I’m lonely

“Barkman-san, when you pull out your Bible, I get nervous and uncomfortable. I’m lonely and just want someone to visit me.”

I had been told by disaster cleanup volunteers that Mr. Suzuki was interested in a Bible study. So, after several visits, I pulled out my Bible and started to share the good news in a brief and simple way. When I saw that Mr. Suzuki was not responding well, I asked him how he really felt about reading the Bible together. That’s when he told me his true feelings. So I put my Bible away and decided for the time being to just be his friend. Through this and other experiences, God set me on a journey to rethink my approach to evangelism.

Since arriving in Japan in 1985, my wife Eileen and I had lived in suburban Yokohama, Tokyo, and Saitama. We’d participated in four church plants and assisted in evangelism and disciple-making in an established church. Our ministry principles were mainly based on what we had been taught as the appropriate way to do evangelism in Japan.

Then came the 3.11 Great East Japan triple disaster. Through a divinely-ordained sequence of events, God led us to long-term church-planting ministry in Tohoku by clearly closing the door to our previous ministry plans in western Tokyo and opening another door for us in eastern Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. We began assisting Pastor Yukikazu Ōtomo and the Shiogama Bible Baptist Church to minister to the post-disaster needs of the people in our neighborhood and in the five temporary housing complexes in Shichigahama, providing “heart care” and encouragement to these hurting and lonely people.

A “tsunami” also hit my understanding of how to do evangelism. Our new setting in Tohoku forced me to examine the assumptions of my previous 26 years of ministry in Kanto. In doing so, God led me to develop the following five principles.

1. Trust the Lord with prayer and fasting

God impressed upon me the need to make prayer a priority—not just the activity of praying, but the attitude of trusting him through seeking his face and committing everything into his hands. We found the fuel for our prayers in passages like Matt. 6:9-10, 11:28, John 16:8-11, Rom. 10:13-15, 2 Cor. 4:4, Eph. 2:8-9, 2 Pet. 3:9, and Rev. 15:3-4.

In order to mobilize others to pray, I also send out four to six specific prayer requests in a weekly update email on Sunday evenings. God strengthens us by reminding us that he is working through the prayers of many people.

My wife and I had practiced fasting in the past when we faced a special need. After moving to Tohoku, I felt compelled to urgently seek God’s face through regular fasting and intercession for the desperately needy people around us. They needed so much more than the donated goods, fun events, and gambappe encouragement we could give them (Tohoku dialect for ganbare or ‘keep at it”). So we devote ourselves to prayer and fasting at Wednesday breakfast and lunch times to pray for specific people and God-encountering events. This is not to somehow manipulate God, but to align our hearts with his so we can join in what he is doing. In this way we are seeking to act on the belief that God has ordained to work through the prayers of his people.

2. Do everything in love, addressing felt needs

My personality and my training compel me to proclaim the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. But what if people like Mr. Suzuki are not interested in the good news as I present it? What can I do for them? God impressed upon me the need that all people have for love. How else will they be attracted to God’s love if they don’t experience it through his children?

When I confess the shallowness of my love, Jesus reminds me that he is indwelling me, and through me communicating his perfect love. When I am visiting with someone, I am gradually learning to first ask, “God, how do you want to love this person through me?” instead of only thinking, “How can I communicate God’s truth to this person?” I have come to firmly believe that love opens people’s hearts to hear God’s truth. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love…” (1 Cor. 13:1, ESV).

3. Go to them, seeking out a person of peace

In the past, I have practiced a “come to us” approach in evangelism. This seemed to work in urban areas where there were seekers who came into my territory. But what about all those not-yet-seekers who see Christianity as irrelevant (or worse) and who have not yet heard the good news or experienced the love of God?

God led us to go into their territory, to hang out with them. We are now spending a lot more time sitting on the floor, drinking tea, eating pickled vegetables as a snack, and showing love by listening. Then, as we discover felt needs, we ask if we can pray for them. We have not yet been refused.

God has also given us key “persons of peace” who have become gateways to meet other people in the community. This leapfrogs us into trust relationships that would take much longer to build without these insiders to make the introductions.

4. Enter their world to contextualize the gospel

But it is not enough if I simply go to their physical location. I have to understand their concerns, fears, and hopes; and then communicate God’s grace in a way that is meaningful to them. Too often my gospel presentations have been like scratching that misses the real location of the itch.

Mr. Suzuki told me he was lonely. It forced me explore how to present Jesus as a Savior who addresses not only his loneliness but also the cause of that loneliness. So I have listened to Mr. Suzuki’s war stories, explored his family history, and prayerfully poked into the corners of his experiences to find his felt needs and tailor the presentation of the good news to those needs.

5. Testify to the Lord Jesus and his gospel

So what can I say when someone is not ready for a Bible study or even a brief explanation of the gospel? I have found that stories (present-day testimonies as well as Bible stories) are well-received, especially those that address felt relational needs. Stories are interesting, indirect, and non-threatening ways to share Biblical truths and practical applications. Of course, I am always ready to open up the Bible with someone. Until then, I must trust the Holy Spirit to whet their appetite to want to hear more.

I have to admit that these five principles of evangelism are still more prescriptive than descriptive of me. But I am confident that as I prayerfully listen and learn, God will use my Spirit-led words and expressions of love to address both the felt needs and the deep heart needs of Mr. Suzuki and others like him.

Photo: https://pixabay.com/en/kettle-hot-tea-cup-drink-pot-565595/