On Organic Evangelism
Some seem want to make evangelism so “organic” that they tend to downplay the more confrontational parts of the message—even neglecting the gospel all together in some ways. They take a “laissez faire” approach to conversion when it comes to relational evangelism. Just let it happen. To them, it’s not relational enough if the evangelist has an agenda to share the gospel.
I don’t agree with that approach, but I do see it has become the view of many. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for organic, but if we want to keep an agricultural motif when it comes to talking about evangelism, I think we would be better served if we follow the same agricultural analogy used in the Bible.
In the Bible the work of reaching people with the gospel is compared to farming and not as organic weeds growing unattended (incidentally, weeds, or tares, are a symbol of sin in the NT) Jesus referred to the same imagery when he said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” (Matt 9:37 NIV).
The Bible compares our evangelism to farming. Think about what a farmer does when he farms. No farmer can say, “I make corn” or “I make wheat” or whatever else he grows. At the most the farmer can only say, “I am a partner with God in an amazing process, which produces a harvest.” The fact is the farmer cannot produce a crop unless he relies on God. There’s nothing more “organic” than relying on God to move a process forward.
At the same time, the farmer’s reliance on God does not mean his part of the harvest process is completely passive. There are many things the farmer has to do, to do his part of the process. He has to till the soil, plant the seeds, cultivate the crop while it is growing and in the end he has to harvest the crop. There is plenty for the farmer to do. Even the most organic garden needs to be tended by a gardener. All this is true, but the farmer still has to rely on God if he is going to see a harvest.
In the same way, in Christian “organic” evangelism communication, the reliance on God is not a passive do-nothing approach. There are plenty of things God expects us to do if we are going to partner with Him in the harvest of souls.
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