An Evangelism of Personal Outreach

[BruceChris]

SF'ers, I was listening to the radio a few minutes ago. The discussion was about the politics of using Gay Marriage as a political and wedge issue, and related social and religious concerns. A woman from Wisconsin called in, and said that she and her partner had moved into a small town, and had been treated with some judgementalism, and held at a distance.

She said that they(the two of them) had responded by reaching out to their neighbors, expressing friendship, and not responding to the negative things. She said that after a while, they had won over their neighbors, and now their kids were welcome in all of their neighbor's houses, and vice versa.
She said that they were Christians, and offered this as a way that all gay
people could use to reach out to those were hostile.

Now I know that this simply cannot be used with everyone. I have been to a couple of Fred Phelps demonstrations, and some of the people there were
angry simply for the sake of being angry, especially some of the men. They did not know who I was or what side I might be on, and they had no interest in finding out. They were were expressing anger before I was even in front of them, then at me simply because I had walked up to them politely and attempted to engage them in conversation. I cannot imagine that they believed that they were making a positive impression on anyone.

Thoughts? BruceChris

Copies to Haven, Gay into Straight America

[baldness_65]

BruceChris
That radio story is a great example of how everyone should be treated...no matter his/her backstory. The truth is that God has called us to love everyone...and that includes people who are not loving, kind, tolerent, etc. Ignoring the negative that a person throws at you and responding with love is exactly what Christ told us to do. Matthew 5:43-44 43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies[b] and pray for those who persecute you,. Unfortunately the truth of the matter is it is easy to love the "unloved" but a different story entirely to love the "unloving" however we must show those individuals love as well. One doesn't have to agree with a person to love them with Christ's Love. The Fred Phelps of the world need to have Christ's amazing love and grace modeled by the same people he and those like him are persecuting.
L.

[Zerbie]

Thank you both.

I want to reiterate an amazingly important and wise point from Baldness. . .One doesn't have to agree with someone to love them.

That is true on all levels. From the kind of evangelism BC has brought up for discussion, to partnerships and friendships. Agreement is not necessarily love. It is simply agreement. No two people will agree all the time. Won't happen. You can disagree with a friend or neighbor and love him at the same time.