I was talking with a Restore attender one day and she asked what role evangelism plays in Reachout? She wanted to know how and when we start talking to people about Jesus. Fair question, I guess, but one that I realized came at it all wrong. I gave her a version of my standard reply: Reachout is evangelism. If people don't see Jesus in us we're doing something wrong.
I contend that people are less and less responsive to hearing the gospel. They want to see it. We can debtate the theology of this one if you'd like, but I am just reporting to you what I see in the field. A true transformative relationship with Jesus begins in the context of community and not because someone simply knows more about the gospel.
So I don't see Reachout and evangelism as separate. All Reachout really does is provide us the opportunity for relationships. If Reachout and 'evangelism' were separate for us, then all we would really have is an agenda on our hands and how authentic is that?
No, Reachout offers us the opportunity to build relationships with people and therfore offers us the possiblity of showing them Jesus and then we let God take it from there.
