Field Testing Truth

“It is a mistake to imagine that people are hardened against the gospel. They are simply bored by the way it is so often presented—too rigid, too rationalistic, too uncomprehending of other world views, too small minded.” This is a reflection from the teacher, pastor, professor, and evangelist Michael Green.

I find that a great deal of evangelism and apologetics miss the mark because it is created within the walls of the Christian sub culture. It's created for the wrong audience.

We rightfully admire the apologetics of the Apostle Paul, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and Peter Kreeft, but we sometimes ignore their secret of success. They did all their apologetics before an unbelieving audience. Paul spoke in public places where there were few believers in the audience. G.K. Chesterton wrote in newspapers and debated creatively in public venues. C.S. Lewis spoke on British radio, wrote in papers, taught in secular university, and lectured in public. His nonfiction books are powerful because the ideas within their pages were formed while doing the up close and personal work of an apologist. Peter Kreeft's effective apologetics was developed in the classroom and during evangelistic presentations on campus.

Did they speak in churches? Yes, but only after they had hit the streets and had something to bring back.

Good apologetics begins with good theology. Theology is an in house activity. But apologetics is very different. Apologetics is a creative work that is informed by face to face encounters with those far from Jesus. Good apologetics is not only field tested, but it is developed on the field.

Francis Schaeffer once noted that Christian writing is fifteen to twenty years behind the times. Once the active discussion is filtered through all the cultural barriers that the church has erected between itself and the world, the church begins answering questions that no one is asking anymore - at least not in the way they are asking them.

I have been a campus evangelist and missionary for almost 30 years now. My theology was developed (and still is) among believers, but my apologetics and evangelism has been developed in campus squares, during one to one evangelism encounters, and during question and answer periods with preChristians during evangelist presentations. These opportunities have allowed me to see the puzzled looks when my answers don't make sense. I get interrupted when I haven't really understood someone's concern or question. I get to see the confusion when I begin to rely on jargon that is not commonly used by anyone but seminary grads.

Some of the biggest benefits from field experience is that I get nailed if I try to use circular arguments. I get stopped if I try to argue for authority rather than lay out a well order argument or explanation. I learn that I can not appeal to common sense because the common sense of the world is in opposition to God's wisdom. I also learn the real questions people are asking rather than just those I wish they'd ask.

A developing apologist and/or evangelist needs a great deal of face time with the people they are trying to reach. Without that, we begin to rely on clichés, pat answers from the past, and what we are told the world believes. But most of all apologetic and evangelism needs the creativity that results from personal encounters, the lessons in the heart issues that complicate and guides lives, and the firsthand experience of the dance that is humanity.

It is great that we can quote people like C.S. Lewis, but it's getting a bit old. He was speaking to a British audience in the World War II era. He clothed the eternal truth of God in the clothes of his time so people could successfully encounter it. We need to follow that example and translate that truth for our day. We need to learn our apologetics in coffee shops, on campuses, and wherever people gather. We need to field test our presentation of the truth.