cop-out for me - I wanted to hear about conversions on the beach, healing in the streets, revival in the heart of the darkest places. But all I got was, “I’ve had some really good conversations.”
The reason I feel that way is that it’s not the way it should be. Most of us are so far away from what evangelism should be like that the truth is a conversation can be a genuinely exciting thing. The reason I am saying all this is because I recently have had some really good conversations, and I can see how it is going to lead to more. I also know how I felt when it began and that I was in some way justified in having packed everything up to leave for the mission field. On one occasion it was preceded by the complete opposite kind of conversation which may have magnified it’s significance in my head, but still!
When I left Mallorca almost three years ago I was worried that I had done the wrong thing by going home. I remember saying that I felt I had abandoned people over here. I was assured that I hadn’t, and since then I have assured others during prayer ministry that they haven’t abandoned people just by coming home from their respective missions. As Mordecai told Esther, “if it ain’t you it’ll be someone else.” (That’s definitely a paraphrase). Nevertheless, I felt like my work here was unfinished. Also, people had supported me back then, and I feel like I owe it to them to see the work that they funded be completed.
The mission is simple - to spread the Word of God. The way I am doing this is meeting new people, or people I’ve met before, and they can ask me anything about Christianity, or ask me for prayer. Ezekiel’s charge is the theme/the burden on my heart - “If you tell them and they ignore you, I’ll hold it against them. If you don’t tell them, I’ll hold it against you.” (Another paraphrase).
The problem with this kind of mission is that it is hard to report back on; to have tangible results that you can share. (I’m not even going to put this update live until after a few days just so each of the people I have recently had a good conversation with won’t think it’s about them specifically.) Usually if someone opens up to you, or you pray for them, it’s for something very private or personal to them. That’s why you end up saying things like, “I’ve had some very good conversations.” You can’t repeat what they said, and in most cases what you said to them.
But I am a man of faith, and I hope to have conversions on the beach, healing on the streets, maybe even revival in the darkest places. But until then, I’ll be letting people know that I’ve had some good conversations.