Tour Guide Evangelism

After putting the Velvet Elvis book aside for a week or so while I buried myself under other work, I finally pulled it out again today and read a good bit. I must admit, Rob Bell says some pretty crazy things. Not crazy in the sense of hearing voices and not making any sense at all, but in a way that I think is hard to justify. In fact, it smacks of circular reasoning. The case he is making for interpreting the Bible and Christianity the way he does is the only thing that enables the interpretation that he is using. Maybe I’m just not postmodern enough.

One thing that he does very well is illustrate. I shared the one about having a trampoline faith a few posts back. The one that stood out to me in this reading was the one of being evangelistic by being a tour guide. Instead of teaching or instructing, use the knowledge and experience you have to show others how God is working in their lives. In this sense, you walk along with people and reinterpret the things they experience through the eyes of one who sees God’s hand in the world.

I suppose that easy “tour guide” examples would be those that fall into the category of God’s general revelation. This is the type of revelation that isn’t specific about who God is and how we should relate to him, but instead are just general things that point back to God as the creator of the universe. My favorite of these types are relationships that we enjoy with other humans. People in the world enjoy the benefits of interpersonal relationships every day. Part of this enjoyment comes from the fact that God is a God of community and we are created in his image. Enjoying community with other people is experiencing just a shadow of what God has in mind for people through a relationship with Him. A tour guide approach would would show people this connection.

One of the benefits of the tour guide approach is that it enables a relationship through a journey. It isn’t a list of things that others need to know to be a part of the Christian faith. Instead, it is a relationship that is ongoing, continually exploring and re-evaluating as we move through time together. If I could find a church that was doing that, I’d be tempted to join!