The title above is stolen directly from the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” baseball scandal which, if you are a student of baseball history, you know was the plea of a boy admirer to “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.  The John in my theft of this line is John Piper.

 I have long admired John Piper and it is a great privilege that I was once able to meet him, in an elevator of all places, and have a memorable talk with him.  So much do I admire him that I have his name flagged on my computer to alert me to anything he has said or published.  I, therefore, was alerted on Saturday to his new book, “Jesus: The only way to God.  Must you hear the Gospel to be saved?”

 The book’s title did not surprise me.  I could expect Piper to write, with eloquence, a ringing endorsement of Jesus as the only way and truth.  And so it seems he has.  Yet the second line in the promotion of the book sent a shiver down my spine.  It reads:  “If there was ever a time when the evangelical world at large was too confrontational in its evangelism, those days are gone.”  My eyes went wide and my mind ground to a halt.

 Now, I haven’t read this book (I have ordered it) so I don’t know exactly what he means by that.  Other things said in the promotion imply that he means that we cannot bend one iota to the prevailing idea in our world that there are many paths to God; we must stand on Christ alone and make no compromise in this stance.  If that is indeed what he means, I am in 100% agreement.

 However, the phrase “confrontational evangelism” has historically had a different meaning.  It refers to an evangelism methodology that, in essence, says we are to force a confrontation with an unbeliever, usually one with whom we have no relationship, where they have virtually no alternative but to hear us out in a formulaic presentation of the Gospel.  Examples of confrontational evangelism include knocking on strangers doors, stopping people on their way out of a store or subway car, and street preaching in front of a target like a bar or nightclub.  Piper’s line therefore can easily be read as an endorsement of this methodology.  If that is his intent, which I pray is not, I fear I must disagree.

 Proponents of confrontational evangelism say two things about it.  One, we should not worry about offending people, since the Gospel is an offense and, two, it works, people get saved.  So we should, they say, just go ahead and make them listen. 

 Let’s deal with the second one first.  Yes, at times people do get saved.  As I have always said, the curious thing about evangelism is that everything works but nothing is sure to work.  I have heard tales of people coming to the Lord through the most preposterous set of circumstances and the most bizarre methods of evangelism.  It pleases God greatly to bring people to Himself by various ways.  But there is no “surefire” method.  Nothing you do is sure to bring results, a fact that teachers of various methodologies often overlook.  God seems to want us to know that He brings people to Himself and that our efforts, while blessed, are not the key.

 But what about offending people?  Should we, as they say, not worry about that?  Should we just stick our nose in people’s faces and say what we want and not care if they get upset?  First and foremost there is this, and I am going to highlight it because I feel this very strongly:  Are we 100% sure that it is the Gospel that is offending them and not us?  I have personally seen confrontational evangelists be as offensive as anyone I have ever met and then give themselves a free pass on the offense they cause using “the Gospel is an offense” as an excuse.  If I choose confrontational evangelism the burden is on me to be sure my manner and approach not become the offending issue.  Let the Gospel offend on its own, don’t feel called to make sure people get offended.

 But there is a second concern I have.  In the last five years I’ve been blessed to move freely among blue-collar unbelievers; to speak to them and listen to them.  And there is an overwhelming consistency in some of the stories I hear.  Almost all, since this is the Bible belt after all, have been in touched by Christian witness.  Praise God.  But…the vast majority came away convinced of one thing, that Christians are obnoxious haters.  And, as you dig deeper, you find that all too often this opinion comes from an effort at confrontational evangelism gone bad.

 So I ask myself this – Yes, confrontational evangelism sometimes works.  But I am willing to leave the vast majority of contacts angry and further from God to get the one or two?  And, if not, is there a better way?  I believe there is.  Be watching this space for more on a concept I am calling organic evangelism.