We will do nothing to rob them of their dignity, and everything to extend grace to them. Our evangelism will be relational and invitational, not impersonal or aggressive. The Lone Ranger kind of evangelist is rare. More often, evangelism happens naturally as people are drawn into the life of the congregation, observe the life of the community, and hear Christian teaching week by week. But that means, on the one hand, that our churches must be welcoming places, and, on the other hand, that our members feel comfortable about inviting outsiders to come with them.
Evangelism thus proceeds from community and it leads back into community.
We are coming to terms with a post-Christendom world Many of our members grew up in a world where Christianity was the 'normal' religion, and religious minorities could be comfortably ignored. Now all that has changed. Christians no longer enjoy a privileged place in our society. As Don Posterski has said, 'There was a time when the culture had to come to terms with the church. We are learning what that means, and, in some ways, returning to the minority status which was normal for Christians until the time of Constantine.