Profane Evangelism - God of Love Denise

Profane Evangelism

Taking the Gospel into the Unholy Places  

by Mark Van Houten, Pages 109-110

  (God of Love, Denise)

Of the hundreds of names of God identified in the Bible, the most endearing and enduring is the last in my list: God is love.

All the names and meanings of God can be naturally subsumed under this name—Love. Countless volumes have been written on God's love, and even on God as love. Yet, God as love warrants our attention because of a basic and pervasive misunderstanding among Christians.

This misunderstanding isn’t indicated so much in what is written, nor in Christians' actions. Rather, it is discernible in our inaction, which rises from a selfishness that creates a caricature of love. God's love is agape—selfless and giving.

To do profane evangelism—to show God's presence outside our temples—we need to quit doing evangelism backwards: seeking to get, rather than seeking to give. We should not be trying to:

- Get a hearing

- Get commitments

- Get people into our churches

- Get jewels in our heavenly crowns for getting the word out

Instead, we should be trying to give a person what he or she needs most.

  (The Story of Denise)

Denise, about 32 years old, did not have much to do with me for a long time. This was quite understandable. She was into prostitution and drug abuse when I first met her, and due to the notoriety of the evangelists who preceded me, she figured I would be judgmental—condition my friendship on her getting off drugs and out of prostitution.

I didn’t press the issue; to do so would have done more harm than good. Instead, I considered what I could give to Denise, and how to give it in a way that wouldn’t be threatening to her.

Determining what I could give to Denise was much easier than figuring out how I could give to her. I sensed that Denise needed someone to talk to—someone just to listen. I wanted to lend her my ear, but when I offered to give my time in this way, she screamed:

"That's all I need—some a****** goody two shoes to hear me out and then take away my last shred of hope!"

Denise was lonely and needed companionship, yet her idea of companionship was jaded by the falsehood of the companionship that John's offered her.

I thank God that I never did think of a way to give Denise my companionship—it would probably have been disastrous. God showed me that I was trying to give all the right gifts at the wrong time.

Denise would eventually accept these gifts freely and gratefully, but only if I first demonstrated God's unconditional love for her. No matter where I met her, what she was involved in, what she thought of me, what she said to me, or what she did to me—Denise was tired of love on other people's terms.

If I could figure out a way to love her in God’s way, I knew she would sense that my gifts were not masking self-interest. And I was certain that if she could accept God's love, she would accept the other gifts of God.

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