There are different schools of thought in Christian circles about how evangelism should be conducted. Some of these schools of thought are biblical, whereas others simply leave me scratching my head and wondering what bible inspired them. One such groundless school of thought that is very popular among evangelicals was actually expressed verbally in the prayer of a Christian at a recent prayer meeting I attended. Although I cannot remember her prayer verbatim, my rendition below accurately expresses it:

“Lord, move in the hearts of unbelievers to notice something about our Christian lives that makes them say, ‘I want what you have’ so they might then ask us questions about the gospel and Jesus. Help them notice when we remain at peace in the midst of difficult circumstances so they will long to have that same peace.”

I’m sure this person meant well and sincerely longs for the lost to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. In this respect, my heart is with her; but my agreement stops there with a screeching halt. Underlying and driving her prayer, I believe, were some serious doctrinal errors.

The error that stands out to me glaringly is the idea (and again, I don’t know what Bible drives this thinking) that people are drawn to Christ through noticing and wanting the peace and joy that Christians have. Now I wonder: Do people come to Christ because they want peace, happiness or something else that would benefit them personally? Indeed, many try to; but scripture frowns on it. Multitudes of people followed Christ because they saw miracles, received healings and benefited from miraculous mass feedings. The latter type of miracle actually formed the basis of a sharp criticism that Jesus leveled at the masses who followed him diligently for the wrong reason. Here is the scripture passage that I have in mind:

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. (John 6:1-15, ESV)

Notice what happened: A whole multitude of people got a free meal and ate to their heart’s content. Now we skip a short section so that we can jump ahead to observe their response and Jesus’ response to their response:

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:22-27, ESV)

Notice the emphasized text. The people did not look for Christ because of faith but rather because they had eaten. They did not seek Christ because they believed that he was their savior who could deliver them from sin, but rather because they valued the benefit he could provide them.

What are we to make of this passage? Simply this: God does not want people to seek him for selfish, temporal reasons. If we come to him only for some personal, temporal benefit, we will be rejected.

Why, then, do so many Christians hold to the belief expressed in the prayer I heard at the recent prayer meeting? Does God really intend to use our spiritual peace and joy to draw people to Christ? To answer this question, we need to take the question one step back: What does God use to draw someone to Christ? It is godly sorrow over one’s sins (2 Cor. 7:10-11), deep regret over having offended a holy, good God, and love for Christ who gave himself for them. The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8).

Another troubling aspect of this prayer was its emphasis on an entirely passive role in evangelism. Clearly the person who prayed this prayer believes that it is all right to wait for unbelievers to approach us to ask questions. But didn’t Jesus give the command to “go and make disciples”? Of course he did. He did not say, “Sit and wait for the world to knock on your door with questions about the gospel.”

Something else that disturbs me about this prayer is who it focuses on as the object of the world’s attraction. If we expect people to be attracted to our joy, peace or some other aspect of our Christian experience, are we not really expecting them to be attracted to us instead of Christ? Just exactly who is the gospel about—us or Jesus Christ? To whom does the Holy Spirit point people—to us or to Christ? We should be pointing people to the magnificence of the savior, and the only biblical way to do that is to tell them the gospel.

I do truly wonder what God thinks of such a prayer. Perhaps he is saying, as Jesus told his disciples when they asked him to send the masses away to get food: “You give them something to eat.” Sadly, the one entity that is responsible for bringing the gospel to the world seems determined to avoid doing so. It is a grievous reality that direct, proactive communication of the gospel is very rare in our postmodern evangelical culture, which values experience more than doctrine, felt needs more than objective needs, and personal anecdotes more than revealed truth.